Between 5,000 and 6,000 cases of elevated blood lead levels from workplace exposures are reported each year to state health departments. In California, where the workforce is 36 percent Hispanic, the proportion of individuals with elevated blood-lead who also had Hispanic surnames was 64-70 percent.
Every week, the Austin-based Workers Defense Project welcomes standing room-only crowds to its Workers in Action meetings. And once a month, a local OSHA representative would join the meeting, giving some of Texas’ most vulnerable workers the chance to meet face-to-face with the agency. Unfortunately, due to the federal sequester, OSHA has had to indefinitely suspend its participation. It’s a significant loss.
“If we could get growers to comply with the law, that would revolutionize agriculture in this country,” said United Farm Workers (UFW) national vice president Erik Nicholson explaining the circumstances that led to the creation of the Equitable Food Initiative.
In a typical year, about five firefighters in Texas die in the line of duty. So far in 2013, the death toll is 13. The official count doesn’t include five responders who were killed at West Fertilizer.
An analysis of data from U.S. emergency departments reveals that 40 percent of work-related injuries and illnesses cases treated there are not paid for through the workers’ compensation system.
As immigration legislation passes the Senate Judiciary Committee, a report demonstrates why agricultural employers consider a guest worker program to be so important; Bangladesh garment workers win important improvements; and OSHA penalizes an energy company for firing an employee who raised safety concerns about a nuclear-energy project.
The federal, State and local authorities investigating the West Fertilizer plant disaster each have different responsibilities and expertise. The ATF is acting like its task is the only one that matters.
A new book from Gerald Markowitz and David Rosner tells the disheartening story of our country’s ongoing failure to fully protect children from lead poisoning
Spring 2013 looked like it would be a banner season for progress by the Obama Administration on new worker safety regulations; not so much anymore.
Earlier this month, Florida lawmakers wrapped up their latest legislative session. And nearly 500 miles south of Tallahassee in Miami-Dade County, workers’ rights advocates breathed yet another sigh of relief.