Kane at Osha Underground has posted an insightful, deservedly hostile response to OSHA Administrator Ed Foulke’s testimony at Tuesday’s Senate hearing on combustible dust explosions. In response to Foulke’s insistence that “The fatalities and injuries at the Port Wentworth sugar refinery probably could have been prevented, had Imperial Sugar complied with existing OSHA standards on […]
Celeste was the first to draw attention to the Department of Labor’s proposed risk-assessment rule, whose title appeared suddenly on the Office of Management and Budget website without having been published first in DOL’s regulatory agenda, and she’s continued to track the news about it and explain how it threatens worker health. Yesterday, Congressman George Miller […]
Congressman George Miller (D-CA) along with 11 co-sponsors introduced a bill yesterday (H.R. 6660) to prohibit Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao from issuing her proposed rule mandating new requirements for health risk assessments prepared by MSHA and OSHA. The Congressman’s statement accompanying the bill makes plain his disdain for the Bush Administration’s 7 1/2 year assualt on […]
Thanks to Carol Leonnig at the Washington Post and her confidential sources, we can see the true measure of Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao’s disrespect for U.S. workers, embodied in her proposed rule on risk assessement. I blogged first about this “secret rule” on July 8, with follow-ups (here and here), but the challenge for […]
by revere, cross-posted at Effect Measure As we noted two days ago in a post about how the produce industry is now interested in tracking regulations they previously opposed after being whacked with billions of dollars in losses because of a protracted Salmonella outbreak whose source was presumably produce but couldn’t be easily traced, the […]
“Destined to fail.” That is the troubling conclusion of MSHA’s 12-month investigation of the coal mine disaster at the Crandall Canyon coal mine that killed nine men last August. They were: Kerry Allred, 58; Dale Black, 48; Don Erickson, 50; MSHA’s Gary Jensen, 53; Brandon Kimber, 29; Luis Hernandez, 23; Brandon Phillips, 24; Carlos Payan, 22; and […]
Congressman George Miller (D-CA) and Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) have strongly urged Labor Secretary Elaine Chao to withdraw the proposed rule on occupational health risk assessment which her Department submitted to OMB on July 7.  Their letter says: “we are deeply disappointed that the Department of Labor is working to slip through a rule that may have a […]
Following The Pump Handle’s July 8 post “Secret Rule on OSHA Risk Assessment” (and July 10 here), a front-page Washington Post article provides more details on the Bush Administration’s plan to “reform” the system used by OSHA and MSHA to assess workers’ risk from toxic materials. In U.S. Rushes to Change Workplace Toxin Rules, Post reporter Carol Leonnig obtained a draft copy of the […]
The Houston Chronicle has reporters covering the devastating crane collapse which occurred on Friday, July 18 at 1:20 pm local time. The crane was owned and operated by Deep South Crane & Rigging which has official statements posted on the company website.  The Chronicle reports that the four deceased and the seven injured workers were contractor-employees at the LyondellBasell […]
Regulation
We may have won some battles, but the War on Contraception and on Science is still going strong
by Susan F. Wood, PhD Recently the New York Times and RHRealityCheck reported on a leaked internal proposed regulation that calls for more and different enforcement of anti-discrimination provisions for health care providers. The provisions are forms of conscience clauses that do not allow discrimination in hiring or promotion of health care workers who do […]