Labor unions are becoming de facto immigrant rights groups; Trump pick to head MSHA is a former coal executive; Cal/OSHA opens more investigations into Goodwill’s safety conditions; and a new memorial honors first responders who became ill after exposures during the World Trade Center terrorist attacks.
Department of Labor
A Labor Day tradition: Sixth annual yearbook on worker health and safety released today
For the sixth year in a row, we present “The Year in U.S. Occupational Health & Safety,” our attempt to document the year’s highs and lows as well as the challenges ahead.
Reporters investigate the deaths of five workers at Tampa Electric; OSHA removes worker fatality information from its home page; more workers sue Fraser Shipyards for hazardous lead exposures; and the Secret Service runs out of money to pay its agents.
Cal/OSHA
California work fatalities and injuries on the rise while millions of dollars of enforcement resources are “left sitting on the table”
Dozens of safety inspector positions in California are vacant while workplace fatalities and injuries in the state are on the rise. Cal/OSHA has had an average of 34 vacant field enforcement positions a month since July 2015, which means that more than $10 million in state-authorized funding was left unused.
DJ Meyer died when the trench he was working in collapsed around him. OSHA has proposed a $712,000 penalty against the company. When these incidents occur, what excuses does OSHA hear from the employers?
Injury Control & Violence
Nation’s largest wireless infrastructure provider linked to two worker deaths in eight days
In an eight-day period, two workers lost their lives at communication towers. Their deaths reminded me of the grave hazards in the industry and the subcontracting model that can shield firms from responsibility for the hazards they create.
National COSH’s “Dirty Dozen” report profiles 12 employers with horrific safety and labor practices. Of all the fine content in the report two short lines will be sticking with me this Worker Memorial Day.
Immigrant workers who get injured at work now fearful about accessing workers’ comp; women ironworkers win six months of paid maternity leave; many home health workers still going without health insurance coverage; and a health care union declares itself a sanctuary for immigrants.
Federal contractors receive billions in public funds despite wage violations; Alabama’s auto industry putting workers’ lives in danger; OSHA delays life-saving silica standard; and Maryland and Nevada legislators approve paid sick leave measures.
Instead of calling worker fatalities “accidents,” could the press communicate how such incidents could be averted? A new paper published in the Journal of Agromedicine got me thinking about the topic.