Your commute is killing you, and another worker dead at Apple factory in China

When a soldier brings war back home
This Memorial Day, we remember our fallen soldiers. Many have died in combat, but increasingly, for off-duty members of the National Guard and Army Reserves, soldiers are dying by their own hands. Nationally, the number of those who’ve committed suicide has nearly doubled from 80 in 2009 to 145 last year.
http://www.npr.org/2011/05/30/136692959/when-a-soldier-brings-war-back-home

Xcel Energy trial in five deaths opens today
The trial of Xcel Energy on charges of workplace-safety violations — a rare instance of federal prosecutors bringing criminal charges against a company — opens today in Denver. The case stems from the deaths of five men at the Cabin Creek hydroelectric plant near Georgetown in 2007.
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_18172220

Upper Big Branch: Hawk’s Nest redux
For those who don’t know the history of the Hawk’s Nest Tunnel, from 1930 to 1935, approximately 3,000 workers carved a 3 mile tunnel through the Gauley Mountain in West Virginia in order to divert the New River for an electrical station at a Union Carbide plant. Ventilation was limited at best. The miners were not given modest protections like masks or breathing equipment. Quartz dust from cutting into the mountain invaded their lungs. Signs of the deadly lung disease, silicosis, began for some within eight weeks of employment. Public health historians learned in their studies that the building of the Hawk’s Nest Tunnel in West Virginia was considered one of the worst man-made industrial disease accidents in U.S. history. But as we know, it wasn’t an accident. Workers were placed in harm’s way for profit. Their health be damned. Fast forward to May 2011.
http://scienceblogs.com/thepumphandle/2011/05/upper_big_branch_hawks_nest_re.php

California worker safety officials draft proposal to require condoms in porn
Porn performers in California would be required to use condoms in sex scenes if draft rules from state workplace safety officials advance out of the proposal phase. Cal/OSHA officials provided the Associated Press with a 17-page draft proposal that contained sometimes graphic details of the bodily fluids, waste matter and other materials that porn actors must protect themselves against to avoid infection.
http://www.ktuu.com/sns-ap-us-porn-industry-condoms,0,374992.story

Wal-Mart is being pressed to disclose how global suppliers treat workers
Wal-Mart is facing new pressure to monitor and disclose how its international suppliers treat their workers. At its annual shareholder meeting on Friday, the New York City pension funds, which own a small percentage of shares in Wal-Mart, plan to ask the company to require vendors to publish annual reports detailing working conditions in their factories.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/31/business/31walmart.html?emc=eta1

Union takes after West Hollywood hotel
The Hyatt Andaz hotel, West Hollywood’s largest and only union hotel, suffered a PR attack from its labor partners Unite Here 11 this week as part of their effort to gain the upper hand in stalled contract negotiations. Releasing a press release on Wednesday, Unite Here 11 announced that “the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration (CalOSHA) has issued citations alleging that the Hyatt Andaz Hotel in West Hollywood has failed to comply with multiple state safety regulations.” The agency made no citations, however, for hazardous working conditions charged by Unite Here 11.
http://wehonews.com/z/wehonews/archive/page.php?articleID=6134

Your commute is killing you
In the past decade or so, researchers have produced a significant body of research measuring the dreadfulness of a long commute. People with long transit times suffer from disproportionate pain, stress, obesity, and dissatisfaction.
http://www.slate.com/id/2295603/

OSHA casts iron foundry $44,300 fine for repeat, health violations
OSHA has cited Domestic Casting Inc. LLC for exposing workers to safety and health hazards at its Shippensburg, Pa., facility. Proposed penalties total $44,300.
http://ohsonline.com/articles/2011/05/28/osha-casts-iron-foundry-44300-fine-for-repeat-health-violations.aspx?admgarea=news

Foxconn worker from Chengdu factory commits suicide
Sadly, a 20-year-old male employee at Foxconn (Apple’s contract manufacturer for many products) committed suicide Thursday morning, according to a report from the Hong Kong China News Agency (HKCNA) cited by Bloomberg. The worker was reportedly employed at the company’s new facility in Chengdu where an explosion killed three workers on May 20.
http://www.tuaw.com/2011/05/27/foxconn-worker-from-chengdu-factory-commits-suicide/

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How will Obama’s regulatory plan affect worker safety?

OSHA will cut reporting requirements under Obama regulatory plan
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration plans to cut more than 1.9 million hours of annual reporting requirement for business, a step the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said would have little effect on companies. The OSHA rule would save more than $40 million a year, Cass Sunstein, director of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, said today in outlining an overhaul of rules.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-26/osha-will-cut-reporting-requirements-under-obama-regulatory-plan.html

Supreme Court upholds Arizona law designed to thwart illegal workers
The US Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a controversial Arizona law that threatens to shut down businesses that intentionally hire illegal immigrants.
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2011/0526/Supreme-Court-upholds-Arizona-law-designed-to-thwart-illegal-workers

Hotel workers need panic buttons: New York lawmaker
New York hotel workers would have electronic “panic buttons” under a new bill proposed after then-IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was charged with sexually assaulting a hotel maid. “To my knowledge this would be the first in the nation,” Democratic Assemblyman Rory Lancman, who represents the New York City Borough of Queens, said by telephone on Tuesday.
http://www.39online.com/news/local/sns-rt-us-strausskhan-newytre74n6cd-20110524,0,3161905.story

Cal/OSHA referral leads to fines, jail time for contractor, foreman
Following the referral of a fatality investigation by the Department of Industrial Relations’ Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DIR/Cal-OSHA), the San Francisco District Attorney prosecuted Sam Hyung Goo Shim, the owner of California C&R, Inc., a San Francisco roofing company in connection with the January 2008 death of an employee. Both Shim and his foreman, Jwa Young Kim, were sentenced today to 1 year in county jail. The Cal/OSHA investigation also resulted in the issuance of three citations totaling $70,485 on July 15, 2008, including serious and willful citations.
http://safety.blr.com/workplace-safety-news/safety-administration/workplace-accidents/CalOSHA-Referral-Leads-to-Fines-Jail-Time-for-Cont/

Study finds unionized coal mines substantially safer
A new study shows that miners in unionized coal mines are far less likely to be killed or injured on the job than miners in nonunion operations. The independent study funded by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) found that “unionization predicts an 18-33 percent drop in traumatic injuries and a 27-68 percent drop in fatalities.”
http://www.todaysworkplace.org/2011/05/25/study-finds-unionized-coal-mines-substantially-safer/

China urging worker safety after blast at Foxconn plant
China on Wednesday called on Foxconn and other Taiwanese companies to ensure work safety after a deadly explosion last week at a plant operated by the tech giant where Apple’s iPad2 was being assembled.
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/china-taiwan-relations/2011/05/26/303780/China-urging.htm

Cancer survivor seeks help for ill Hanford workers
A cancer survivor asked a federal advisory board Wednesday to consider the suffering of Hanford workers and their families because of the deceit of a company that performed lab tests in the late ’80s. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health’s Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health, meeting in St. Louis on Wednesday, discussed whether to ease rules for allowing ill Hanford Plutonium Finishing Plant workers to claim $150,000 in compensation.
http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/05/26/1680840/cancer-survivor-seeks-help-for.html

Exposing workers to asbestos could cost Illinois firm $1.2 million
Federal regulators are seeking $1.2 million in fines from an Illinois advertising-display firm that they say willfully exposed five of its workers to cancer-causing asbestos. The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced Wednesday that the employer, AMD Industries, required the five workers to remove asbestos without giving them proper training or protective gear for the job.
http://www.fairwarning.org/2011/05/exposing-workers-to-asbestos-could-cost-illinois-firm-1-2-million/

Worker fatally crushed on conveyor, company fined $82,100
OSHA has cited Welspun Tubular LLC with one willful and two serious violations following the death of a worker at the company’s Little Rock, Ark., facility. Proposed penalties total $82,100. OSHA’s Little Rock office initiated a safety inspection on Dec. 22, 2010, at the company’s facility on Frazier Pike following a report that a worker was crushed to death by being caught between two pipes on a conveyor.
http://ohsonline.com/articles/2011/05/26/worker-fatally-crushed-on-conveyor-company-fined-82100.aspx?admgarea=news

American workers now burn 140 fewer calories
The nature of the American job has become so sedentary that Americans are now burning 140 calories less than they would have been in a typical job five decades ago. Physical activity during the workday has been declining since 1960, corresponding with the nation’s steady weight gain since that time, according to a new sweeping review reported in the New York Times Well blog.
http://www.nbcnewyork.com/blogs/go-healthy-ny/American-Workers-Burning-Less-Calories-122657049.html

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Worker discrimination on the rise after global financial crisis: Report

After the crisis, the rise of worker discrimination is breathtaking
It’s bad enough that the global financial crisis has put millions of people out of work and trashed the future of the ranks of workers everywhere. But, let’s take a moment to consider an undercurrent of the economic crisis, fanned by fear, stupidity and the relentless drive to cut government (oh, that comes under stupidity so please excuse the redundancy): the rise in all forms of discrimination.
http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/7313/after_the_crisis_the_rise_of_worker_discrimination_is_breathtaking/

New federal regulations for tipped employees
The U.S. Labor Dept. issued new regulations for the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) that affect businesses that have tipped employees. These regulations became effective on May 5. Here are some compliance pointers.
http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/tips/archives/2011/05/new_federal_regulations_for_tipped_employees.html

Hair care experts push for safer products
California salon workers and women’s advocates said they will tell a U.S. congressional committee a hair-straightening product presents a health hazard. The hair experts are scheduled Wednesday to brief the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus on their objections to the “Brazilian Blowout” and other hair treatments that contain formaldehyde, a carcinogen, the New York Daily News reported.
http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2011/05/17/Hair-care-experts-push-for-safer-products/UPI-12871305652822/

Safer workplaces for youth this summer
Every year, around 800 young people in Massachusetts end up having to go to the emergency room because they’re injured on the job. And it’s estimated that another 2400 young workers each year are hurt at work but don’t seek medical treatment.
http://media-newswire.com/release_1149762.html

Bob DuPont: Our buildings aren’t safe by accident
Dear Editor: When you go to bed each night, arrive at work each day or walk through the grocery store on the weekend, do you worry about the floor under your feet or the roof over your head? Probably not — and that’s good. A hundred years ago, in May 1911, the Legislature created the Wisconsin Industrial Commission to oversee workplace safety. Safe buildings have been an expectation in Wisconsin ever since.
http://host.madison.com/news/opinion/mailbag/article_850b6480-3e69-530f-9835-e43929f7fad9.html

Having supportive co-workers may help you live longer
Having supportive co-workers may help you live longer than counterparts without, while support from the boss appears to make no difference, said researchers from Israel in a study published in the May issue of the journal Health Psychology.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/225646.php

Republic steel faces possible $563,000 fine
Safety at the Republic Engineered Products steel plant is being questioned. The company is facing a proposed $563,000 fine from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration over repeated violations at its Lorain plant. In addition to the fine, Republic has been placed in OSHA’s Severe Violators Enforcement Program, subjecting it to increased scrutiny. Dr. David Michaels, an OSHA assistant secretary of labor, said in a news release Monday that Republic has a long record of safety violations that have included injuries and fatalities.
http://chronicle.northcoastnow.com/2011/05/17/republic-steel-faces-possible-563000-fine/

Cal/OSHA fines contractor over $235,000 for willful safety violations leading to flash fire
Cal/OSHA issued ten citations totaling $235,865 to construction contractor TL Pavlich for deliberate and willful workplace safety violations which led to a flash fire severely burning a welder on a public works project in Montebello last December. In addition to being reviewed for a potential criminal referral to the Los Angeles District Attorney, the case is being referred to the Contractors State Licensing Board for licensing review and to the California Labor Commissioner for possible public works debarment.
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/calosha-fines-contractor-over-235000-for-willful-safety-violations-leading-to-flash-fire-122037579.html

OSHA cites Cargill Meat Solutions for workplace safety and health violations
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Cargill Meat Solutions of Dodge City with two repeat and 23 serious violations for exposing workers to numerous occupational hazards. Proposed fines total $176,400 following a combined safety and health inspection at the facility.
http://www.cattlenetwork.com/cattle-news/OSHA-cites-Cargill-Meat-Solutions-for-workplace-safety-and-health-violations-121662774.html?ref=774

$139,260 in fines issued to contractor for scaffolding, fall hazards
OSHA has cited Total Remodeling Services LLC for 16 alleged violations of workplace safety standards following OSHA’s inspection of a residential roofing site in Bridgeport, Conn. The Shelton contractor faces a total of $139,260 in proposed fines, chiefly for fall, scaffolding, and ladder hazards.
http://ohsonline.com/articles/2011/05/15/139000-in-fines-issued-to-contractor-for-scaffolding-fall-hazards.aspx?admgarea=news

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Identifying wage theft? There’s an app for that. #worker #p2 #labor

• US Labor Department’s OSHA reopens public record on proposed record-keeping rule to add work-related musculoskeletal disorders column

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration tomorrow will reopen the public record on a proposed rule to revise the Occupational Injury and Illness Recording and Reporting Requirements regulation. Notice of the reopening will be published May 17 in the Federal Register.

• Bill seeks to restrict corporate whistleblowers in financial cases

House Republicans have launched a business-backed effort to block corporate whistleblowers from going directly to financial regulators with reports of wrongdoing. At the center of the effort is a bill drafted to amend last year’s Dodd-Frank financial oversight law by requiring whistleblowers to report problems internally before going to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

• New law could give Cal/OSHA additional powers

A new law could significantly change the way an employer faces charges from the Division of Occupational Safety and Health, according to employment law experts. Assembly Bill 2774 went into effect Jan. 1 of this year. The law has the potential to bring about a “sea change” at Cal/OSHA, with significant alterations to the burden of proof standard for employers facing citations or claims against them from employees.

• Strong leaders support healthcare worker safety

Last week, Vermont became the latest state to take a more aggressive stance against healthcare workplace violence. The Associated Press reports that a new law in the Green Mountain State bumps up a misdemeanor assault to a felony when the victim is a healthcare worker on the job, with penalties ranging from up to a year in prison for first-time offenders to up to 10 years for repeat offenders. New York and Massachusetts recently passed similar laws, and the Emergency Nurses Association (ENA) says that several other states are focusing on the problem. Will these laws end healthcare workplace violence? No.

• Congress requests FDA action amid hair-straightening formaldehyde fears

Following the recent debate surrounding keratin hair-straightening products, 10 members of Congress have sent a letter to the Food and Drug Administration expressing their concern and asking the agency to take immediate action to protect workers and consumers.

• Proposals aim to improve safety in state mental hospitals

Nearly eight months after a Napa State Hospital patient strangled a psychiatric technician, lawmakers and employee groups are pushing proposals aimed at reversing a worsening safety trend at California’s mental health facilities. Among them are bills that would enable officials to better assess patients’ potential for violence, speed up the process to involuntarily medicate certain individuals and punish those who funnel contraband — such as tobacco and cash — to patients, feeding a black market that goes hand-in-hand with assault and extortion.

• Despite city crackdown, immigrants still are often cheated by job agencies

In some of the poorest neighborhoods across the city, immigrants hoping to land jobs through employment agencies have routinely been cheated out of money. They are often charged hundreds of dollars in fees, promised jobs that do not exist, and sent to abusive working environments.

• Union for federal prison officers prepared to bargain issuance of stab-resistant vests

The Council of Prison Locals (CPL) of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) secured a significant victory in its fight to have all Bureau of Prisons (BOP) correctional officers outfitted with stab-resistant vests. BOP recently dismissed its opposition in the U.S. Court of Appeals, allowing the union’s proposal for stab-resistant vests to be negotiated through collective bargaining.

• Labor Dept. app helps workers track wages, hours

Want to make sure you’re getting paid what you’re due? Now there’s an app for that. The U.S. Labor Department announced last week its first application for smartphones: a time sheet to help employees independently track the hours they work and determine the wages they are owed.

• Yankee Stadium tips taken by owners, servers allege

In the more desirable seats at Yankee Stadium, an already pricey $10.50 draft beer will run you an eye-popping $12.60 thanks to an involuntary 20 percent “service fee” tacked on to the original price. If the sticker shock doesn’t make that brew bitter enough, consider this: Despite what you might expect, that extra $2 and change isn’t going to the hustling server who sold it to you, according to a new lawsuit.

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House keeps ditching bills that would make drilling safer, but other workers get protection

• Strike Two in the House for Safer Offshore Drilling — The Senate Up Next?

A few minutes ago, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 1229 by a vote of 263-163, with every Republican and 28 Democrats voting to make drilling even less safe and environmentally-responsible than before the BP Gulf Oil Disaster. Strike two for safer offshore drilling. The third pitch from Republican leadership will come tomorrow with a vote on H.R. 1231, the most sweeping of a trio of bills that seeks to weaken oversight of offshore drilling and dramatically expand offshore drilling in pristine ocean areas across every U.S. coast.

• More proof about combustible dust dangers, but still no regulations from Obama’s OSHA

There’s a new update out this week from the U.S. Chemical Safety Board that shows again the dangers of combustible dust in the workplace: The U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) today released test results confirming preliminary conclusions that two flash fires which occurred at the Hoeganaes Corporation plant in Gallatin, Tennessee—one fatal—involved the combustion of iron powder which had accumulated throughout the facility and became airborne in combustible concentrations. A flash fire on January 31st killed one worker and seriously burned another. A similar fire occurred on March 29th and caused one injury.

• Congress requests FDA action amid hair-straightening formaldehyde fears

Following the recent debate surrounding keratin hair-straightening products, 10 members of Congress have sent a letter to the Food and Drug Administration expressing their concern and asking the agency to take immediate action to protect workers and consumers.

• Vt. gov. signs law to protect health workers

There’s a new law on the Vermont books to protect the state’s health care workers from assault. Medical center employees had pressed lawmakers for the new law, saying in recent years there had been a sharp increase in assaults, particularly in the emergency room.

• Union For Federal Prison Officers Prepared to Bargain Issuance of Stab-Resistant Vests

The Council of Prison Locals (CPL) of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) secured a significant victory in its fight to have all Bureau of Prisons (BOP) correctional officers outfitted with stab-resistant vests. BOP recently dismissed its opposition in the U.S. Court of Appeals, allowing the union’s proposal for stab-resistant vests to be negotiated through collective bargaining.

• Court Affirms OSHA’s Authority to Subpoena Workers’ Comp Co.

OSHA’s subpoena requesting inspection and report documents from Grinnell Mutual Reinsurance Co. associated with a fatal grain engulfment has been upheld in a U.S. district court. OSHA’s subpoena requesting inspection and report documents from Grinnell Mutual Reinsurance Co. associated with a fatal grain engulfment has been upheld in a U.S. district court.

• FAA proposes revised rule on airline training programs

US FAA on Wednesday proposed new regulations to overhaul airline training programs for aircraft crewmembers and flight dispatchers, revising a proposal first issued in 2009. The supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking would in particular revamp pilot training, mandating more recurrent training and calling for pilots to be put through challenging emergency situations in advanced flight simulators.

• Fire Hazards Often Ignored at U.S. Nuclear Plants

Amid the crisis at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi reactor, the threat that earthquakes and tsunamis pose to nuclear safety is drawing lots of attention. But many experts say that a much more pressing concern, and a much more likely source of a domestic disaster, is fire.

• California Hotel Groups Flat Out Reject Fitted Sheet Requirement in Proposed Housekeeping Bill

Fitted or flat? That’s the weighty question facing the California Legislature, which is considering a bill that would regulate what type of sheets can be used on hotel bed mattresses across the state.

• OSHA cites Cargill Meat Solutions for workplace safety and health violations

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Cargill Meat Solutions of Dodge City with two repeat and 23 serious violations for exposing workers to numerous occupational hazards. Proposed fines total $176,400 following a combined safety and health inspection at the facility.

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How Boeing whistleblower case may discourage future leaks

• Boeing ruling on whistleblower firing may discourage leaks to news media

Two Boeing Co. (BA) auditors in 2007 thought they found weaknesses in the security of the firm’s financial reporting data. They complained, setting off a chain of events that may chill whistleblower leaks to news outlets. “Computer security faults put Boeing at risk,” a subsequent headline said. The airplane maker, already suspecting leaks, investigated and fired the men for unauthorized talking to the news media. They sued, citing Sarbanes-Oxley’s whistleblower protection, and lost. An appeals court said last week that the law doesn’t protect tipping off journalists.

• Labor Department: Rescue team members at Upper Big Branch were Massey Energy’s responsibility

Well, we’re waiting now to see if the Labor Department’s Mine Safety and Health Administration is going to answer important questions about the mine rescue effort at Massey Energy’s Upper Big Branch Mine. But this isn’t the first time that these concerns were raised, according to some records I obtained from MSHA through a federal Freedom of Information Act request. Check out this series of email messages between Department of Labor officials and Sam Petsonk, who was then an aide to Sen. Robert C. Byrd.

• Attacking fatigue in the workplace

The impact of fatigue on employee performance in certain industries is so great that government often feels compelled to pass legislation to control it. Examples are air traffic controllers, trucking, and nuclear power plants. For most jobs, fatigue may not have “life or death” consequences, but managers are still concerned about how it affects workplace safety and performance. This is particularly important for organizations that use multiple shifts, i.e. shiftwork operations.

• OSHA puts heat on bakery cited for dust, hazards

Lone Star Bakery, Inc., has been cited by OSHA for 32 serious, one repeat, and 16 other-than-serious violations. The inquiry came in the wake of an amputation incident and multiple inspections at two of the company’s facilities in China Grove. Alleged violations include exposing workers to combustible dust and fall and electrical hazards, among others. Proposed penalties in the case total nearly $230,000.

• OSHA hits Focus Direct with $83K in proposed fines

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited Focus Direct with 12 serious, one repeat and four other-than-serious safety and health violations after an inspection found that workers were exposed to amputation hazards at the company’s San Antonio facility. Proposed penalties total $83,000.

• Minnesota-based Best Buy cited by US Department of Labor’s OSHA for safety violations following worker injury at store in Duluth, Ga.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited the Best Buy Co. Inc. store on Pleasant Hill Road in Duluth with five safety violations after a worker suffered severe head injuries from a fall in January. The employee was stacking televisions on a storage rack while standing on an elevated powered industrial truck’s platform when it suddenly tilted and caused the employee to fall approximately 12 feet.

• Driller faces possible fines by OSHA

Patterson-UTI Drilling Co. LLC faces $53,900 in proposed fines for safety violations discovered by the Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration following the death of worker at the company’s site near Cotulla in the Eagle Ford shale. OSHA said in a statement that it started the investigation in November after an employee setting up a rig was fatally struck by a section of track for the drive system of the drilling derrick.

• Helena man, 24, killed in workplace accident

Authorities say a 24-year-old man who was sandblasting floor grates outside a Helena business died after the lid of the machine’s tank became dislodged and struck him in the head.

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After Times Square bombing attempt, OSHA’s theater inspections will review emergency plans

Hospitality Staffing Solutions and the dehumanization of workers
I was thinking of writing a post about how dehumanizing it is to work for Hospitality Staffing Solutions, the “temporary agency” used by Hyatt Hotels in Boston, Indianapolis and other cities, where workers start at minimum wage with no benefits and have to clean up to 30 rooms a day.
http://rabbibrant.com/2011/05/09/hospitality-staffing-solutions-and-the-dehumanization-of-workers/

Safety forum to focus on regulations, new technologies to prevent deadly truck, bus accidents
The National Transportation Safety Board began a two-day forum Tuesday to hear from federal regulators, safety experts, and the truck and bus industries about what is being done to prevent deadly accidents like 2009 crash near Miami, Okla., and why past safety recommendations — some of them decades old — haven’t been enacted. There has been a lot of progress — truck fatalities have come down — but there is still much work that needs to be done, NTSB member Robert Sumwalt said.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/safety-forum-to-focus-on-regulations-new-technologies-to-prevent-deadly-truck-bus-accidents/2011/05/10/AFpT4xeG_story.html

OSHA: Theater inspections to include emergency plan review
The federal agency that governs workplace safety has sent a letter to 63 New York City theaters saying future inspections of the venues will include reviews of their emergency action plans. The letter from the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration says that the attempted car bombing in Times Square last summer highlighted the need for increased vigilance and ongoing emergency preparedness.
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2011/05/10/osha-theater-inspections-to-include-emergency-plan-review/

Grain company fined after deadly accident
A Taft grain company is being fined thousands of dollars by the federal government after a man was killed at the facility last year. It was a tragic scene at Taft Grain & Elevator back in November. Arnulfo “Ernie” Medina became trapped for a time before he died. His death was ruled to be caused by asphyxiation and Monday a federal agency announced nearly $200,000 in fines against this company for the accident.
http://www.kztv10.com/news/grain-company-fined-after-deadly-accident/

Former roughneck wins record $322 million in asbestos case
In what attorneys said was the largest ever single-plaintiff asbestos verdict in U.S. history, a Mississippi jury has awarded $322 million to a former oil field worker who allegedly inhaled asbestos dust while mixing drilling mud.
http://www.fairwarning.org/2011/05/former-roughneck-wins-record-322-million-in-asbestos-case/

OSHA cites Alabama canopy company for exposing workers to fall hazards; proposes more than $200,000 in fines
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Chapman Canopy Inc. with 12 safety violations, chiefly for exposing workers to fall hazards while installing canopies in Pinson, Albertville and Tuscaloosa. Proposed penalties total $202,040.
http://www.mmdnewswire.com/us-department-of-labor-40167.html

Inmate’s family plans to sue over fatal fall
Family members of a jail inmate who died after a 16-foot fall at the city-county trash station in Las Cruces are threatening a lawsuit, claiming the government was negligent. Ricky Gasper died Nov. 12, 2010, while working at the South Central Solid Waste Authority plant, 2865 W. Amador Ave. He’d been spraying a building with a power hose, when he “fell 16 feet into a cement hole, landing on his back,” according to the claim filed by the family’s attorney.
http://www.lcsun-news.com/las_cruces-news/ci_18029896

Caregiver support needed in today’s workplace
Imaging telling today’s working parents that they can’t have any time off for doctor’s appointments, child care emergencies, or school activities. The culture of the modern workplace in America has changed to accommodate the realities of being a working parent. Caregivers are now at the crossroads working parents once faced. Their challenges have been largely ignored, but the sheer number of aging Americans is forcing the issue into focus. Once again, workers who find the competing demands of work and caregiving to be too much of a strain are forced to choose family over their jobs.
http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/lifecycles/2011/may/9/caregiver-support-needed-todays-workplace/

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In case disaster at Upper Big Branch wasn’t bad enough, it got worse

Upper Big Branch mine disaster rescue put more lives at risk

The 31 mine workers hit by the explosion at the Upper Big Branch coal mine in West Virginia last year weren’t the only people whose lives were at risk that day. Some of the mine rescuers who tried to find the disaster’s victims say their lives were also endangered by a reckless mine rescue effort.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/05/08/136072049/upper-big-branch-mine-disaster-rescue-put-more-lives-at-risk

Workplace safety trumps threats by disabled employee

Last month, the California Court of Appeal ventured into the uncharted area of state law regarding how an employer may address disability-caused misconduct involving threats or violence against coworkers. In Wills v. Superior Court of Orange County (G043054), the Court of Appeal held plaintiff Linda Wills’ Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) claim failed because her misconduct provided a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for her termination.

http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=0fcf4eb6-f252-46cf-bf7f-bcde099f008c

Physician, heel thyself

When a doctor thoughtlessly dresses down a nurse in front of patients or their families, it’s not just a personal affront, it’s an incredible distraction, taking our minds away from our patients, focusing them instead on how powerless we are. That said, the most damaging bullying is not flagrant and does not fit the stereotype of a surgeon having a tantrum in the operating room. It is passive, like not answering pages or phone calls, and tends toward the subtle. And because doctors are at the top of the food chain, the bad behavior of even a few of them can set a corrosive tone for the whole organization. Nurses in turn bully other nurses, attending physicians bully doctors-in-training, and experienced nurses sometimes bully the newest doctors.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/08/opinion/08Brown.html?_r=1&src=me&ref=general

The next step for researchers is not finding brain trauma

When the N.F.L. veteran Andre Waters killed himself in late 2006, the subsequent discovery of damage in his brain shocked the football community into asking how many other retired players might have an incurable disease. After the recent suicide of Dave Duerson, however, and last Monday’s announcement that he also had chronic traumatic encephalopathy, the brain damage formerly associated with boxers, the finding shocked no one. Duerson became the 14th retired N.F.L. player — of 15 examined by Boston University researchers — to test positive for the condition.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/08/sports/football/08duerson.html?hpw

OSHA takes aim at distracted driving

The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration will be holding employers responsible for accidents caused by employees who are distracted by cellphone usage while driving during the course of their employment. David Michaels, the head of OSHA, recently announced his agency’s intention to issue a citation or fine for distracted driving. The first cases OSHA wants to pursue are those in which an accident results from an employer setting up a situation in which an employee has a strong incentive to or is required to use a phone while driving.

http://www2.oanow.com/news/2011/may/08/eden-osha-takes-aim-distracted-driving-ar-1815360/

Worker health and safety now paramount for North American Wind Farms

The wind industry remains one of the fastest growing forms of non-traditional electricity generation in North America and finished last year with a total of 40,180 MW of installed capacity, with a further 5,600 MW of new wind projects under construction. But while this sustained growth in new installations continues a new challenge is rapidly taking centre stage – the health and safety of wind technicians working on site at wind farms. The Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has therefore recently turned its attention to the wind industry, and is making moves to understand in what way safety standards should apply.

http://uk.ibtimes.com/articles/20110509/worker-health-and-safety-now-paramount-north-american-wind-farms.htm

Occupational highway transportation deaths — United States, 2003–2008

A total of 8,173 workers died from highway transportation incidents during 2003–2008, representing 24% of all fatal occupational injuries for the period. The annual average fatality rate for workers was 0.9 highway transportation deaths per 100,000 workers; that rate decreased an average of 2.8% annually during the period.

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6016a2.htm?s_cid=mm6016a2_w

Short breaks may counteract toll of sedentary time

As Travis Saunders has explained, evidence is accumulating about the unhealthy effects of excessive sedentary time. This isn’t just because sitting burns fewer calories than walking or standing, but because sedentary behavior is associated with changes in triglyceride uptake, HDL cholesterol, and insulin resistance. And bouts of intense exercise every morning or evening can’t completely offset the effects of spending several hours sitting at a desk or behind the wheel. Given that a large segment of our population works at sedentary jobs, this is disturbing news. But a recent story by NPR’s Patti Neighmond offered some hope, with a mention of an Australian study that suggests brief activity breaks can reduce the risk of metabolic problems from extensive sedentary time.

http://scienceblogs.com/thepumphandle/2011/05/short_breaks_may_counteract_to.php

Picturing Safety: OSHA celebrates 40 years with photo contest

In celebration of 40 years of making workplaces safer, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has launched a new photo contest to boost awareness of workplace safety issues. Anyone with a camera is invited to take a photo of a scenario or setting they believe represents an image of occupational health and safety (OHS) and submit it to OSHA.

http://www.environmental-expert.com/news/picturing-safety-osha-celebrates-40-years-with-photo-contest-237331

Ashland officials ask for “panic pendants”

Concern about security at Ashland City Hall has prompted the police department to recommend providing employees with “wireless panic pendants,” according to Tuesday’s city council agenda. The $1,817 alarm system, not including a $306 annual fee, would feature 12 panic pendants, a central security panel, a wireless transmitter, and two blue strobe lights. Employees could use the pendants to call on “law enforcement personnel,” according to agenda documents.

http://ashlandcurrent.com/article/11/05/08/ashland-officials-ask-panic-pendants

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Nail salon techs exposed to dangerous toxins, MLB’s first paternity leave case, and who your iPod is killing

• Tougher standards rolled out for tour bus drivers

Prodded by a recent rash of tour bus accidents, the U.S. Transportation Department is slapping tougher safety requirements on commercial drivers. Federal regulators, working with state and local agencies, also pledge to step up surprise inspections of motorcoaches at popular travel destinations this spring and summer. Among the changes is a new rule requiring anyone applying for a commercial driver’s license to first obtain a learner’s permit. In addition, all state licensing agencies must now use tests that meet uniform national standards.

• DOL changes tip-credit regulations

The National Restaurant Association yesterday sent information to its members about new U.S. Department of Labor regulations that significantly expand employers’ obligations to provide notice to employees about the tip credit. The DOL announced the final rule April 5, making substantive changes to federal regulations without the benefit of a notice-and-comment period to collect industry feedback.

• Beyond exhausted, but still on the job

As companies try to do more with less, employees are working more hours. While that overtime might be great for the pocketbook, it can be dangerous for public safety. It’s becoming common for some workers to put in 16 hours or more, then return the next day for the same grueling shift. They drag themselves to work and are less able to do their jobs safely, according to a panel of labor and corporate representatives in the transportation and petrochemical industries. They met Wednesday to discuss on-the-job fatigue issues at a luncheon sponsored by the Greater Houston Labor and Employment Relations Association.

• Chipotle workers under new scrutiny by the feds

Denver-based Chipotle Mexican Grill is once again facing close scrutiny from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). We told you about Chipotle earlier this year when the company fired 450 workers in Minnesota—more than one third of its workforce—after a probe by immigration authorities. This week, federal agents questioned employees at more than two dozen Chipotle restaurants in Los Angeles, Atlanta, Minnesota, and Washington, D.C., as part of a probe into the chain’s hiring practices in several states.

• Watchdogs probe labor abuses in China’s tech industry

Never underestimate the power of a good public shaming. Western electronics firms were mortified in 2010 by reports of gruesome suicides of young workers in China working for the multinational tech giant Foxconn. Since the company runs a network of plants that churn out glistening gadgets for Apple, Dell and Hewlett Packard, the suicides scandalized tech brands that often market themselves as hip and progressive. This week watchdog groups have released a report to kickstart a global campaign to call attention to ongoing labor issues. The “Time to Bite Into a Fair Apple” campaign hopes to keep the pressure on both Chinese authorities and multinational firms to fulfill promises to make the manufacturing system more humane for hundreds of thousands of young Chinese workers.

• Discrimination lawsuit raises issue of who is a man

The case is about El’Jai Devoureau, who was born a female, but identified himself as a man his whole life. In 2006, after he began taking male hormones and had a sex change operation, he adopted a new name, and received a new birth certificate from the State of Georgia which identifies him a male. The legal problem for Devoureau came up when he began working part time as a urine monitor at Urban Treatment Associates in Camden. On Devoureau’s second day, his boss confronted him stating that she had heard he was transgender. She asked if he had any surgeries. He refused to answer, stating that was private, and was fired.

• Workers at nail salons may be at higher risk of harmful exposure to toxins

A new study from the American Journal of Public Health reports that workers at nail salons may be at higher risk of exposure to chemical toxins that may be harmful to their health. One-third of workers reported that they experienced certain health symptoms such as irritations, headaches, nausea and breathing problems after entering the workforce. Irritations of the nose, throat, lungs, skin and eyes were the most common symptoms, reported by 26.5 percent of workers.

• Baseball’s first player takes paternity leave

Texas Rangers pitcher Colby Lewis became Major League Baseball’s first player to exercise a new right under the parties’ collective bargaining agreement — the opportunity to take paternity leave in conjunction with the birth of his child. Under the terms of the CBA, MLB players now are allowed to take 24 to 72 hours off due to the birth of their children. (NBC Sports reported shortly afterward that another player, Washington Nationals’ shortstop Ian Desmond, also was preparing himself to take on the roll of “coach” at the side of his wife, who was about to give birth to their first child.)

• Lax safety blamed in death at DuPont

Federal regulators Thursday said “serious” safety violations at the DuPont chemical plant in the Town of Tonawanda led to last November’s chemical explosion that killed a contractor working at the site. Following a six-month probe, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced it plans to fine DuPont and contractor Mollenberg-Betz nearly $117,000 for 17 violations stemming from the blast that killed Richard J. Folaron and badly burned a co-worker.

• No sanctions for Oregon mental hospital after review of patient attack on employee

No sanctions are planned for the Oregon State Hospital after a patient attack that seriously injured a longtime hospital employee. The Statesman Journal reports the Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division found no violations of workplace safety regulations during a review of the assault.

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GOP and White House battle on offshore drilling bills, attempts to defund NLRB & more

• As BP resolves some legal woes, GOP split on its offshore drilling fate

BP PLC’s settlement yesterday in an Alaskan pipeline case marks the second high-profile legal battle the company has ended since capping its Gulf of Mexico gusher. But that leaves Republicans facing a quandary: Should BP be the exception to their push for more and faster offshore drilling?

• White House bashes GOP drilling bills but doesn’t threaten vetoes

The White House said drilling legislation on the House floor would “undercut” reforms established after the BP spill. The White House is attacking a pair of GOP offshore drilling bills that are on the House floor, alleging they would “undercut” safety and environmental reforms established after the BP oil spill.

• Republicans threaten to defund the National Labor Relations Board

Imagine if Republicans in Congress threatened to defund the Supreme Court because they didn’t like one of its decisions. Well, that’s almost what’s happening right now. as Republicans in Congress threaten to defund the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), a quasi-judicial independent body tasked with prosecuting and enforcing labor law.

• Anticipating Labor Dept’s regulatory agenda for new worker safety rules

It shouldn’t be long now before Labor Secretary Hilda Solis releases her semi-annual regulatory plan for new worker health and safety rules. This document is required by the Regulatory Flexibility Act and Executive Order 12866, and is supposed to be published every April and October. The Labor Secretary’s most recent regulatory agenda wasn’t issued until December 2010, the 20th to be exact. We”ll have to wait and see how tardy this one will be.

• If everybody is collaborating, why aren’t real-time coal-dust explosibility meters in the mines yet?

Those of us outside of Washington, D.C., still haven’t gotten to see or hear the complete House committee hearing on mine safety. Some sort of computer problem knocked out their webcast, but I’m told they plan to post the video later. But from the prepared materials alone, there was this bizarre statement included in the opening statement from subcommittee Chairman Tim Walberg, R-Mich.: “Let’s ensure federal policies hold bad actors accountable, and partner with the good actors on behalf of worker safety. An example of this kind of collaborative effort is the successful development and deployment of coal dust explosibility meters, or CDEM. …”

• Feds close Massey mine for “egregious” safety lapses

Notorious coal baron Don Blankenship was supposed to be long gone now, partying with his pals on the French Riviera or, according to a lawyer friend of mine in West Virginia, making himself comfortable in a new $3.5 million house on a lake in Tennessee. But apparently the Blankenship spirit lives on. NPR reported that federal regulators evacuated coal miners from portions of a Massey mine in West Virginia after a surprise inspection revealed two dozen safety violations that could have sparked fires or explosions. Don Blankenship: Gone, but clearly not forgotten.

• OSHA helps bring historic drop in workplace death and injury

Since OSHA’s inception in 1970, workplace fatalities have been cut by more than 65 percent and occupational injury and illness rates have declined 67 percent. At the same time, U.S. employment has almost doubled and now totals over 107 million workers at 7.6 million worksites.

• Injuries among older workers on the rise: CDC

More and more Americans over age 55 are working later in life, and this means work-related injuries in this group continue to climb, up from 12 percent in 2003 to 17 percent in the latest tally, federal health officials report. Although older workers do not have an increased risk of injury overall compared to younger workers, they are at higher risk of falls from stairs, ladders or heights and for specific types of injuries, including fractures and hip injury, the researchers said.

• OSHA cites 2 cos. in fatal N.F. explosion

An investigation by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration has found multiple violations at the E. I. DuPont De Nemours Co. Yerkes Plant following a fatal explosion at the plant in November 2010. Richard Folaron, an employee of Mollenberg-Betz Inc., was performing welding atop a 10,000-gallon tank when hot sparks ignited flammable vapors inside the tank, causing an explosion that killed him and injured another Mollenberg-Betz employee, William Freeburg. The slurry tank was supposed to be empty but was still connected to two operating slurry tanks, and flammable vapors seeped through the interconnected piping system into the tank on which the employee was working, OSHA said Thursday.

• Journalists mark one month of detention in Libya

As journalists and advocates of press freedom around the globe mark World Press Freedom Day, four reporters — two of them American — are marking one month of detention in Tripoli at the hands of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. GlobalPost correspondent James Foley and Clare Morgana Gillis, who has written for USA Today and The Atlantic, together with Manuel Varela, a Spanish photographer who works under the name Manu Brabo and South African photographer Anton Hammerl, were picked up by Gaddafi forces on April 5 while reporting on the conflict near the eastern town of Brega.

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