NIOSH (the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health) has launched a new blog, called the NIOSH Science Blog, as a way to fulfill its mission of translating NIOSH scientific research into practice. It invites visitors âto present ideas to NIOSH scientists and each other while engaging in robust scientific discussion with the goal of […]
It’s been nearly four months since nine men were killed at the Crandall Canyon mine in Emery County, Utah. Congressman George Miller (D-CA) held a hearing in early October on the disaster, but a Senate hearing, scheduled for Dec 4, for which the mine operator Robert Murray had been subpeonaed, was cancelled. The Salt Lake Tribune’s Mike […]
Tammy has posted another edition of the Weekly Toll: Death in the American Workplace at her Weekly Toll blog. It gives short writeups of 88 workplace deaths, including the following: Joe Shephard, 36, of London, KY died when the construction trench he was working in collapsed. Maria De Losangeles, 48, of Mesa, AZ was working […]
It’s that time of year—time for the Secretary of Labor to issue her semi-annual regulatory agenda.  Look for its publication in the Federal Register around the second week of December. I’ll be curious to see OSHA’s timetable for action on diacetyl, the butter-flavoring agent associated with severe lung disease in exposed workers. Will OSHA list diacetyl on its reg agenda? Will it provide a target date […]
Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation, has a powerful op ed in todayâs New York Times on Burger Kingâs role in ensuring that migrant farm workers receive sub-minimum wages. The migrant farm workers who harvest tomatoes in South Florida have one of the nationâs most backbreaking jobs. For 10 to 12 hours a day, […]
Last month, BP and the Department of Justice reached a settlement agreement under which BP will pay $50 million for Clean Air Act violations associated with the March 2005 explosion at its Texas City refinery, which killed 15 workers and injured many more. Celeste Monforton noted at the time that this amount is more than […]
In today’s Federal Register, OSHA published a proposed rule to protect construction workers from the hazards of working in confined spaces. This proposal–just a proposed rule at this point—has been 14 years in the making. It is something that OSHA promised to do as part of a 1994 settlement agreement with the Steelworkers. A rule has […]
The chairman of the University of Kentucky’s (UK) mining engineering department wrote in a recent op-ed of his strong oppposition to a new mine safety bill (HR 2768) which is making its way through Congress. The legislation will address long-standing health and safety hazards faced by miners such as disease-causing coal dust and silica, belt-air ventilation, flammable conveyor belts, […]
Former NYC Mayor Rudy Guiliani (R) is basing his presidential campaign on his so-called Twelve Commitments to the American People. A number of them make me particularly nervous, especially as we learn of the fragile state of some fundamental public health systems. Problems including lead-laced children’s toys, coal mining disasters, e.coli 0157:H7-contaminated foods and unsafe pharmaceuticals come to mind. Candidate […]
Europe is often ahead of the US when it comes to protecting its people from environmental and occupational hazards, but our public health officials led the way in identifying the hazards of diacetyl, the butter-flavoring chemical that causes severe lung disease in workers. When ten workers from a Missouri microwave popcorn plant were diagnosed with the rare […]