OSHA’s Assistant Secretary Edwin Foulke flopped and fumbled during CBS’s 60 Minutes “Is Enough Done to Stop Explosive Dust?” which aired last night. Correspondent Scott Pelley pressed Foulke to explain how the 50 OSHA inspectors who have been trained to identify combustible dust hazards will be able inspect the estimated 30,000 worksites with this dangerous volatile […]
Do you know of any cases of Parkinson’s disease among workers at flavoring companies?  David Egilman, MD, Clinical Associate Professor, Brown University, is aware of two cases of Parkinson’s disease in men in their fifties who were flavorists at a large flavorings company.  The plant alone had 15 “flavorists.” (The average age of onset for Parkinson’s is 60 and it is a relatively […]
Set your wristwatch alarms or your VCR for this Sunday (June 7) at 7:00 pm (EST) to watch CBS’s 60 Minutes and a hard-hitting story on OSHA and its failure to protect workers and communities from combustible dust explosions. CBS’s correspondent Scott Pelley  interviews Carolyn Merritt (former Member of the US Chemical Safety Board), Tammy Miser (whose brother Shawn was killed […]
The human rights group Amnesty International has released a report criticizing forced labor and dangerous working conditions in Brazilâs sugar cane industry, which feeds the countryâs booming ethanol industry. Eduardo Simoes and Inae Riveras report for Reuters (via Gristmill): Amnesty said that in March 2007, 288 workers were rescued from forced labor at six cane […]
The 65 or so high school seniors of Tygarts Valley High School shared a moment of silence during their graduation ceremony last night (The InterMountain reports) to mourn the death of Adam Lanham, 18, who died on Friday, May 30 at ICG’s Sentinel Mine. The young coal miner was a 2007 graduate of Tygarts Valley High School, […]
On Friday, May 30 it was a crane collapse in NYC where Donald Leo, 30, and Ramadan Kurtaj, 27 were killed and Simeon Alexis, 32, was seriously injured. On Saturday, May 31 it was a crane collapse at the Wyoming Black Thunder mine which seriously injured ironworkers Andrew Milonis and Frederico Salinas. These incidents are in the […]
For Memorial Day, news stories highlighted the importance of hearing, remembering, and responding to the stories of those whoâve served our country. The San Diego Union-Tribune profiled âfour seemingly ordinary people who led extraordinary livesâ in past wars; in the Washington Post, Edward G. Lengel suggests that a failure to listen to World War I […]
How do you best teach workers about safety? How do you change peopleâs attitudes? The Workersâ Comp board in Ontario, Cananda, and many safety instructors along with them, believes that gruesome pictures or videos work best. Like driving by the scene of a car accident, it is hard not to look. Perhaps by showing a […]
Earlier this year, a group of worker advocates sent a petition to MSHA Chief Richard Stickler asking for rulemaking to improve the training miners receive about their statutory rights. The petition called for significant changes in the way in which all workers employed at U.S. mining operations learn about their rights, including the right to refuse unsafe work and to express concerns […]
For the third time in eight months, workers from the Getchell gold mine* near Winnemuca, NV have seen a co-worker killed on-the-job. First was Mr. Curtis L. Johnson, 36, a roof-bolter, who was killed on August 28, 2007, when part of the mine collapsed on him.  Next was Mike Millican, 43, who was killed on January 26, […]