For four decades the United Steelworkers had their sight focused on an OSHA rule to protect workers who are exposed to beryllium. The metal can cause a horrible respiratory illness and is a carcinogen. Last week, the union’s persistence paid off.
An NPR investigation identified nearly 1,000 new cases in Appalachia of the most severe form of black lung disease. The government’s surveillance system recorded just a fraction of them.
The Labor Department’s safety alerts should not point blame at a worker for suffering an injury.
Canada’s Ministries of Science, Health, Public Services,and Environment will be working over the next year to ban asbestos. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government made the announcement today.
Poultry processing workers and food safety inspectors are being doused with chemicals in the name of food safety. Rep. Rosa DeLauro and colleagues urge the Secretaries of USDA, HHS, and Labor to ensure that food safety doesn’t come at the expense of worker safety.
EPA announced yesterday a proposed rule to ban trichloroethylene as a spot-cleaning agent in dry cleaning operations and as an aerosol spray degreaser. The agency is again moving swiftly to use its authority under a chemical safety law.
Injury Control & Violence
Not an “accident”: Bud Wesley, 65, suffers fatal work-related injury in Belding, MI
This week’s snapshot of just one work-related fatality in the US. This one occurred on Wednesday, November 30 in Belding, MI.
Environmental Health
EPA beats Congress’ deadline, names first 10 chemicals for action under new law
EPA met its first major milestone under the new chemical safety law passed by Congress this past June. It announced its list for the first 10 chemicals for which it will prepare risk evaluations. Those evaluations could lead to restrictions on use or phase-outs of chemicals that presents an unreasonable risk to humans and the environment.
Writing for Slate, Gabriel Thompson spent time in northwest Arkansas investigating working conditions in a Butterball turkey plant. You would be wise to disregard the poultry industry’s claims about record-low injury rates.
Oxfam’s “Women on the Line” and the Food Chain Workers’ Alliance’s “No Piece of the Pie” provide more evidence of the low wages, harsh conditions, and disrespect experienced by millions of workers in the U.S. food industry.