Daily Roundup, Wednesday, June 30

• A Worker’s Life Is Worth: $175,000. A Crab’s: Millions.

Showing a disregard for the safety of workers can get you in trouble in this country. But unfortunately, not enough trouble.

• As CEO Hayward Remade BP, Safety, Cost Drives Clashed

Early on June 5, 2008, a piece of steel tubing ruptured on BP PLC’s vast Atlantis oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico.

• Health of Exxon Valdez cleanup workers was never studied

You’d think that more than 20 years after the Exxon Valdez oil spill, scientists would know what, if any, long-term health dangers face the thousands of workers needed to clean up the Gulf of Mexico spill. You’d be wrong.

• Is oil spill also fouling the air?

Record levels of potentially harmful chemicals have been detected by UC Irvine researchers in the air around the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

• Rep. Kline: Dems’ mine safety reforms are overkill

Rep. John Kline (R-Minn.) on Tuesday said newly proposed mine safety reforms — floated earlier in the day by some key Democrats — aren’t focused enough on the problems they’re intended to fix.

• Cal-OSHA to revise heat safety guidelines

By law, people who work outside in the heat must be provided with shade, water and heat illness training. But critics have said the existing rules are too vague.

• OSHA’s Severe Violator Enforcement Program (SVEP) Now Effective

OSHA’s Severe Violators Enforcement Program (SVEP) directive went into effect June 18th. The program targets employers who willfully and repeatedly endangering workers by exposing them to serious hazards in the workplace.

• VA Hospital Warns Veterans of HIV, Hepatitis Exposure

A VA hospital in St. Louis may have exposed more than 1,800 veterans to diseases including HIV and hepatitis.

• Porn stars protest proposed tougher rules requiring condom use on sets

Porn actors and actresses Tuesday protested the possible strengthening of rules requiring condom use in adult movies at a California occupational health and safety hearing in downtown Los Angeles.

• Federal Court Sentences PA Contractor for Lethal Safety Lapses

Last week, Pennsylvania roofing contractor Christopher Franc was sentenced to three years’ probation and six months’ house arrest for willful safety violations that resulted in the death of a worker, 29-year-old Carl Beck, who plunged 40 feet to his death while working on a steep roof last August. Investigators found that Franc had failed to provide any fall-protection equipment to his workers.

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Daily Roundup, Tuesday, June 29

• We failed the people who cleaned up 9/11. Will we fail the people cleaning up the Gulf?

Amazingly, BP “continues to pretend that – just like an oil spill of this magnitude could never happen – there also could not possibly be a worker health concern.”

• Massey Challenges Feds Over Mine Explosion Investigation

For the second time in a week, Massey Energy Co. has taken legal action against federal regulators who are investigating the April explosion that killed 29 miners at one of the company’s West Virginia mines.

• Democrats in U.S. Congress Draft Legislation to Tighten Mine-Safety Rules

Democrats in Congress are drafting legislation that would make it easier to shut mines with repeated safety violations, such as the Massey Energy Co. coal mine where 29 men died in an April explosion.

• Panel favors ban on use of natural gas to clean pipes in wake of Middletown blast

Members of the federal agency investigating the Feb. 7 Kleen Energy power plant explosion are recommending the prohibition of the use of natural gas during “gas blows.”

• Cockpit Fires Spark Inaction From FAA

For years, federal aviation officials have known that cockpit window heaters in some Boeing planes catch fire, but they have yet to require airlines to resolve the problem, the Associated Press reports.

• SeaWorld may settle with feds in killer-whale-trainer death

SeaWorld has reached out to the federal agency investigating the February death of a killer-whale trainer at SeaWorld Orlando about the possibility of negotiating a settlement even before the safety probe is complete, according to a source familiar with the inquiry.

• Mandatory use of condoms in porn filming to be taken up by state panel

A state advisory panel exploring whether condoms should be mandatory in adult film production will meet Tuesday to discuss whether changes should be made to worker safety laws.

• Former porn actresses sue clinic for releasing patient records

Two former adult film actresses are suing the Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation. They allege the Sherman Oaks-based foundation that tests adult film performers for sexually transmitted diseases violated their privacy by releasing their health information online.

• Medical Marijuana User Sues Over Walmart Firing

A man who uses medical marijuana to treat symptoms of an inoperable brain tumor and cancer claims in a lawsuit filed Tuesday he was wrongfully fired from a Walmart store in Battle Creek, Mich., after testing positive for the drug.

• OSHA fines Eagan, Miss., USPS $210,000

OSHA cited the United States Postal Service with three alleged willful violations at the processing center. It issued $210,000 in fines for “severe and ongoing” electrical and protective equipment hazards following an OSHA inspection prompted by employee complaints.

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Daily Roundup, Monday, June 28

• Criminal charges for environmental accidents more common

In years past, on-the-job, environmental-related accidents rarely led to criminal charges, but that is changing.

• Is it time to consider barring BP from federal oil leases?

The federal government should consider barring oil giant BP from drilling on federal land or holding onto its existing leases, says a recently retired federal attorney who spent years dogging BP’s operations in Alaska.

• Dems call on Salazar to tap work safety agency to help craft offshore rules

Key House Democrats on Friday pressed the Interior Department to work with the administration’s workplace safety experts — not just the oil industry — as it crafts rules to protect workers offshore.

• Safety board weighs response to Conn., NC blasts

In both cases, natural gas accumulated during the pipe-cleaning procedure, known as a “gas blow,” and ignited. Workplace safety groups say using air or nitrogen to purge pipes would be safer.

• Feds checking for violations of safety laws at census office

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration has opened an investigation into the U.S. Census Bureau office in Grand Junction, which earlier this year was inundated by fumes from a marijuana-growing operation in the same building.

• NY Passes Law to Protect Taxi Drivers

Sponsored by state Sen. Eric Adams (D-Brooklyn) and Lancman, the legislation will increase penalties for assaulting taxi drivers and require each taxi cab to post a sign reading, “Warning: Assaulting a taxi driver is punishable by up to twenty-five years in prison.”

• Another Kentucky coal mining fatality

In the span of barely a week, a second Kentucky coal miner has been killed in an underground mining operation. The death of Bobby Smith in a James River Coal Company mine near Hazard on April 24 brings to 39 the number of coal miners killed so far this year.

• Schneider Electric Faces $42,300 Charge for Worker’s Electrocution

OSHA has cited Schneider Electric, doing business as Square D, for alleged workplace safety violations following the electrocution fatality of a worker at the company’s facility in El Paso, Texas.

• USPS processing facility in Maine faces $430,000 OSHA fine for electrical hazards

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited the U.S. Postal Service for alleged willful and repeat violations of safety standards following an inspection at the Southern Maine Processing and Distribution Center in Scarborough, Maine. The Postal Service faces a total of $430,000 in fines, chiefly for exposing workers to electrical hazards.

• Ship Builder Cited for Boatload of Safety, Health Hazards

OSHA has cited Sneed Shipbuilding Inc. for alleged serious, repeat, and other-than-serious violations for exposing employees to electrical and other safety hazards at the company’s 35-acre facility in Channelview, Texas. Proposed penalties total $59,300.

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Daily Roundup, Friday, June 25

• Safety Guidelines on Doomed Offshore Rig Were Voluntary

In the weeks leading up to the Deepwater Horizon explosion, worker safety standards for offshore oil rigs were voluntary and developed in consultation with the oil industry but not safety experts, a senior Interior official told Congress Wednesday.

• OSHA: BP Less Safe Than Other Oil Companies

In the wake of the BP oil spill, efforts have been afoot on the part of the Obama administration to ban drilling off the U.S. coast outright, ostensibly to stop future disasters like that which continues to unfold in the Gulf.

• Work safety association says program might have prevented oil rig deaths

A massive federal investigation is trying to figure out what went wrong at the Deepwater Horizon rig. Now members of a public-private safety program say the explosion that brought on the Gulf crisis might have been prevented with another layer of safety inspections.

• If MSHA needed more resources for safety enforcement, why didn’t President Obama ask?

This week’s bombshell from the Labor Department Office of Inspector General raises lots of questions, among them why the folks at the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration didn’t previously reveal a major change to the way they implemented the Pattern of Violations program.

• Family Leave Politics Move Toward Workplace Fairness and LGBT Equality

When a child is sick, the last thing a parent should be worried about is her next paycheck. Yet that’s the perverse dilemma that besets millions of workers in an economy that’s radically out of sync with the rhythms of modern family life.

• Council takes steps to protect construction workers

The Austin City Council took new steps to protect construction workers. Last year seven people died at construction sites — prompting the council to pass tougher regulations.

• N.Y. State Tries to Help Frustrated Freelancers Get Paid

More and more Americans are freelancing today, as traditional 9-5 jobs seem to disappear faster than ice melting in the hot summer sun. Freelance (or contract) workers find themselves completely unprotected by current labor laws, which were designed for 9-5 workers.

• US Bank in Seattle ordered to pay back wages, reinstate former manager terminated in violation of SOX whistleblower provisions

OSHA has ordered U.S. Bank in Seattle to reinstate a former bank manager, who was fired in retaliation for filing an internal report alleging securities and bank fraud by company employees, finding that the bank fired the employee in violation of the whistleblower protection provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.

• Judge delays ruling on whether to make report public on 2007 Xcel plant accident

A federal judge indicated Thursday he is not yet persuaded to suppress the release of a federal investigative report from the 2007 deadly Cabin Creek Hydro Plant accident but delayed ruling on whether the public should eventually be able to see it.

• Pittsburgh-Area Contractor Gets OSHA Fall Sentence

The owner of a Pittsburgh-area construction firm will spend three years on probation, including six months’ house arrest, for willingly violating federal workplace safety rules that contributed to a worker’s death in August.

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Daily Roundup, Thursday, June 24

• Rep. Miller takes on Interior Department over new offshore work-safety rules

The Obama administration is drafting new offshore worker-safety rules using input from the oil industry but not its own workplace safety experts, a senior Interior Department official told House lawmakers Wednesday.

• At Least 10 Dangerous Mines Excluded From Inspections in 2009

A review by the Department of Labor has found that federal mine safety regulators may have improperly excluded more than 10 coal mines with a recent history of safety and health violations from inspections.

• BP Continues to Use Surface Dispersants in Gulf Despite EPA Directive

BP PLC has applied 272,000 gallons of dispersants to the surface of the Gulf of Mexico in the four weeks since U.S. EPA directed the company to stop using the chemicals, except “in rare cases” when other approaches to fighting the ongoing oil leak proved unworkable, according to government records.

• Dems, Natural Gas Industry Negotiating Fracking Disclosure Plan

Rep. Diana DeGette and the natural gas industry are actively negotiating a plan to require public disclosure of the sometimes toxic chemicals that drillers use to flush gas out of the ground, according to sources on both sides of the talks.

• Florida Health Dept. Investigating Porn Industry Safety Complaints

The Florida Department of Health has begun an investigation of ‘sanitary nuisance’ health complaints filed with the Department by AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) over the lack of use of condoms in films produced by Florida’s fast growing adult film industry.

• NYC, 9/11 Workers Reach $712.5 Million Injury Settlement

U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein yesterday approved a settlement to compensate 10,000 workers who claim illnesses from rescue, recovery and debris removal after the Sept. 11 World Trade Center attack.

• Agency spends $61K fighting $500 fine

An Austin, Texas, public transit agency spent more than $61,000 in legal fees fighting a $500 Occupational Health and Safety Administration fine, observers say.

• Emergency crews dig out man trapped in Ankeny, Iowa, trench

Emergency crews dug out a construction worker who was trapped in a trench after it collapsed this afternoon, authorities said.

• Carnival worker’s leg severed in roller coaster accident

Less than 90 minutes into opening day of the Sonoma-Marin, Calif., Fair Wednesday, a carnival worker’s leg was severed when he walked into the path of a moving roller coaster filled with young children.

• Two NSTAR workers injured in plant accident

Two employees of NSTAR were injured this afternoon as the result of some type of explosion at the utility’s Charlestown facility, according to Boston police.

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Daily Roundup, Wednesday, June 23

• Would OSHA Keep Vuvuzelas Out of US Stadiums?

Federal safety investigators would probably shut down the World Cup soccer playoffs if they were being held in the U.S. The noise levels saturating the stadium in Pretoria far exceed the legal limits for sound, and scientists warn that deafness may result.

• As BP Works Through Backlog, Cleanup Worker Illness Stats Triple Since Prior Report

Following criticism and questions about its illness data, Deepwater Horizon Unified Command—a response center involving BP, Transocean, Halliburton, the Coast Guard and multiple federal agencies—appears to have tweaked its recording of worker illnesses in the Gulf.

• MMS Moving to Mandate Safety Standards for Rig Workers

The worker-safety standards in place for offshore oil rigs before the Deepwater Horizon blast two months ago were voluntary and developed in consultation with the oil industry, a senior official at the retooled Minerals Management Service (MMS) told lawmakers today.

• Liveblog: Hearing on Oil Rig and Cleanup Worker Health and Safety

Today the House EdLabor Committee, chaired by Rep. George Miller, is hosting a hearing called “Worker Health and Safety from the Oil Rig to Shoreline.”

• OSHA to publicly shame job safety violators

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration “will use not just our normal inspection system, but regulation by shaming” against notorious job safety and health violators, its administrator says.

• Safety Whistleblowers Get Little Protection

A Department of Labor program set up to protect workers who blow the whistle on their employers may not be providing very much protection at all.

• Whistleblowers left hanging in Golden State

It’s illegal to demote or fire an employee for reporting hazardous conditions at work. But in California, safeguards for whistleblowers are little more than words on paper, advocates for workers say.

• The historic nature of Silver Eagle refinery’s $1 mil fine

Silver Eagle Refinery this week received a $1 million fine from state safety regulators, a fine five times greater than the combined total of all the fines for safety violations assessed against all of Utah’s oil refineries over the last decade.

• Feds to probe Fort Bragg shooting

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has launched an investigation into the death of a contractor killed during a live fire drill at Fort Bragg, officials said today.

• Port Authority Worker Suspended After ‘Rampage’

A Port Authority worker has been suspended and accused of going on a rampage inside his workplace with a baseball bat.

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Daily Roundup, Tuesday, June 22

• Immigrants at Higher Risk to Die on the Job

Job-related injury and death are more prevalent among Hispanic workers than for any other demographic in the U.S. workforce.

• U.S. Supreme Court Shuts Courthouse Door to Consumers, Employees Challenging Unfair Arbitration Clauses

Until yesterday’s Supreme Court decision, consumers and employees had the right to go to court and ask a judge to find an arbitration agreement unconscionable or unfair, and therefore unenforceable.

• BP Needs to Provide Respirators for Cleanup Workers

Nausea, vomiting, nosebleeds, headaches, and chest pain: these are just some of the identical symptoms reported by people working around BP’s oil in the Gulf Coast.

• Gaps in Health Data, Suspicions About BP Worry U.S. Panelists

There are “large gaps” in data now being gathered on the health of the 34,000 workers cleaning up the largest oil spill in U.S. history, and growing concern that BP Plc will fail to publicize problems if they do arise.

• New OSHA office means more enforcement

OSHA isn’t new, but its permanent presence in Nevada is. The opening of a Las Vegas office in May is this year’s biggest change in enforcement of the state’s employment law, according to two local attorneys.

• Iowa Railroad Reproved for Retaliating against Whistleblowing Conductor

OSHA has ordered the Iowa Interstate Railroad, headquartered in Cedar Rapids, to make amends for censuring a train conductor who was disciplined in reprisal for reporting a workplace injury.

• NJ chemical plant rated most dangerous in U.S.

Nestled between Newark and Jersey City, just seven miles from the heart of Manhattan, lies one of the country’s biggest chemical weapons, according to a new report.

• OSHA Cites Ford for Damaged Overhead Cranes at Woodlawn Plant

OSHA has cited Ford’s Woodlawn, N.Y., Stamping Plant with an alleged willful violation of safety standards for not repairing or removing unsafe overhead cranes from service. OSHA says the investigation began with a complaint from workers at the plant.

• Kansas Beef Processor Fined $130K for Alleged Safety Violations

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Creekstone Farms Premium Beef LLC of Arkansas City, Kan., for allegedly exposing workers to a potential catastrophic release of ammonia at its meat processing facility. Proposed violations total $130,000.

• Eastdale, Ala., Mall could reopen today

Nicholas Burdette, 22, was found dead inside the mall Sunday, but police are awaiting autopsy results to determine if his death is related to a leak of R-22 refrigerant.

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Daily Roundup, Monday, June 21

• OSHA Director: Offshore Cleanup Workers Will Get More Training

On Thursday, C-SPAN asked the head of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration about our reporting — and he agreed that “more training is needed” for many spill responders.

• American Medical Association Wants Condoms on Porn Stars

During their annual meeting this week, the AMA voted to support legislation requiring the use of condoms in pornographic films.

• Feds to Investigate Porn Industry Testing Clinic for Privacy Breaches

In response to a formal written complaint alleging sweeping violations of federal patient confidentiality laws filed by AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has decided to open an investigation of the Adult Industry Medical (AIM) HealthCare Foundation, a Los Angeles area HIV testing clinic funded by and serving the adult film industry.

• New Documents Show BP Made Little Progress on Alaska Safety Issues From 2001 to 2007

Six years after a scathing 2001 internal review of BP’s Alaska operations found that the company wasn’t maintaining safety equipment and faced “a fundamental lack of trust” among workers, a follow-up study concluded BP had made little headway in addressing those concerns.

• Aggregate producers, coal mining companies feel the heat of safety enforcement

Regulators are under intense pressure to tighten workplace safety regulations and impose tougher penalties on violators, following several recent fatal coal mine disasters.

• Congressional Hearing on Oil Disaster Worker Safety Next Week

Some good news out of Congress about protecting workers involved in the BP oil disaster, as well as offshore oil workers. Rep. George Miller’s House Committee on Education and Labor will hold a hearing on oil worker and cleanup worker safety on Wednesday.

• Is Metro any safer one year after deadly crash?

Metro received a clear wake-up call when one train crashed into another outside of the Fort Totten rail station a year ago Tuesday, killing nine people and injuring dozens more.

• Local company faces OSHA fines

A Henrietta, N.Y., manufacturing plant faces federal workplace safety fines of more than $350,000 for allegedly exposing workers to excessive levels of methylene chloride, which has been linked to cancer and other illnesses.

• Utah refinery hit with $1M in fines for explosion

Utah regulators have fined an oil refinery more than $1 million for an explosion last year that knocked four workers to the ground and damaged dozens of nearby houses.

• Dads Struggle to Balance Work and Family, Too

Just in time for Father’s Day, researchers from Boston College released a report last week that studied the way contemporary dads find and maintain a balance between the demands of work and family.

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Daily Roundup, Friday, June 18

• House to question OSHA chief about safety around Gulf spill

David Michaels, head of the Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), will testify before the House labor committee next Wednesday on worker safety issues related to the Deepwater Horizon disaster, the panel announced on Thursday.

• Working late-night retail dangerous job

Although workplace slayings are down across the nation, working the overnight shift in convenience stores still is a risky occupation.

• DuPont to report findings of West Virginia plant probe

An aging hose, corrosion and a pressure buildup are responsible for a phosgene leak at a DuPont chemical plant in West Virginia that resulted in the death of one worker in January, the company said Thursday.

• New OSHA office means more enforcement

Nevada employers required to keep workplaces safe have a new watchdog: the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

• Judge orders reinstatement of Massey Miner

An administrative law judge with the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission ruled in favor of a Massey whistle-blower, temporarily putting him back to work.

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Daily Roundup, Thursday, June 17

• UN body tackles stigma of AIDS in the workplace

The non-binding recommendation urges countries to set up AIDS prevention programs in places of employment and help infected workers be productive for as long as possible.

• Gulf cleanup training ignores advice of health agency

On Wednesday, we spoke with a federal official who said the four-hour safety course that BP is providing to Gulf cleanup workers lacks basic information on health risks and is too short to cover the necessary material.

• O.C. consultant urges Latino worker safety training

Recent data show that Latino workers are more prone to workplace-related fatalities and injuries.

• Businesses prepare for health changes

If you’re looking to work in a growth industry, try health care.

• Company, managers charged in workplace death

Indictments have been returned against United Oil Recovery Services Inc. and some of its higher-ranking employees in connection with the death of a worker in 2008 at the company’s Middletown facility.

• 3 Workers injured in Minneapolis chemical explosion

A Thursday morning, June 10, 2010 chemical explosion injured three people at Interplastic Corporation.

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