Toxic acid jeopardizes health of millions, why the unemployed can’t find jobs and look back at occupational safety

• Use of toxic acid puts millions at risk

It was a disturbingly close call, closer than it appeared at the time. On July 19, 2009, an explosion rocked an oil refinery in Corpus Christi, Texas, critically injuring a worker and spawning a fire that burned for more than two days. The blast at the Citgo East refinery unleashed a chemical unknown to many Americans, though it is capable of sweeping into dozens of communities, sickening or even killing as it moves.

• What good is a touch screen if your fingers are too numb to feel the screen?

Reuters recently posted a story from Suzhou, China about workers at a factory making touch screens on contract for Apple who have been injured (including potentially at least one death) by inhaling hexyl hydride, also known as n-Hexane. Stories about industrial, environmental, and health problems in China can frequently be convenient windows for looking into our own regulatory structure for protecting the public, whether from contaminated food, dangerous toys, or the use of unsafe chemicals in products and the workplace.

• New look at an old problem

An ambitious paper was released in Boston last week, which provided a full-cost accounting of the entire life cycle of coal, to the extent that present data and modeling methods allow this. The new look that this report provides is a consideration the full range of health and environmental hazards that result from exploration, mining, processing, transport, and combustion of coal and the subsequent waste that is released into air and water from this fuel source.

• OSHA timeline showcases 40 years of occupational safety

A new, interactive OSHA timeline commemorating 40 years of progress protecting the safety and health of American workers illustrates the milestones OSHA and its state partners have achieved in their efforts to reduce injuries, illnesses and deaths.

• Something old, something new in workplace safety

March 25 will mark 100 years since the infamous Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire galvanized a movement for social justice. Some 146 women did not make it out of the workplace alive that day.

• Ensign breaks with Reid on call to end legal prostitution

Earlier this week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said that it was time to have an “adult conversation about Nevada’s legal sex trade.” Reid is advocating an end to the legalized sex-for-hire industry that Nevada is known for, as a move that would enhance the state’s reputation.

• Despite fewer major air crashes, fatalities increase 15%

The commercial airline industry worldwide posted its lowest rate of major accidents ever in 2010. Still, the numbers of smaller crashes and fatalities overall rose, pointing to persistent safety problems.

• Oregon OSHA kicks off campaign to save fingers

Oregon OSHA this week is kicking off an “emphasis program” to reduce injuries and workplace risks that result in amputations.

• Unemployed can’t get jobs because they are…unemployed

As if finding a job isn’t hard enough, unemployed workers now face the added hurdle of being discriminated against because they don’t have a job. Speaking today before the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), Christine Owens, executive director of the National Employment Law Project (NELP), said that practices barring the unemployed from job availabilities have been growing around the country—and place a disproportionate burden on older workers, African Americans and other workers facing high levels of long-term unemployment.

• Charges filed in construction accident that killed Bakersfield man

Criminal charges have been filed in connection with a 2008 Paso Robles, Calif., construction accident that resulted in the deaths of two men, one of them from Bakersfield.

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War on unions, Apple employees sickened and Facebook hiring policies – Feb. 23 Workplace Health & Safety Digest

• Wisconsin is only part of the GOP war against unions

Wisconsin is just the tip of the iceberg. The Republican war on unions goes far beyond Gov. Scott Walker’s attempt to end collective-bargaining rights for public employees in his state or Gov. John Kasich’s effort to do the same in Ohio.

• Poll: 61% oppose limits on union bargaining power

The public strongly opposes laws taking away the collective bargaining power of public employee unions as a way to ease state financial troubles, according to a new USA TODAY/Gallup Poll.

• ACOEM: NIOSH budget cuts could threaten worker health and safety

In recent letters to leaders of the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate, the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM) expressed strong concerns about the effect of proposed funding cuts to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) – which ACOEM says will devastate the nation’s supply of new physicians trained to treat injured and ill workers.

• Md. corrections department suspends Facebook policy for prospective hires

Maryland’s Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services has suspended a roughly year-old practice of asking prospective employees to voluntarily divulge their user names and passwords to social media Web sites such as Facebook to check for gang affiliations, the department said Tuesday.

• Workers sickened at Apple supplier in China

Last week, when Apple released its annual review of labor conditions at its global suppliers, one startling revelation stood out: 137 workers at a factory here had been seriously injured by a toxic chemical used in making the signature slick glass screens of the iPhone.

• Apple supplier Wintek may boost compensation for poisoned workers in China

Wintek Corp., a supplier of displays to Apple Inc., may pay more money to workers in China poisoned by chemicals while making touch-screen panels, Chief Financial Officer Jay Huang said.

• Airline passengers and flight crews gain ground in OSHA protection

Members of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA) put key U.S. Senate offices on speed dial in a successful call-in campaign to press for long-overdue health and safety protections. On Thursday, the Senate defeated an attempt to strip OSHA protections for Flight Attendants from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Reauthorization Bill.

• AHF asks Cali AG look into porn clinic as LA County seeks out performers

A burst of politically charged issues ignited West Coast tempers last week in the multi-million dollar adult gay film industry. The industry’s gadfly, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, has alleged that a not-for-profit porn clinic, shut down last month by the state, may have reopened under false pretenses.

• Jury awards Cleveland woman $900K in age discrimination employment case

A Cleveland jury in the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Wednesday returned a $900,000 verdict in a significant employment discrimination lawsuit brought by a former employee of Cleveland’s University Hospitals Case Medical Center. The lawsuit filed by Gloria Parks against University Hospitals alleged that Parks, a medical assistant, was discriminated against because of her age when she was terminated from her job of 30 years in July of 2008.

• CalOSHA fines Oakland Children’s Hospital for ER workplace safety lapses

Oakland’s Children’s Hospital was cited and fined Tuesday by the state’s workplace safety agency for failing to create policies and procedures for emergency department personnel in dealing with gunshot wound patients who have been dropped off at the hospital door.

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Collective bargaining, right-to-work and study of Gulf cleanup workers’ health – Feb. 23 Workplace Health & Safety Digest

• Indiana Democrats trigger Statehouse showdown over anti-union legislation

Gov. Mitch Daniels signaled this afternoon that Republicans should to drop the right-to-work bill that has brought the Indiana House to a standstill for two days and imperiled other measures.

• Florida Governor Rick Scott gives thumbs up to public worker organizing

Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI) is now to the right of Florida Governor Rick Scott (R) on the question of allowing public sector workers to unionize.

• Contractors nervous about public access to database of past problems

A new database on contractors’ past behavior has industry scrambling to prepare, according to contracting lawyers and advocates. The Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information System, or FAPIIS, is meant to ensure the government, before making major awards to contractors, knows of past problems such as criminal convictions, fines, suspensions and contracts terminated due to default.

• Study to track Gulf cleanup workers’ health

The federal government next week will launch a massive study to see whether workers who helped clean up last year’s Gulf of Mexico oil spill are getting sick as a result of those jobs.

• Hospitals have a higher rate of workplace violence

Nurses and other health care workers are in danger every day at work. In fact, they are almost three times more likely than other workers to experience violence on the job, according to “Violence: Occupational Hazard in Hospitals,” a study published by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in 2002.

• Pine Bush contractor cites “human error” in NYC deaths

Last Tuesday morning at 10:30, two men installing structural steel atop an addition to the Redeemer Presbyterian Church on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, fell five floors down an elevator shaft to their deaths. There was an immediate rush to judgment by major media outlets, each in turn looking at the iron work sub-contractor on the site, Cross County Contracting, Inc, a local firm based in the Town of Shawangunk.

• Worker’s fatal fall from tower in Okeechobee under investigation

Investigators are looking into the death of a radio antenna installer from Georgia who fell 110 feet from tower at 3:06 p.m. Sunday, according to sheriff’s reports.

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Wisconsin protests, blaming coal miners for black lung and other workplace safety news – Feb. 21

• Madison protesters: Collective bargaining about workplace democracy, not just pay, benefits

The crowds demanding that Republican Gov. Scott Walker “kill the bill” he proposed to eviscerate collective bargaining rights in the state have grown larger by the day here, with numerous estimates putting Saturday’s attendance around 60,000. But despite workers ratcheting up the pressure in the streets, and unions making clear they are willing to accept pay and benefit concessions, Walker has shown no intention of leaving collective bargaining rights intact.

• We are all Wisconsin workers

By carpool and caravan, populists are crowing the capitol to stand up for working people. Millions of Americans are standing together today saying “we are all Wisconsin workers.” All eyes are on Madison, watching to see whether America’s public service workers will continue to have a voice on the job and whether — by extension — any of us will.

• Deaths of 3 federal agents highlight changing dangers

The shooting deaths of two federal agents last week and three in two months highlight the heightened risk to federal investigators who are confronting increasingly violent fugitives, drug traffickers and other criminals, authorities said.

• Congressman blames US coal miners for having black lung disease

Freshman Congressman Larry D. Bucshon (R) of Evansville, Indiana is a cardiothoracic surgeon. His father was an underground coal miner and a member of the United Mine Workers Union for 37 years. Both his grandparents were coal miners. But last week he said the following at a congressional hearing: “I see a lot of patients with workplace related respiratory problems, some of which, to put it bluntly, are their own issue because they refuse to wear safety equipment regardless of whether there are regulations in place to do so or not.”

• Employees who are executives may be exempt from minimum wage and overtime requirements

In the last two months, we’ve discussed two categories of employees who are exempt from minimum wage and overtime requirements under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. Not surprisingly, these employees are referred to as “exempt” employees. Exempt employees generally must qualify as executive, administrative or professional employees.

• Campaign puts focus on distracted driving

It may seem harmless at the time, but doing something as simple as sending a text message while driving is proving over and over to result in fatal consequences. Due to this epidemic, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently announced an education campaign asking employers to prevent work-related distracted driving, with a special focus on prohibiting texting while driving.

• Honeywell denies OSHA access to union workers at uranium plant

Honeywell—a Fortune 100 company that invents and manufactures various technologies in the energy and other sectors—has broken U.S. federal law by not permitting the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) access to one of the union workers at their uranium processing plant in Metropolis, Illinois.

• Fire on the Horizon

John Konrad vividly recalls the moment he heard there had been an explosion aboard the offshore oil rig Deepwater Horizon, drilling on behalf of British Petroleum (BP) in the Gulf of Mexico. At the time, Konrad was serving as active captain aboard drill ship Deep Ocean Ascension—one of BP’s most expensive and technologically advanced exploratory drill ships—guiding it around the Cape of Good Hope en route to the Gulf.

• Learn what its like to be MIOSHA compliance officer inspecting work sites for violations

The state will hold a seminar March 2 to explain the role of MIOSHA compliance officers who inspect construction sites and factories for safety code violations. Geared to those who work in construction or industrial sectors, the seminar is intended to share the process and procedures a MIOSHA compliance officer follows while conducting a workplace inspection and how to respond to MIOSHA citations.

• Local pizza shell company facing $195k in OSHA fines

A Rochester company may be looking at a hefty fine. The Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration says it cited Bona Via Inc., a manufacturer of pizza shells for failing to correct safety hazards at its plant on White Street.

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NIOSH funding, safety in health care industry and rising worker deaths in Washington

• NIOSH programs targeted in President’s 2012 spending proposal

Budget proposals are flying up and down Washington DC’s Pennsylvania Avenue between the White House and Capitol Hill, as lawmakers and the President wrestle with funding plans for the current and next fiscal years. A 215-page document describes the “terminations, reductions and savings,” including the zero-ing out of two programs administered by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).

• IOM says better process needed to protect health care workers during pandemic

A better, coordinated process is needed for issuing up-to-date and consistent guidelines on the use of personal protective equipment by health care workers during an influenza pandemic, an Institute of Medicine committee said in a report to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

• Worker injuries? Not interested, says Obama’s Labor Department

As a nurse who has had her life and career forever altered from a debilitating back injury that occurred on the job, I am outraged by the recent decision by the U.S. Department of Labor to withdraw a rule requiring employers to report musculoskeletal injuries to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

• OSHA, Mexican consulate teaming in Ark., Okla.

The federal Occupational Safety and Healthy Administration says it has teamed up with the Mexican consulate at Little Rock to provide enhanced workplace safety and health for Mexican workers in Arkansas and Oklahoma.

• Workplace deaths rise across the state, agriculture tops the list

Workplace deaths in Washington state climbed in 2010, with 86 men and women killed due to job-related trauma, according to a report on work-related fatalities the Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) released this week.

• Feds: Company gave phony physicals to police, fire applicants and workers

A medical testing company has been charged in federal court with fraud in its handling of physical exams given to applicants and employees of the Chicago police and fire departments, as well as other city departments.

• Local stylist refuses to do Brazilian Blowout

A hair treatment drawing criticism across the country won’t be banned in Ohio — at least for now. Belle Poitras has been a hairstylist in Central Ohio for 10 years, and in the last few months decided to no longer offer the Brazilian Blowout.

• Truth needle: Union ad on Western State mostly false

In a new TV ad, the Washington Federation of State Employees claims that “because of state cuts violence has increased” at Western State Hospital. What we found: The claim is mostly false.

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Workplace Health & Safety Digest, Thursday, Feb. 17

• What’s a life worth? Up to $9.1 million, U.S. agencies say

We learn at a young age that every human life is priceless, but placing a dollar value on an individual life underpins the framework of federal safety regulations protecting workers and consumers. The economic value assigned to a single person’s existence can help justify tougher regulations, by balancing the costs imposed by regulations against the money saved from the deaths that were prevented.

• House hearing criticizes OSHA’s impact on jobs, business

At a Feb. 15 House Subcommittee on Workforce Protections hearing on OSHA’s regulatory agenda and its impact on job creation, witnesses slammed the agency for exploring new regulations that could damage businesses, imposing “substantial burdens” on employers without regard to cost concerns and overlooking the interests of small businesses.

• OSHA statement on the creation of good, safe jobs

Dr. David Michaels, assistant secretary of labor for the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration, issued the following statement as the Subcommittee on Workforce Protections of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce holds a hearing on “Investigating OSHA’s Regulatory Agenda and Its Impact on Job Creation.”

• API: Industry meets final requirement for drilling to resume

The U.S. oil and natural gas industry has completed the final requirement necessary to return to production in the Gulf, according to the American Petroleum Institute, with today’s news that the industry-led Marine Well Containment Company had completed testing.

• Suit alleges BP cut back on safety before oil spill

The New York State comptroller, the Ohio state pension funds and other large investors have alleged that BP made cost-saving cutbacks in its safety operations prior to last year’s major oil spill and that it disregarded safety warnings from its own managers.

• Oil spill report lays much blame on BP

The chief counsel of the presidential oil spill commission has issued a final report laying considerable blame on BP for last year’s disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. But he also points to flaws in Halliburton’s work and errors by the rig owner Transocean.

• National Contingency Plan left Gulf inadequately prepared for health effects of Deepwater Horizon disaster

Since release of its Final Report to the President on January 11th, the National Oil Spill Commission has released five additional papers (called “working papers”) reviewing aspects of the BP/Deepwater Horizon oil disaster. Only the Final Report examines response-worker and public health issues, and where the Commission’s critique is most illuminating is in its analysis of how the National Contingency Plan structure set the stage for what became ongoing contentions over health and safety issues throughout the response. But there are still more questions.

• GAO report details mismanaged federal programs

Concerns about how the Interior Department manages the nation’s oil and gas resources have earned it a spot on a closely-watched list of the government’s most at-risk offices and programs.

• Missouri lawmaker seeks to ‘modify’ child labor laws

In a move that is raising plenty of eyebrows, Missouri state Senator Jeanne Cunningham has proposed a bill that would “modify” child labor laws, eliminating the prohibition on employment of children under 14.

• Proposed regulations would limit cell phone use by truck and bus drivers

In a bold move, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has taken a stance against behind-the-wheel use of mobile phones by commercial bus and truck drivers. Proposed regulations — which some see as a huge step in the direction of increasing safety on the road — would prohibit use of handheld mobile phones as well as preventing the driver from dialing, holding a cell phone or reaching for a phone while the vehicle is in motion.

• Coffee, tea or workplace safety?

Back when flight attendants were stewardesses and airline ads promoted their good looks and winsome smiles to get you on board, these hardworking airline employees had no job safety and health protection. Today, flight attendants still are not covered by the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and most of his Republicans colleagues want to keep it that way, just like the old days.

• Amendment to thwart airport security officers’ bargaining rights defeated in Senate

On Tuesday, the Senate voted down a Republican-authored amendment to the FAA Authorization Act that would have eliminated the collective bargaining rights of baggage screeners at the Transportation Security Administration.

• Record number of grain bin accidents in 2010

A Purdue University report showed 51 grain bin accidents last year, up from 38 in 2009 and the most since tracking began in 1978. Twenty-five people died, and five of them were children under age 16.

• San Francisco firms back paid sick leave law

Two thirds of 727 San Francisco businesses surveyed back the city’s paid sick leave ordinance, contradicting prior corporate claims that it would be expensive to business and hurt the economy, a new report says. And a similar share of 1,194 workers surveyed approves of the law, too.

• Chemist doubts hair-straightener with formaldehyde-free formula

Last year’s $250 hair-care sensation, Brazilian Blowout, promised to leave your locks looking sleek, healthy and frizz-free without formaldehyde. The secret was methylene glycol, a very special active ingredient, it turned out. It’s definitely not formaldehyde, but dry it out, say with a hair dryer, and voila, it’s formaldehyde, a frog preservative and carcinogen.

• Company settles in pipeline deaths

Sacramento construction company Teichert has agreed to pay $3 million in penalties and adopt new safety procedures stemming from a 2008 accident in Paso Robles that killed two employees working on the Nacimiento pipeline project.

• Two mass-evacuation incidents underline danger of CO

In just four days, 53 people were taken to Elgin, Ill.,-area hospitals because the air they were breathing was making them sick. And except for the number of victims involved, that’s not an unusual situation.

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Workplace Health & Safety Digest, Tuesday, Feb. 15

• FY2012 budget request: $583 million for OSHA, $384 million for MSHA

U.S. Labor Department leaders on Monday explained the details of the administration’s FY2012 budget request in a live webchat, discussing the $583 million requested for OSHA and the $384 million for MSHA. While bitter funding battles have yet to be fought in Congress, the proposal stakes DOL’s position on regulatory and enforcement action.

• After proposing draconian anti-union laws, Wis. Gov. Walker invokes National Guard

From his first day in office, new Wisconsin Republican Gov. Scott Walker has been aggressively applying huge jolts of what Shock Doctrine author Naomi Klein called “shock therapy”—forcing the acceptance of unpopular policies upon a disoriented and demobilized population. But apparently Walker thinks the threat of layoffs was proving insufficiently intimidating. On Friday, he revealed that he’s ready to call the National Guard if public workers (specifically, prison guards) stay home in protest of what may be the most draconian anti-union legislation ever offered in the United States.

• Safety agency puts punishing U.S. employers first, lawmaker says

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is punishing employers at the expense of reducing workplace injuries, Representative Tim Walberg, a Michigan Republican, said today at a congressional hearing. “It has become an administration more focused on punishment than prevention,” said Walberg, chairman of the a member of the committee who was elected last year.

• Report dings Congress on workplace safety

When it comes to providing a safe workplace environment for congressional staffers and employees, Congress is faltering, according to a report compiled by the agency responsible for workplace issues in the Capitol.

• Wall Street fights new whistleblower law

With new whistleblower rules coming to Wall Street, the industry’s lobbyists have mounted a furious behind-the-scenes effort to constrain the reach of the new protections.

• Lawsuit alleges Pentagon ignored rape, harassment complaints

A lawsuit by 14 former and current members of the armed forces alleges that Pentagon brass ignored claims of sexual harassment, assault and even rape by military colleagues while on active duty.

• For some troops, powerful drug cocktails have deadly results

After a decade of treating thousands of wounded troops, the military’s medical system is awash in prescription drugs — and the results have sometimes been deadly. By some estimates, well over 300,000 troops have returned from Iraq or Afghanistan with P.T.S.D., depression, traumatic brain injury or some combination of those. The Pentagon has looked to pharmacology to treat those complex problems, following the lead of civilian medicine. As a result, psychiatric drugs have been used more widely across the military than in any previous war.

• Behind the kitchen door: low wages, few benefits for many U.S. restaurant workers

Annual sales revenue in the nation’s restaurant industry tops $515 billion, but few of the 10.3 million workers in the industry earn a living wage. Few have health insurance or proper safety training, and many experience wage theft and discrimination.

• Industrial hygienists protect employees from hazards

Charles L. Marshall is best known for helping Tinker Air Force Base recover from a fire at its logistics center in 1984. Hazardous materials had to be properly removed and disposed, and asbestos and chemicals cleaned away so the building — for national defense emergencies — could be rebuilt as quickly as possible.

• Death at Tulare Co. pistachio plant spurs probe

Workplace safety officials are investigating a deadly accident Friday morning at a Tulare County, Calif., pistachio processing factory that previously had a 2 million pound recall due to a salmonella scare. According to the state’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal-OSHA), a man was doing maintenance inside a pistachio auger, which separates the hull from the nut, when another worker turned on the machine.

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Workplace Health & Safety Digest, Monday, Feb. 14

• Labor budget cut 5%, safety spending up in 2012 plan

President Barack Obama proposed cutting the Labor Department’s budget 5.4 percent to $12.8 billion, cutting some job creation programs deemed redundant and adding support for mine safety and worker protection efforts.

• Food industry whistleblowers promised protection under new safety law

The new federal food safety law has gotten plenty of attention for provisions that aim to protect the public from foodborne illnesses. But a little-noticed section of the law that is supposed to protect workers at food companies who blow the whistle on their employers may — if it is effectively enforced — also prove to be significant for consumers.

• Senate Republican seeks to kill pilot and flight attendant protections

The implementation of basic safety and health protections for flight attendants is being threatened by a discriminatory move in the U.S. Senate that would block safety and health provisions for aircraft cabins and in turn jeopardize the safety of the traveling public. A newly introduced amendment by Senator Rand Paul (KY) would eliminate Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) coverage for flight attendants and other aircrew workers from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Reauthorization bill being debated in the Senate.

• West Virginia OSHA: the agency that doesn’t exist

When the West Virginia Occupational Safety and Health Act was passed in 1987, the goal was to give state employees “a safe and healthful work environment free from recognized and avoidable hazards.” There is only one problem: West Virginia OSHA only exists on paper; it has never been funded by any governor or the West Virginia Legislature.

• New data to reveal Wyoming work death trends

For the first time, the federal government will release state-level, incident-specific data regarding workplace deaths. The data, requested by Wyoming’s occupational epidemiologist, Tim Ryan, will help explain why Wyoming is one of the deadliest states in which to work.

• Company pays government to challenge pesticide research linked to Parkinson’s

In an unusual scenario that raises questions of conflict of interest, a company that conducts research on behalf of the pesticide industry has paid a U.S. government agency to help prove some controversial chemicals are safe.

• SeaWorld will likely ask judge to close OSHA hearings from the public

It is anticipated that an Orlando Judge will be asked to sign a “Protective Order” for an upcoming SeaWorld vs. OSHA hearing, effectively sealing off the details of this high profile case forever. SeaWorld is contesting OSHA citations issued in August, including a finding for the “Willful” act of knowingly placing its employees at risk, following an investigation into the tragic death of killer whale trainer Dawn Brancheau.

• County gets involved in labor dispute with Rankin company

Allegheny County Council appears poised to weigh in this week on a long-standing dispute between owners of a steel-fabricating plant in Rankin and a labor and community coalition that claims the company mistreats its workers. Council is scheduled to consider a resolution Tuesday night that states that W&K Steel operates a “sweatshop” and recommend that the county do no future business with the firm.

• Deadly legacy: Is Plastimet killing firefighters?

First Vinnie in September, then Len in October. In November, Larry. Beginning of January, Dave. Two weeks ago, Joe almost joined them. There is a common tie that binds most of them — Len, Larry, Dave and Joe all fought one of North America’s worst-ever industrial fires. Plastimet.

• Bridgeport cited for serious safety violations in death of two firefighters: city contesting

The Bridgeport Fire Department has been charged with five serious state safety violations in the July 24 blaze that killed two firefighters. The Connecticut Department of Labor’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health found the department did not perform tests on the firefighters’ breathing gas tanks, failed to conduct medical evaluations and ensure air masks fit properly, did not ensure firefighters wore breathing equipment inside the burning building and failed to follow “mayday” rescue procedures.

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Workplace Health & Safety Digest, Friday, Feb. 11

• Issa, Cummings debate costs, benefits of easing business regulations

From workplace safety, to environmental cleanup, to financial oversight, business leaders have long complained that government regulations are costly and often threaten jobs. Republicans are sympathetic to the complaints. Democrats pushed back and suggested the benefits of certain regulations were missing from the debate.

• Deadly Allentown fire raises new questions about gas pipeline safety

The explosion that took the lives of five people and destroyed half a block in Allentown, Pa., this week appears to be the latest in a recent series of tragedies around the U.S. linked to leaks of natural gas.

• Federal government failing victims of BP disaster’s health crisis

There’s growing evidence that serious health problems threaten the Gulf Coast’s residents, cleanup workers and seafood consumers in the wake of the BP oil disaster. But so far the federal agencies in charge of responding to the disaster have failed to take adequate steps to help the injured and prevent further harm.

• Reported errors double in air traffic control

In a time of unparalleled aviation safety in the United States, reports of mistakes by air traffic controllers have nearly doubled — a seeming contradiction that puzzles safety experts.

• Reps. Maloney, Nadler, and King announce information session on Zadroga law

Today, U.S. Reps. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), and Peter King (R-NY), authors of H.R. 847, the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, announced that the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) will be holding a public meeting in New York City on March 3rd to answer questions about how the new law will be implemented.

• Better training has kept more cops alive

Police officers know the risks that come with taking the oath, donning the badge and carrying a handgun. They deal with potentially dangerous people every day and, so far in 2011, 11 officers have been slain. Recent headlines suggest that this may be an “unusual wave of violence,” a case of criminals “outgunning” police, or even a “war on cops.” It might be simply chance.

• Workplaces turning to tobacco-free hiring

Smokers now face another risk from their habit: it could cost them a shot at a job. More hospitals and other medical businesses in many states are adopting strict policies that make smoking a reason to turn away job applicants, saying they want to increase worker productivity, reduce health care costs and encourage healthier living.

• Emails reveal concerns about Olympic luge track

Saturday marks the one-year anniversary of the tragic start to the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. Hours before the opening ceremony at last year’s Winter Games, an athlete in the sport of luge died during a training run. After investigations and official reports, one luge official called the fatal crash an unforeseeable accident. But now, some are questioning that after a slew of Canadian media stories this week.

• Kearny, N.J., manufacturer of swimming pool chemicals is facing $70,000 in OSHA fines for workplace hazards

A town manufacturer of swimming pool chemicals faces up to $70,000 in penalties after being cited for workplace hazards by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration, officials said Monday.

• Falling beer kegs kill man in north Portland

A rack of beer kegs collapsed and killed a man at a beer distributing plant in north Portland this morning, officials say.

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Workplace Health & Safety Digest, Thurday, Feb. 10

• Do regulations kill jobs? House report draws on businesses’ answers.

The Republican staff of a key House oversight committee has expressed a degree of sympathy for industry arguments that federal regulations are killing jobs.

• Judge tosses out suit against regulators in deadly mining disaster

Despite official reviews of the 2006 Aracoma Alma mine disaster placing some of the blame on negligent government inspectors, a federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit against the federal mining regulatory agency.

• Families of 6 workers killed in refinery blast sue Tesoro

The families of 6 workers killed at a local oil refinery sued the company Wednesday for wrongful death. The suit claims Tesoro deliberately ignored dangerous conditions at the plant in Anacortes.

• Medical residents: What do you think of OSHA considering restrictions to the 24-hour work shifts, 80-hour work weeks now used in doctor-training?

The issue of whether medical residents toil too long on hospital shifts has been a hot topic off and on over the last decade. What do you think about that?

• Were your 1-800-Flowers Valentine’s roses picked by forced labor?

This Valentine’s Day, 500 million flowers — most of them roses — are scheduled to make the long journey from Colombia to the U.S. And while their destination may be the hands of lovers across America, the origin of many of these flowers is anything but lovely. That’s because flower farms in Colombia and Ecuador have been known to use forced and child labor, accept widespread sexual harassment of female workers, and subject flower gatherers to terrible conditions.

• Grain elevator operators face $1m-plus in fines for deaths including teen workers

OSHA has fined Haasbach, LLC, of Mount Carroll and Hillsdale Elevator Company of Geneseo and Annawan following the deaths of three workers, including two teenagers. The workers were killed when they suffocated after being engulfed by grain.

• USPS posts $329 million loss, receives $70,000 OSHA fine

OSHA on the same day announced both a first quarter fiscal year loss of $329 million and that one willful violation with a $70,000 proposed penalty has been filed against a USPS location on Royal Parkway in Nashville, Tenn., for allegedly allowing workers to use damaged, unrepaired dock levelers.

• ‘Justified’ stunt woman injured — severe head trauma

A stunt woman for the show “Justified” is in critical condition — after being hit by a vehicle during production of the FX show last week.

• Security guard on ‘NCIS’ set killed when driver blacks out

State regulators are investigating the death of a security guard killed when the driver of a production company van blacked out and his vehicle slammed into a tent on the set of the CBS crime drama “NCIS” authorities said Wednesday.

• 6 workers injured in Indiana Co. power plant explosion

Six workers were injured at an industrial accident in Indiana County, Pa., on Thursday morning. According to officials, a six-inch high pressure steam pipe burst inside the Homer City Power Plant in Center Township around 7:45 a.m.

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