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)
In December 2011, the Department of Labor’s Wage & Hour Division published a proposed rule that would extend minimum-wage and overtime pay protections to the home care workers who assist elderly and disabled patients with their daily needs. (Re-post)
While we’re on vacation, we’re re-posting some of our past content. Kim Krisberg’s series of posts on worker centers in Texas is well worth a second read.
Food Safety & Nutrition
Public health officials urge USDA to withdraw plan to “modernize” poultry inspection, worker and food safety will suffer
The Obama Administration’s quest to appease businesses’ claims about burdensome regulations awoke a giant in the form of the civil rights, public health and workers’ safety communities. From the Southern Poverty Law Center and the National Council of LaRaza, to the American Public Health Association, the feedback on USDA’s proposal to “modernize” the poultry inspection process is loud and clear: scrap the idea because faster line speeds will take a grave toll on poultry plant workers. (Re-post)
Many months have passed since the Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) sent to the White House’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) a draft proposed regulation designed to protect workers who are exposed to respirable crystalline silica. (Re-post)
A worker’s bosses refuse to call 911 after he suffers burns to 80% of his body; a new study on Ground Zero workers and cancer is released; and a new website provides resources for working safely with silica.
Injury Control & Violence
Safety experiences of union carpenters, imagine what it’s like for the rest of them
A survey of more than 1,000 union carpenter apprentices describes how production pressure can compromise safety and how suffering an on-the-job injury can compromise your job security. The frank comments from workers who have the protection of a union makes me wonder how bad it must be for non-union workers.
Food Safety & Nutrition
USDA’s focus should be food safety, not increasing profit for poultry industry
McClatchy Newspapers’ reporter Lindsay Wise reports in two new articles on a proposed USDA rule to allegedly “modernize” the poultry inspection process. USDA and the poultry industry are having a love fest over the proposal, but food safety and workers’ safety advocates oppose the rule. The White House will soon be deciding the rule’s fate.
Injury Control & Violence
Construction workers in central Texas successfully tie living wages to big business tax breaks
Workers in Travis County, Texas, are celebrating what advocates are calling a landmark victory, after local leaders voted to ensure that economic incentive deals benefit both big business and workers.