President Johnson may not have intended to sign the Freedom of Information Act on Independence Day, but July 4th is a fitting birthday for a law that helps citizens know what their government is doing and hold it accountable. (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.
Infectious Diseases & Vaccines
UN halts Pakistan polio vaccination campaign after eight workers killed in 48 hours
Over the course of 48 hours, gunmen shot and killed eight vaccination workers in and around Karachi and Peshawar.
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.
Four links to pieces that portray and summarize gun violence in this country.
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.
Worker Health & Safety
Occupational injuries and illnesses in low-wage workers cost the US $39 billion in 2010
Our new policy brief and white paper address the economic impacts of occupational injuries and illnesses on low-wage workers.
Two recently published papers funded by the federal agency Health Canada report on excess risk of breast cancer among auto plastics workers and the chemical compounds and processes used that are the likely culprits.