What do three women made widows by three fatal Kentucky coal mining accidents have in common with two others left behind in the 2006 airline crash? “I am a widow. I am a single parent. I’m an advocate for anyone suffering because they were robbed of their spouse due to ineptitude and/or negligence,”
Tammy has posted another edition of the Weekly Toll: Death in the American Workplace at her Weekly Toll blog. It gives short writeups of 134 workplace deaths, including the following: Fernando Jimenez Gonzalez, 18, drowned in a vat of sulfuric acid at the Redwood City, California circuit board manufacturing facility where he worked; he is […]
At the request of the National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory (which is part of the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health), an Institute of Medicine committee studied personal protective equipment that healthcare workers would need in the event of an influenza pandemic. They conclude that we’re not adequately prepared. But they have some ideas […]
Carolynn Dejaynes had visited the tunnel at the Xcel Energy’s Cabin Creek hydro-electric plant the day before it claimed her husband’s life and that of four other employees of Robison-Prezioso Inc. (RPI). Mrs. Dejaynes says: “It shouldn’t have happened. There were things that could have been done to prevent it.”
MSHA announces ‘100 percent’ plan From The Onion? No. MSHA (seriously) just announced “a new initiative to complete 100 percent of mandated regular inspections of all coal mines in the country.” Huh? A “new initiative” to do something that you are already required by statute to do?
Anthony Aguirre, 18, Donald Dejaynes, 43, Gary Foster, 48, Dupree Holt, 37 and James St. Peters, 52 were the five maintenance workers killed on Tuesday afternoon in a tunnel fire at the Xcel hydro-electric plant near Georgetown, Colorado. If you want any information about the fatal workplace incident, don’t bother visiting OSHA’s website; you’ll find not […]
Nearly 7 years ago, the late Senator Paul Wellstone (D-MN) and Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) began a legislative effort to ban asbestos-containing products. Yesterday, the “Ban Asbestos in America Act” passed the Senate with a bi-partisan voice vote.
Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash) introduced a bill (S. 2127) to see that family members of miners involved in disasters like the 2006 Sago and 2007 Crandall tragedies receive accurate information about the rescue operations and appropriate post-accident support.
Earlier this week, reports on two recent studies provided more evidence that workersâ health has a significant effect on employers. One study tallied the work days lost to chronic conditions; mental disorders accounted for roughly one third (1.3 billion) of the missed days, and back and neck pain for another third (1.2 billion). The other […]
Five employees of RPI Coatings were killed on Tuesday at the Xcel Energy Inc’s(NYSE: XEL) Cabin Creek Station hydroelectric plant, located about 30 miles from Denver, CO. The deceased workers were part of a contract maintenance crew which were applying a specialized epoxy coating onto the inside of a 3,000 feet-long (and 4-feet wide) water pipe. A fire erupted, […]