The Pump Handle - A Water Cooler for the Public Health Crowd

Injury Control & Violence Support for health and safety training for vulnerable and hard-to-reach workers: OSHA awards 2010 Susan Harwood Grants

September 14, 2010 Elizabeth Grossman 4Comment

by Elizabeth Grossman On September 9th, OSHA announced the award of its 2010 Susan Harwood Capacity Building Grants. The grants will support training in industries that range from meatpacking and agricultural work to beauty salons, supermarkets, and construction – in both remote rural and urban environments. Almost all programs are designed to reach workers in […]

Addiction & Substance Abuse Why Do So Many Smokers Keep Paying High Tobacco Taxes?

September 13, 2010 Liz Borkowski, MPH 18Comment

The World Health Organization has declared that “tobacco taxes are the most effective way to reduce tobacco use, especially among young people and the poor,” but Slate’s James Ledbetter points out that in the US, there’s a portion of the smoking population that keeps on paying them: Over the last decade or so, several states […]

Worker Health & Safety Occupational Health News Roundup

September 10, 2010 Liz Borkowski, MPH

Another oil platform caught fire in the Gulf of Mexico, but this time the crew – 13 workers – was able to escape, and no injuries were reported. No oil spill was detected, either. The Mariner Energy platform was involved in both oil and natural gas production. A Washington Post article on the fire notes […]

Environmental Health EPA accuses chromium industry of withholding lung cancer study

September 10, 2010 Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH 8Comment

EPA filed a complaint under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) against the world’s largest producer of chromium chemicals for failing to inform the agency of findings from an epidemiological study showing a “substantial risk” of injury to health among workers exposed to hexavalent chromium (CrVI). The September 2, 2010 notice alleges that Elementis Chromium […]

OSHA OSHA puts employers on notice about “inherently dangerous” gas blows

September 9, 2010 Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH 4Comment

In early August OSHA proposed citations and penalties to 17 employers involved in the explosion at the Kleen Energy plant that killed six workers. (See previous post here.) The deadly blast was caused by ignition of natural gas being used to clean out debris from pipes, a process called a “gas blow.” OSHA Assistant Secretary […]

Worker Health & Safety What will it take to make every workplace as safe as the corner office? Some Labor Day thoughts

September 8, 2010 Elizabeth Grossman 6Comment

by Elizabeth Grossman “What kind of uproar do you think there would be if CEOs were dying at the same rate as workers, whatever the data?” asked Steve Mitchell UAW Local 974 Health & Safety Representative, just before Labor Day in an online discussion about current U.S. occupational health and safety statistics. As David Michaels, […]

Food Safety & Nutrition Are More Food Crises on the Way?

September 7, 2010 Liz Borkowski, MPH 4Comment

Remember the global food crisis of 2008? Disappointing wheat harvests in Europe, the US, and Australia led to a shortfall in global supplies, and poorer countries and consumers couldn’t afford grain that had suddenly become much more expensive. In the US, families struggled to stretch their food budgets; in 14 other countries, food-related violence erupted. […]

Worker Health & Safety Labor Day is a memorial day if your loved one went to work but never came home

September 6, 2010 Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH

Karen Lubanty recounts: “He kissed me goodbye, told me he’d call me at work later. He kissed Jennifer goodbye. That was it, he never came home.” Her husband, Walter Lubanty, was killed in October 2006 while working at a Tilcon NY Inc. plant in Wharton, NJ. He was crushed by 75 tons of steel. The […]

Injury Control & Violence Excessive work hours: a serious safety hazards for workers

September 3, 2010 Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH 8Comment

Public Citizen, the American Medical Student Association (AMSA) and other worker advocates petitioned the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to issue a regulation limiting the number of hours worked by medical residents. The petitioners argue that the excessive hours expected by the employers (hospitals) of these physicians-in-training cause chronic sleep deprivation and stress, which […]

Public Health Practice Public Health 101: Ten Great Achievements

September 3, 2010 Liz Borkowski, MPH 33Comment

When I first started to get interested in public health several years ago, I thought of it mostly as dealing with things like vaccines and handwashing. From one of my friends who enrolled in a Master of Public Health program, I learned that it actually covers a whole range of issues that affect the population’s […]