Hmph!  I just read on the OMB/OIRA website that they have completed their review of Labor Secretary Chao’s proposal to change the way that OSHA and MSHA assess workers’ risk of health hazards. The OIRA website notice says their review was completed on August 25, and it was approved “consistent with change.”Â
On Saturday afternoon, I sat at my computer screen and watched Barack Obama announce Senator Joe Biden as his running mate. I think it’s a good pick for a multitude of reasons—some personal, some political and some practical. When Biden spoke on Saturday, I found myself smiling and nodding my head in agreement. When he said the following, […]
Imagine being an MSHA inspector and being asked by independent investigators for your honest and frank opinion about the events surrounding the August 2007 disaster at the Crandall Canyon mine, which took the lives of nine men. You decide to participate because you genuinely believe in MSHA’s mission—enforcing safety and health laws to protect miners’ lives—and hope […]
WSAV News in Savannah, Georgia reports today that Mr. Malcolm Frazier, 47, succumbed to the severe burns he sustained in the February explosion of combustible dust at the Imperial Sugar refinery in Port Wentworth, GA. WSAV reports: After a long courageous battle, Malcolm Frazier, 47, succumbed to his burn injuries and passed away in the Joseph M. […]
Hazards magazine, a UK-based publication dedicated to occupational health, has just published a piece by David Michaels about how product defense tactics harm workers. Much of Davidâs book, Doubt is Their Product, focuses on substances whose dangers are particularly evident in the workplace, including asbestos, benzene lead, aromatic amines (dyes and rubber chemicals that cause […]
Earlier today, NPR’s Morning Edition dedicated a segment to the latest figure on workplace deaths: 5,488 workers died from fatal work injuries last year. That’s the lowest number since the government started keeping statistics in 1992. Libby Lewis interviewed David Michaels about the drop; he noted that some of the reduction is due to improvements […]
With growing rates of public transit usage nationwide, itâs a good time to see if transit systems are providing workplaces that will keep employees healthy. In this weekâs news, the DC areaâs transit agency has unveiled seats with more back support and better seat belts for its bus drivers; the improved seats will initially appear […]
I recently started helping track worker fatalities over at The Weekly Toll, and it has been quite a harrowing couple of weeks. There’s something about waiting to get news of another fatality– a fatality that more than likely could have been prevented– that leaves me feeling a little edgy, maybe even a little sick. Which […]
Today, the Washington Post editorial page weighs in on the Department of Laborâs attempt to erect more hurdles to worker protection. (For more details on the proposed rule, see this case study or this blog post.) Like the New York Times editorial published two weeks ago, this one begins by noting that the Department has […]
Celeste Monforton was the first to publicize the nine-word item on the White House website that turned out to be a risk-assessment rule that would make it harder for OSHA and MSHA to protect workers from hazards. (Read more about it here.) Now, Celeste has teamed up with NRDCâs Jennifer Sass and gathered 80 scientists and […]