Only 10 percent of Metro employees said they had not witnessed a safety breach in the past year, according to an unprecedented safety survey completed in July by more than 9,300 workers. Almost 30 percent said they did not know if they had.
BP declined to comment on almost all aspects of the recent reports that ProPublica and PBS FRONTLINE did on the company’s safety and culture. Yet on Monday, in his first public address since becoming BP’s CEO, Robert Dudley said that he did not believe BP had a safety problem and warned that the ProPublica and Frontline reports would be unflattering.
Massey Energy’s top safety officer and at least five other company officials have refused to answer questions from government investigators who are trying to determine the cause of the worst U.S. coal-mining disaster in 40 years.
Halliburton is back in the spotlight, and once again, in an uncomfortable way. On Thursday, a government investigation panel said that Halliburton might have played an important role in the April explosion of the Deepwater Horizon platform in the Gulf of Mexico by supplying cement that the company knew was unstable to BP, which used it to seal the well. Halliburton has repeatedly blamed BP, the owner of the well, of failing to test the cement and making other errors that led to the accident, which killed 11 people and spewed millions of barrels of crude oil into the gulf.
Hydraulic scissor lifts, used for observing and videotaping practices, have hovered above college and NFL fields for decades. Yet a uniform set of safety standards for them doesn’t exist.
In response to the killing of a nurse at the Contra Costa County jail in Martinez, Calif., on Monday, state Assemblywoman Mary Hayashi has announced that she will sponsor legislation to strengthen workplace violence protections for medical personnel in correctional facilities.
An American study of more than 200 Chinese factory workers has found a link between plastic feedstock bisphenol A in urine and potential reproduction problems like decreased sperm count and vitality.
The recent New Mexico Court of Appeals case of May v. DCP Midstream illustrates as clearly as anything the lack of worker’s remedies for work injuries caused by their employer’s negligence. The case shows the absolute disdain for worker safety embodied by the Worker’s Compensation Act which is purportedly for the protection of workers.
The Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries has created a new website with information to help victims of domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking in the workplace.
Officials at the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health say last month’s federal audit calling for better training and quicker complaint resolution missed the mark, relying on outdated information and poor communication for many of its criticisms.
