occupational safety | The Pump Handle

Injury Control & Violence Billion dollar mining company hasn’t paid fine for safety violations in 2010 deaths of two workers

June 21, 2012 Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH 4Comment

Barrick Gold company was assessed a $447,600 civil penalty from the Labor Department’s Mine Safety and Health Administration following the fatal injury incident in August 2010 that killed two workers. The multi-national corporation has yet to pay the penalty, but you wouldn’t know that reading the firm’s annual Responsibility Report.

Environmental Health Frack sand mining boom: silica dust, air quality, and human health

June 14, 2012 Elizabeth Grossman 3Comment

To understand the current boom in frack sand mining, the place to look is Wisconsin. What’s happening in Wisconsin also shows how limited current information is regarding potential air quality and environmental health effects this industrial activity, which is a source of silica dust – a known human health hazard.

Cancer Trying to avoid the “cancer-causing” label, diesel manufacturers join the club

June 11, 2012 Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH 4Comment

An expert panel convened by the WHO’s Int’l Agency for Research on Cancer is evaluating the scientific evidence on the carcinogenicity of diesel exhaust. In preparation for the meeting, diesel engine manufacturers, oil companies and mining firms hired consultants to re-analyze and critique the epidemiological studies conducted by others to manufacturer doubt about

Injury Control & Violence Upper Big Branch Families plead for Congressional action on mine safety

June 11, 2012 The Pump Handle 1Comment

A delegation of family members who lost loved ones in Massey Energy’s Upper Big Branch mine met with senators and representatives of both political parties to urge them to pass legislation for stronger penalties for upper-level officials who violate safety laws.

Injury Control & Violence Government transparency groups ask Labor Dept to restore info scrubbed from website

June 8, 2012 Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH

Open government groups, like the Sunlight Foundation, wrote to Labor Department officials asking them to re-post on its website documents related to a recently withdrawn proposed regulation on child labor.

Cancer Tony Mazzocchi: a man who hated work and loved labor

June 6, 2012 Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH

Tony Mazzocchi was a visionary who was in the forefront of the labor movement’s efforts to secure protections for working people, including strong workplace health and safety laws. He was inducted this week in the Labor Department’s Hall of Fame.

Injury Control & Violence You’ve heard of ‘green-washing,’ what about fur-washing?

June 1, 2012 Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH 5Comment

Alpha Natural Resources, which purchased Massey Energy in 2011, is publicizing it very cool mine-rescue dog name Ginny, the first of its kind in the U.S.. I can’t help but wonder though whether the promo-campaign about Ginny isn’t meant to distract us from the serious safety violations discovered in the company’s coal mines.

Food Safety & Nutrition Public health officials urge USDA to withdraw plan to “modernize” poultry inspection, worker and food safety will suffer

May 31, 2012 Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH 2Comment

The Obama Administration’s quest to appease businesses’ claims about burdensome regulations awoke a giant in the form of the civil rights, public health and workers’ safety communities. From the Southern Poverty Law Center and the National Council of LaRaza, to the American Public Health Association, the feedback on USDA’s proposal to “modernize” the poultry inspection process is loud and clear: scrap the idea because faster line speeds will take a grave toll on poultry plant workers.

Injury Control & Violence Young widow ‘felt like a fool’ waiting to hear from OSHA

May 24, 2012 Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH 4Comment

Six months after Maureen Revetta’s husband, Nick, 32, was killed by an explosion at the U.S. Steel plant in Clairton, PA, she was still waiting to hear from the Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

Public Health Practice Worth Reading: Poison Squads, Oil Refineries, and Insurance Gaps

March 2, 2011 Liz Borkowski, MPH

A few of the recent pieces I’ve liked: Deborah Blum at Slate: Bring Back the Poison Squad (“If we look back to a similar crisis of food safety in the last century, we see that federal regulators were willing to risk their lives to protect the rest of us.”) Jenny Gold of Kaiser Health News […]