Sexual harassment vs. ‘the real issues’
This is a conversation we have mostly not been having in the two decades since Anita Hill accused Clarence Thomas of creeping her out at work. And if we have no practice talking about sexual harassment, it’s not because it so seldom happens. I asked half a dozen writers for the women’s blog The Post is soon launching to ask the first few women they happened to run into today – at the gym, on the street or in line for coffee — whether they’d ever been sexually harassed at work. Of 23 women in eight different cities, 16 said yes and seven no.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/sexual-harassment-vs-the-real-issues/2011/11/08/gIQAhfMN5M_story.html?wprss=rss_politics
Mental health worker fired for reporting child pornography found on client’s computer
A Missoula, Montana mental health employee is currently out of a job after reporting child pornography she found on the computer of a client, John Gribble, to the police, according to the Associated Press. The employee, who has not been named, first went to supervisors with her concerns, but was told not to contact authorities because her discovery did not meet the requirements for reporting an offense.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/09/mental-health-worker-fired-child-porn_n_1084381.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003
Statement from Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA on increase of nonfatal occupational injuries among health care workers
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics today released detailed data on nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses requiring days away from work in 2010. The incidence rate for health care support workers increased 6 percent to 283 cases per 10,000 full-time workers, almost 2 1/2 times the rate for all private and public sector workers at 118 cases per 10,000 full-time workers.
http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/osha/OSHA20111638.htm
Barab says half of workplaces inspected under OSHA emphasis program underreport
About half of the workplaces inspected for recordkeeping violations under an Occupational Safety and Health Administration pilot national emphasis program have been found to be underreporting their numbers of injuries and illnesses, said Jordan Barab, deputy assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health.
http://www.bna.com/barab-says-half-n12884904254/
Oil boom leads to surging ER visits, wait times, STDs
Mercy Medical Center, the only hospital in Williston, N.D., had to double the number of seats in its waiting room six weeks ago. It also had to hire security guards to ensure the safety of incoming patients this year, a precaution that has become necessary: emergency room visits have increased 50% in the last 12 months and wait times now average at least a couple hours. The explosive growth in the small towns surrounding the Bakken oil formation, has led to a surge in accidents and patients, putting an incredible strain on local medical facilities like Mercy.
http://money.cnn.com/2011/11/07/pf/America_boomtown_healthcare/index.htm?iid=Popular
Study: Health effects from military burn pits inconclusive
It’s too early to tell if exposure to open pits of burning material in Iraq and Afghanistan has hurt the health of troops who served in the two wars, according to a report. However, service in those wars “might be associated with long-term health effects” because of the high levels of dust and pollution found in those areas, said the study conducted by the private, non-profit Institute of Medicine, a division of the National Academy of Sciences.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/story/2011-10-31/military-burn-pits-Iraq/51013236/1
Seventeen workers exposed to radiation at Idaho lab
At least six workers were contaminated by low-level plutonium radiation and 11 others were exposed on Tuesday at a U.S. nuclear research lab in Idaho, but the public was not at risk, the government said.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/09/us-nuclear-lab-idaho-idUSTRE7A77QW20111109
L.A. port drivers fired after appearing at shareholder’s meeting in Australia
All they wanted was access to indoor plumbing, and one employee was so determined to get it, he flew to Australia to take up the issue with the head of the company. The result? Toll Transportation, an Australian multi-national trucking company, laid off 26 San Pedro, CA port truck drivers in what drivers say is retaliation for their efforts to improve working conditions. Several of the terminated drivers, calling themselves the ‘Toll 26’ have filed complaints with the National Labor Relations Board accusing Toll of intimidation, harassment, and retaliatory scheduling and firings.
http://www.examiner.com/volunteer-travel-in-los-angeles/l-a-port-drivers-fired-after-appearing-at-shareholder-s-meeting-australia
OSHA cites Akzo Nobel for nine serious violations
Akzo Nobel Surface Chemistry LLC in Morris, a manufacturer of chemical surfactants, was cited by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration for nine serious violations of OSHA’s process safety management standards. OSHA initiated the inspection in May after a release of methyl chloride was reported at the plant. Proposed fines total $63,000.
http://www.morrisdailyherald.com/2011/11/08/osha-cites-akzo-nobel-for-nine-serious-violations/abvqtxz/
US Labor Department’s OSHA encourages major retailers to provide crowd management measures to protect workers during major sales events
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration is encouraging major retail employers to take precautions to prevent worker injuries during Black Friday and other major sales events during the holiday season. In 2008, a worker was trampled to death while a mob of shoppers rushed through the doors of a large store to take advantage of an after-Thanksgiving Day Black Friday sales event. The store was not using the kind of crowd management measures recommended in OSHA’s fact sheet, which is available online at https://www.osha.gov/OshDoc/data_General_Facts/Crowd_Control.html.
http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/osha/OSHA20111630.htm
