Following reports of high levels of worker exposure to crystalline silica due to the extensive use of sand at hydrofracking operations, two agencies that focus on occupational health have issued a hazard alert urging employers to protect workers from this respiratory hazard.
Injury Control & Violence
Billion dollar mining company hasn’t paid fine for safety violations in 2010 deaths of two workers
Barrick Gold company was assessed a $447,600 civil penalty from the Labor Department’s Mine Safety and Health Administration following the fatal injury incident in August 2010 that killed two workers. The multi-national corporation has yet to pay the penalty, but you wouldn’t know that reading the firm’s annual Responsibility Report.
Mining
New study shows black lung and silicosis among U.S. surface coal miners, not just a problem for underground miners
A x-ray surveillance program finds nearly four dozen cases of coal workers pneumoconiosis among surface coal miners in the U.S., while coal operators including Alpha Natural Resources and CONSOL Energy insist that workers on strip mining jobs aren’t exposed to enough dust to cause disease.
Injury Control & Violence
Austin project successfully integrating workers’ rights into larger sustainability goals
When most of us think of sustainability and construction, the usual suspects probably come to mind: efficient cooling and heating, using nontoxic building materials, minimizing environmental degradation — in other words, being green. But in Austin, Texas, a new effort is working to expand the definition of sustainability from the buildings themselves to the hands that put them together.
A stagehand’s death is a grim reminder of hazards in the theater; it takes OSHA an average of nearly eight years to issue a new standard; and a federal decision clears the way for 50 cancers to be added to the list of WTC-related diseases eligible for compensation and treatment.
To understand the current boom in frack sand mining, the place to look is Wisconsin. What’s happening in Wisconsin also shows how limited current information is regarding potential air quality and environmental health effects this industrial activity, which is a source of silica dust – a known human health hazard.
A panel of scientific experts convened by the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer concluded today that diesel engine exhaust is carcinogenic to humans. Previously, the classification for diesel exhaust had been “probably carcinogenic to humans.”
An expert panel convened by the WHO’s Int’l Agency for Research on Cancer is evaluating the scientific evidence on the carcinogenicity of diesel exhaust. In preparation for the meeting, diesel engine manufacturers, oil companies and mining firms hired consultants to re-analyze and critique the epidemiological studies conducted by others to manufacturer doubt about
A delegation of family members who lost loved ones in Massey Energy’s Upper Big Branch mine met with senators and representatives of both political parties to urge them to pass legislation for stronger penalties for upper-level officials who violate safety laws.
Tony Mazzocchi was a visionary who was in the forefront of the labor movement’s efforts to secure protections for working people, including strong workplace health and safety laws. He was inducted this week in the Labor Department’s Hall of Fame.