Liz and Celeste are on vacation, so we’re re-posting some content from our old site. By Liz Borkowski, originally posted 11/6/09 Earlier today, the Senate Democratic Policy Committee held a hearing on the use of burn pits for trash at military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan – a practice that may be exposing thousands of […]
Environmental Health
Worth Reading: “Chronic Lyme Disease,” Migrant Farmworkers, and China’s Pollution Data
A few of the recent pieces I’ve liked: Patricia Callahan and Trine Tsouderos in the Chicago Tribune: Chronic Lyme disease: A dubious diagnosis (via Orac, who critiques the backlash against the article) The Economist: Migrant farm workers: Fields of tears Christina Larson in Yale Environment 360: In China, a New Transparency on Government Pollution Data […]
Earlier this month, a bill that would have provided medical benefits and compensation for 9/11 first responders passed the House but couldn’t overcome a Republican filibuster. (Remember the old days of majority rule in the Senate, when 51 votes was enough to pass most legislation? We’re in a different era now.) Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and […]
By the end of 2011, the Labor Department’s worker safety agencies expect to issue six new rules to better protect workers from on-the-job hazards. In the Department’s regulatory plan issued yesterday, OSHA projects it will finalize four rules while MSHA expects to complete two new standards. As I’ve written before, these plans quickly become stale […]
Updated 12/21/2010 Every two weeks, OSHA issues a mini-newsletter called Quick Takes about the agency’s activities and other worker health and safety news. The twice monthly electronic publication highlights 8-12 items and nearly always includes at least one report of a major enforcement action. I looked back at the OSHA Quick Takes from early 2010 […]
Environmental Health
OSHA should undertake an educational campaign on finding and fixing chemical exposures
by Eileen Senn, MS OSHA’s intention to finalize a list of chemicals on which to focus the agency’s efforts to address outdated rules on workplace chemical exposures was officially announced in the December 1 issue of OSHA Quick Takes and described in my November 17 post, “OSHA Poised to Action on Chemical Hazards.” No matter […]
Worker Health & Safety
At least two dozen workers dead from fire in Bangladesh factory that produces for US brands
by Elizabeth Grossman In an incident that brings to mind the Triangle factory fire that took place in New York almost 100 years ago, the fire that broke out on December 14th on the 9th and 10th floors of the building housing the Ha-meem Group’s “That’s It Sportswear” factory in the Ashalia industrial district outside […]
New Solutions: The Drawing Board is a monthly feature produced by the journal New Solutions. Read more about it here. By Charles Levenstein and Dominick Tuminaro [In press, International Union Rights journal, volume 17(4), due out 20 December; posted with permission] There is an important intersection between the movements for international trade union rights and […]
Environmental Health
EPA says dioxin risk from burning BP/Deepwater Horizon oil is low – but what’s the context?
by Elizabeth Grossman On November 30th, the Louisiana Bucket Brigade (LABB) released a bulletin reporting on the accidental release of sulfur dioxide at the Murphy Oil refinery in Meraux, Louisiana. The Bucket Brigade tracks these releases as part of its work to reduce refinery accidents, and they explain that the November 30th release is “just […]
As I’ve previously written, a minor revision to the form on which some U.S. employers are required to record work-related injuries remains stuck in the office of the White House’s regulatory czar. His review has now extended for 145 days. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) collects a sample of these forms annually to estimate […]