Members of Houston’s City Council held a public hearing this week to discuss a proposed ordinance to beef up sanctions against companies who don’t pay employees their lawfully owed wages. Penalties will include a prohibition from getting city contracts, permits and licenses.
On July 15 and 16, about two dozen farmworkers paid an unprecedented visit to Capitol Hill to ask Congress, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the White House to support increased protection from exposure to pesticides. Farmworkers have lobbied Congress before, but this is the first time such a visit focused entirely on pesticide exposure […]
A refund check from my health insurance provider is another sign that Obamacare is working for healthcare consumers.
Education
Sequestration claims another public health program: The Adult Blood Lead Epidemiology and Surveillance program
When I asked Teresa Schnorr why we should be worried about the loss of a little-known occupational health data gathering program, she quoted a popular saying in the field of surveillance: “What gets counted, gets done.”
The US Chemical Safety Board has been criticized for not doing more to press recipients of its recommendations to implement them. At a public meeting later this month, the Board will consider classifying OSHA’s response to several recommendations as “Open-Unacceptable.”
Injury Control & Violence
Third day on the job a deadly one for 22 year old worker, Texas company has OSHA history
It was only his third day on the job when Christopher Michael Cantu, 22, suffered a fatal work-related injury. The company has a history of violating workplace safety regulations, including ones that may have contributed to the young worker’s death.
Environmental Health
Study: Industrial food-animal workers test positive for livestock-associated MRSA
In a recent study comparing workers at industrial livestock operations and those employed at antibiotic-free livestock operations, researchers found that industrial workers were much more likely to carry livestock-associated strains of drug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, more commonly and scarily known as MRSA.
After a temp worker was killed in August 2012 at Bacardi’s bottling facility in Jacksonville, Florida, OSHA proposed willful violations and a $192,000 penalty. Did the rum producer own up and pay the penalty?
Cancer
British Columbia proposes protections for silica-exposed workers, foot dragging in US continues
A construction industry trade association in British Columbia urged the province’s regulatory body to issue a proposed rule to protect silica-exposed workers. The proposal was issued this month. Where’s the U.S. equivalent of a group of high-road construction employers insisting on rules to protect workers’ health and safety?
Last week, the Senate confirmed Howard Shelanski to lead the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), part of the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the source of many lengthy delays of health and safety regulations. On Sunday, the New York Times published a scathing editorial about the backlog of draft rules at OIRA.