I’m reading a wonderful collection of public health success stories, in the collection assembled by John W. Ward and Christian Warren entitled “Silent Victories: The History and Practice of Public Health in 20th Century America” (Oxford, 2007.) Our colleagues Tony Robbins and Phil Landrigan wrote a chapter on occupational disease and injury prevention, and in […]
I’m not one to keep good news under a bushel basket, but in deference to my perception of some Labor Department protocol, I kept waiting for an official announcement.  But, the news is too good to wait any longer: Secretary Solis has appointed Gregory R. Wagner, MD as the senior official at MSHA until an assistant secretary (Joe […]
Labor Secretary Hilda Solis will tour the Federal No. 2 mine on Tuesday, Aug 4, one of a couple dozen mines operated by Patriot Coal. DOL’s press announcement said she’d be joined by officials from MSHA, the UMWA, WV Governor Joe Manchin and Congressman Alan B. Mollohan. The event includes the tour, examining a rescue chamber on the surface […]
This morning, I read MSHA’s fatality report for the April 7 electrocution death of Tadd M. Bainum, 36. Mr. Bainum was a supervisor, and was doing electrical-related work, but had NOT received appropriate training in electrical tasks. MSHA’s investigators noted: “Failure to train [him] in performing the task constituted more than ordinary negligence and is […]
It’s long past time to breathe some fresh air into the Department of Labor’s Solicitor’s Office (SOL). I was hopeful when President Obama nominated M. Patricia Smith in April to serve as the Solicitor of Labor, but since her May 7 confirmation hearing, her appointment is languishing in the Senate HELP committee. The Solicitor’s Office has about 600 employees, […]
Steven Cain, 32, reported to work at Massey Energy’s Justice No. 1 coal mine at about 3:30 pm on Wednesday, October 8, 2008.   He never returned to his family. At about 11:00 pm that night, he died inside the mine when he was crushed between a loaded supply car and a coal rib (vertical coal wall). […]
The White House announced today 10 nominations for senior administration positions, including Mr. Joe Main to serve as the Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety and Health (MSHA).   The biography provided with the announcement notes that he: “… began working in coal mines in 1967 and quickly became an advocate for miners safety as […]
We are approaching day 160 of the Obama Administration, yet the Solicitor of Labor is not yet in place,  neither are the Assistant Secretaries for most other DOL agencies, including Employment Training Administration, MSHA, OSHA, VETS and Women’s Bureau.  Attorney Patricia M. Smith was nominated by President Obama on March 19 to serve as the Solicitor, and her confirmation […]
The Charleston Gazette’s Ken Ward Jr. reports that one of West Virginia’s oldest and largest law firms, Jackson Kelly PLLC, is being sued for hiding evidence of coal miners’ black lung disease. Ward writes: “Earlier this year, an investigative panel of the state’s Lawyer Disciplinary Board filed misconduct charges against Douglas A. Smoot. Smoot hid a key […]
Of the many disturbing and damaging policies instituted during the G.W. Bush Administration, high on my list is abuse of FOIA. It started with the post 9/11-Ashcroft memo, which was institutionalized into downstream agencies, and reconfigured and rejustified over Mr. Bush’s remaining 7 years.  In the public interests, one journalist sought to find out how the Labor Department’s FOIA practices were “evolving” […]