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.

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Injury Control & Violence Austin project successfully integrating workers’ rights into larger sustainability goals
June 18, 2012 The Pump Handle 2Comment

When most of us think of sustainability and construction, the usual suspects probably come to mind: efficient cooling and heating, using nontoxic building materials, minimizing environmental degradation — in other words, being green. But in Austin, Texas, a new effort is working to expand the definition of sustainability from the buildings themselves to the hands that put them together.

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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.

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Injury Control & Violence Largest Hispanic civil rights group provoked by Obama USDA’s disregard for poultry plant workers
May 18, 2012 Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH 2Comment

The nation’s largest Hispanic civil rights organization issued an action alert to its members urging them to tell USDA Secretary Vilsack to withdraw a proposed rule that would allow poultry plant operators to increase assembly line speeds to 175 birds per minute. The majority of employees in poultry processing are Hispanic or other vulnerable workers.

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Injury Control & Violence Americans say they respect life and the rule of law, but not so much when it involves workers’ lives and safety hazards
May 15, 2012 Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH

The AFL-CIO’s annual “Death on the Job” report presents the painful truth that the penalty for employers who violate safety rules that lead to worker fatalities, is woefully inadequate. Our nation’s rhetoric about respect for life seems not to apply to working people who face serious hazards on-the-job.

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