Worker Health & Safety | The Pump Handle

APHA Annual Meeting Occupational health and safety leaders recognized by American Public Health Association

September 19, 2011 Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH

The winners of this year’s American Public Health Association’s (APHA) recognition awards for achievement in occupational health and safety illustrate the diversity of talent among those committed to ensuring workers’ rights to a safe workplace. Martin Cherniak, MD is a clinician and researcher at the University of Connecticut; Amy Liebman is with the Migrant Clinicians […]

Injury Control & Violence Teenage workers lose legs at work, their employer didn’t have workers’ comp insurance

September 16, 2011 Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH 13Comment

[Update (10/11/2011) below] Phyllis Zorn of the Enid (OK) News and Eagle reports that the employer of the two teenage workers who lost legs last month in a grain auger failed to maintain workers’ compensation insurance. She writes: “Oklahoma Department of Labor has fined the company $750 for failing to comply with workers’ compensation law, […]

Injury Control & Violence A peek at health and safety for temporary workers

September 13, 2011 Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH 3Comment

March 2, 2011 may have seemed like any other workday for David Clark Jr., 51, when he arrived at the Lee Creek potash mine in Aurora, NC at 5:50 am to start his shift. Clark and a small crew would be excavating a large ditch near the R9 roadway and burying a 22-inch diameter polyethylene […]

Worker Health & Safety The health of World Trade Center rescue and recovery workers

September 11, 2011 Liz Borkowski, MPH 2Comment

Among the victims of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks are workers who responded to the scene of the disaster and suffered severe – in some cases, fatal – health problems as a result. Those who showed up at the World Trade Center site for rescue, recovery, and cleanup operations were exposed to a range […]

Injury Control & Violence New rules proposed to protect minors working in agriculture

September 8, 2011 Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH 5Comment

After two teenagers’ legs were severed while they were working near a grain auger, I wrote last month about the White House’s role in holding up a proposed Labor Department rule to address hazards for young workers. After a 9-month delay by the White House, the Labor Department released the proposed rule last week and […]

Worker Health & Safety Grain elevators, terror plots, and what’s actually risky

September 7, 2011 Liz Borkowski, MPH 7Comment

American Public Media’s Marketplace program is taking a look at “the economic legacy of 9/11” this week, and this morning’s story focused on security spending in the private sector. Marketplace’s Jeff Horwich highlighted an unexpected example: security for grain elevators.

Worker Health & Safety A Labor Day Message from Secretary of Labor Solis

September 5, 2011 Liz Borkowski, MPH 3Comment

The Department of Labor’s Labor Day 2011 website features some interesting historical info on this holiday, and an address from Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis that focuses on job creation. What I found particularly interesting was an op-ed by Secretary Solis – one of many linked from the site’s News page – published Friday in […]

Occup Health News Roundup Occupational Health News Roundup

September 2, 2011 Liz Borkowski, MPH

A study just published in The Lancet compares the incidence rates of cancers in firefighters who worked at the World Trade Center site during and after the 9/11 attacks to the rates in firefighters not exposed to the disaster or its aftermath. Researchers from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine Montefiore Medical Center and the […]

Environmental Health The truth about health, safety and environmental regulations

August 31, 2011 Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH

In a week that House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) rallied his Members with a plan to repeal “job-destroying regulations,” the Center for Progressive Reform (CPR) provides strong evidence to debunk the House Republican’s rhetoric. In “Saving Lives, Preserving the Environment, Growing the Economy: The Truth about Regulation,” CPR scholars provide concrete examples of profound […]

Environmental Health At California tomato plant, a food-safety measure turns unsafe for workers

August 30, 2011 Elizabeth Grossman 2Comment

by Elizabeth Grossman On Sunday August 21, a cleaning process designed to make tomatoes safe for customers eating marinara sauce, pizza topping, and canned tomatoes resulted in a release of chlorine dioxide gas that sent 43 workers at the Pacific Coast Producers plant in Woodland, California to area hospitals. According to Pacific Coast Producers vice […]