Branding soldiers with personality disorder label
Is the U.S. military using dubious personality disorder diagnoses to kick out troubled soldiers out of the military without health benefits? James Dao of the New York Times found one clear example of this kind of treatment and unearthed evidence of a larger pattern. Veterans’ advocates note that the symptoms of PTSD and traumatic brain injury can overlap with the symptoms of some personality disorders.
http://inthesetimes.com/duly-noted/entry/12800/branding_soldiers_with_personality_disorder
Is this ‘meaningful’ mine safety legislation?
As we begin another week, expect movement perhaps as early as Monday morning to get a mine safety bill through the West Virginia House of Delegates before Wednesday’s deadline to approve legislation in its house of origin. Officials from the Tomblin administration have worked out a deal with the House leadership, after the legislation appeared stalled last week because coal lobbyists wouldn’t go along with it.
http://blogs.wvgazette.com/coaltattoo/2012/02/26/is-this-meaningful-mine-safety-legislation/
Proposal to make workplace bullying an occupational safety violation is moving through Senate
Bullying, abuse and verbal harassment in the workplace may cause employees physical and psychological harm. That’s part of the rationale behind a proposal to make abusive conduct against an employee an occupational safety violation. Victims would be eligible for workers’ compensation.
http://www.dailyjournal.net/view/story/7a842a0b420140ebb0f8362989882719/HI-XGR–Workplace-Bullying/
Groups challenge trucker fatigue rule
Advocates for highway safety and truck drivers filed suit challenging a new federal rule that they said fails to protect the U.S. public from tired truckers. The Highway and Auto Safety, Public Citizen, the Truck Safety Coalition and two truck drivers filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, seeking judicial review of the final hours of service rule issued by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2012/02/26/Groups-challenge-trucker-fatigue-rule/UPI-82591330283178/
Transit union hires Democratic lobbying firm to help end bus-driver fatigue
A major transit union has hired a well-connected Democratic lobbying firm to help with its push for bus drivers’ overtime pay. The Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) has hired the Ickes & Enright Group to lobby on the highway bill as well as on legislation that would remove an overtime pay exemption for intercity bus drivers.
http://thehill.com/blogs/transportation-report/labor-employment/212601-transit-union-hires-democratic-lobbying-firm-to-help-end-bus-driver-fatigue
Federal agency investigating sand-blasting hazards
For years, the wastes from burning coal and producing copper have enjoyed a second life, used in sand-blasting to remove paint, rust and grime from ship’s hulls, storage tanks, bridge trusses and other surfaces. Painting contractors, shipyard workers and thousands of others in Baltimore and across the country are said to use the black, gritty material called slag. Now, though, questions have been raised about whether those who do blasting with ground-up coal or copper slag may be unwittingly exposing themselves to toxic contaminants that could damage their health.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/health/bs-gr-slag-beryllium-20120226,0,4785415,full.story
I was a warehouse wage slave
Several months prior, I’d reported on an Ohio warehouse where workers shipped products for online retailers under conditions that were surprisingly demoralizing and dehumanizing, even to someone who’s spent a lot of time working in warehouses, which I have. And then my editors sat me down. “We want you to go work for Amalgamated Product Giant Shipping Worldwide Inc.,” they said. I’d have to give my real name and job history when I applied, and I couldn’t lie if asked for any specifics. (I wasn’t.) But I’d smudge identifying details of people and the company itself. Anyway, to do otherwise might give people the impression that these conditions apply only to one warehouse or one company. Which they don’t.
http://motherjones.com/politics/2012/02/mac-mcclelland-free-online-shipping-warehouses-labor
No company follows Apple allowing expanded China audits amid abuses
Apple Inc.’s rivals aren’t rushing to emulate the iPhone maker’s decision to subject supplier factories to audits by a labor group. Instead, they’re sticking to internal checks that may leave room for violations — and negative public relations fallout.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-27/no-company-follows-apple-allowing-expanded-china-audits-amid-abuses-tech.html
City cites maintenance mistakes in fatal elevator accident
Maintenance workers failed to enable a door safety circuit on an elevator moments before an advertising executive was killed after stepping into the elevator in an office tower in Midtown Manhattan, according to officials from the city’s Department of Buildings and the Department of Investigations. If the circuit had been working properly, officials said, it would most likely have prevented the elevator from moving abruptly and pinning the executive, Suzanne Hart, inside an elevator shaft.
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/27/city-blames-fatal-elevator-accident-on-poor-maintenance-work/
Ex-NBC-2 anchor Craig Wolf sues over firing; former boss calls claims ‘preposterous’
Former NBC-2 anchor Craig Wolf says he sued his ex-employer because he was fired for complaining to a federal agency about working conditions. In the suit filed Friday in Lee County Circuit Court, Wolf alleges he was fired from Waterman Broadcasting of Florida in March 2011, because he filed a complaint with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2012/feb/26/ex-nbc-2-anchor-craig-wolf-sues-over-firing-boss/
