New Mexico dairy farm workers face dangerous workplace conditions and fears of retaliation; Chicago passes minimum wage increase; worker dies at Staten Island car dealership; and Philadelphia task force supports paid sick leave.
Government
Public health labs and the Ebola response: ‘This is the type of work they do day in and day out’
Months before the first case of Ebola was diagnosed in Texas, the state’s public health laboratory had begun preparing for the disease to reach U.S. shores. And while the virus itself is an uncommon threat in this country, the response of the nation’s public health laboratory system wasn’t uncommon at all — in fact, protecting people’s health from such grave threats is exactly what public health laboratorians are trained to do.
Four workers from DuPont’s La Porte, TX facility are dead. Their employer makes hundreds of millions on its behavior-based, blame the worker safety program. Federal investigators will find that the catastrophe occurred because of decisions made far up the chain of command, not unsafe behaviors by the victims.
The fatal work-related injuries that killed Juan Carlos Reyes’ could have been prevented had his employer followed worker safety regulations.
New report chronicles the low wages of child care workers; Johns Hopkins black lung review still unfinished; California nurses go on strike; and OSHA calls on retailers to protect their workers during Black Friday.
Former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship was indicated by federal prosecutors for events that led to the April 2010 death of 29 West Virginia coal miners.
Decreased lung function, breast cancer, miscarriage, depression and neurological disease. These are just a few of the health and disease risks that salon workers disproportionately face while on the job, according to a new report on the impact of toxic chemicals within the beauty and personal care industry.
The Obama Administration set a goal of ending homelessness among veterans in 2015. This Veterans’ Day, they are about 50,000 veterans away from that goal.
California
San Francisco women firefighters take part in first study on firefighting exposures and breast cancer
In the span of just a couple years, five of Heather Buren’s colleagues at the San Francisco Fire Department were diagnosed with breast cancer. At first, Buren thought the diagnoses were part of the unfortunate toll that comes with age. Still, something felt amiss — “it just felt so disproportionate to me,” she said.
Dangerous workplace speedups a hidden side of the economic recovery; California recycling workers vote to unionize; emergency responders in west Texas face new challenges during energy boom; and the U.S. lags in eliminating the gender pay gap.