Anniversary of Triangle fire, effects of BP spill still felt, ADA updates - Workplace Health & Safety Digest

• 100 years after Triangle Waist Factory tragedy, corporations are still putting profit over safety

Today marks the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Waist Company tragedy. On March 25, 1911, a fire broke out at the New York City garment factory. Even after 146 workers died, many of them young women who jumped to their deaths in an attempt to escape the engulfing flames, industry bristled at the thought of implementing commonsense fire safety precautions. Today, an assault on regulations that protect our health and safety, ensure a living wage and protect us from dangerous products is currently under way in Washington.

• Rhetoric unchanged in century since Triangle fire

The event leading to the creation of many workplace safety regulations is nearing its 100th anniversary, yet many of the same industry concerns voiced then echo today.

• Infographic: How unions succeeded in making your workplace safer in the 100 years since the deadly Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

Reform victories mean that fires are a much smaller risk at the workplace today, but the fight for safer working conditions continues on other fronts…

• Health effects from the Gulf oil spill one year later

Nearly a year after the BP oil spill, people living along the Gulf of Mexico are still feeling the effect of the disaster, the largest oil catastrophe in history. My biggest concern is for the workers who were offshore doing cleanup. Studies of past oil spills have shown chronic respiratory problems after the Exxon Valdez, and markers of DNA damage after a spill off the coast of Spain. It will be important to look for signs of chronic bronchitis and markers of DNA damage that could precipitate cancer or birth defects.

• BP oil probe: Pipe piece caused blowout preventer failure

The blowout preventer that should have stopped the BP oil spill failed largely because of a faulty design and a trapped piece of pipe, an official probe found Wednesday, appearing to shift some blame for the blowout from the oil giant and toward those who built and maintained the 300-ton safety device.

• ADA Amendments Act includes people with HIV

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s ( EEOC ) final regulations to implement the ADA Amendments Act ( ADAAA ) are now available for public view on the Federal Register website at http://www.ofr.gov . The regulations will be published Friday.

• US officials sanction Neb. Labor Department over audit concerns; state promises to improve

Federal officials have sanctioned the Nebraska Department of Labor over concerns about the way the state manages roughly $72 million in federal money, but state officials said Friday that no programs would be affected.

• American workplaces are safer…but not for everyone

U.S. workplaces are getting safer, according to national Department of Labor statistics for the past two decades. But immigrant workers in the most dangerous occupations have not shared in the increased safety, according to statistics and a recent report by seven worker centers nationwide.

• National to add second controller overnight after tower goes silent

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has ordered a second air traffic controller to be on duty overnight at Reagan National Airport, after the lone controller was unavailable early Wednesday as two passenger planes were trying to land.

• 2 Japanese nuclear workers hospitalized for radiation exposure

Two Japanese workers on the crew battling the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant have been hospitalized after being exposed to high levels of radiation while laying cable at the complex’s No. 3 reactor.

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