Texas may boast a booming construction sector, but a deeper look reveals an industry filled with wage theft, payroll fraud, frighteningly lax safety standards, and preventable injury and death. In reality, worker advocates say such conditions are far from the exception — instead, they’ve become the norm.
Injury Control & Violence
Repeat violators of mine safety rules targeted in new Labor Dept regulation
The Labor Department’s MSHA issued a new regulation this week targeting employers that have an egregious pattern of violating mine safety and health standards.
My favorite part of President Obama’s 2013 inaugural address.
In Austin, Texas, a growing movement to transform working conditions for construction workers is underway and the new Construction Career Center is playing a pivotal role.
The report, “At the company’s mercy,” should serve as the new Secretary of Labor’s roadmap to improve working conditions for temporary and other precarious workers.
Dr. Paul Demers says he frequently finds himself having to make the case for why studying workplace exposures to carcinogens is important. Oftentimes, he says, people believe such occupational dangers are a thing of the past. But a new four-year study he’s leading could change all that.
Amidst discussions of new gun control measures, a study finds that adding new settings where people can bring concealed weapons could increase the risk of some crimes.
With five days left in calendar year 2012, the Obama Administration released its current regulatory plan and agenda, including new rules addressing health and safety hazards in workplaces. Neither OSHA nor MSHA have a good track record predicting when such rules will actually be completed.
The OSHA staff responsible to modernizing the agency’s chemical right-to-know regulation with global standards deserve credit for completing the rule itself. Unlike other federal agencies, they also create a meaningful public record documenting who said what about the proposed changes to labeling and safety data sheet requirements. (Re-post)
President Johnson may not have intended to sign the Freedom of Information Act on Independence Day, but July 4th is a fitting birthday for a law that helps citizens know what their government is doing and hold it accountable. (Re-post)