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
