If you want to keep all your digits and limbs, you probably want to avoid working at Anheuser-Busch’s Metal Container Corp., in Arnold, Missouri. That worksite was recently cited by OSHA for hazards related to incidents last fall in which one worker lost fingers in machinery, and another worker had a foot amputated because of […]
One week from today will mark the first anniversary of the Upper Big Branch coal mine disaster where 29 men lost their lives from an enormous and powerful explosion. Those left behind–the parents, spouses, children and friends—have lives that are changed forever. Ken Ward and Gary Harki of the Charleston (WV) Gazette share a touching […]
The New York Times’‘ headline read: STREET STREWN WITH BODIES; PILES OF DEAD INSIDE. The article went on this way: “Nothing like it has been seen in New York since the burning of the General Slocum. The fire was practically all over in half an hour. …it was the most murderous fire that New York […]
Monique Harper, 41, had a beautiful smile that family and friends will never forget. “Monique was the most hilarious and free-spirited person you will ever meet,” said one of her sisters. “She was a mother that loved her children, family and friends.” Monique Harper’s contagious smile and free spirit are now only memories. She was […]
Imagine testifying before a congressional committee as the head of the FDIC and you’re asked “do the vast majority of banks care deeply and passionately about their customers?” Or as the head of the FAA and you’re asked “do you think the vast majority of airlines care deeply and passionately about their passengers?” Or the […]
Les Skramstad was a good, decent man who died in January 2007 from mesothelioma at 70 years young. Mesothelioma is a rare cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. Mr. Skramstad was a miner and laborer at the infamous vermiculite mine at Zonolite Mountain in Libby, Montana. Mr. Skramstad’s death was clearly work-related, but when the […]
“Death takes no holidays in industry and commerce,” is how Labor Secretary Willard Wirtz described the toll of on-the-job death and disability for U.S. workers. The Secretary’s remarks in 1968 were part of congressional hearings on legislation that ultimately established the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). He suggested that because most work-related fatalities and […]
Editors of The (WV) Charleston Gazette had perfect timing. On the morning of a congressional oversight hearing on the Labor Department’s Mine Safety and Health Administration’s (MSHA) performance, their front page featured an article by reporter Ken Ward Jr. about incomplete inspections and inadequate enforcement actions in 2009 in at least 25 of the agency’s […]
Roxanne Moyer wondered why managers at her husband’s worksite would allow an obvious dangerous condition to exist. Workers could be so “close to molten steel [that it] just poured over on them.” Her husband, Samuel Moyer, 32 died earlier this month at Arcelor Mittal’s LaPlace, Lousiania steel mill in exactly that way. He was fatally […]
Freshman Congressman Larry D. Bucshon (R) of Evansville, Indiana is a cardiothoracic surgeon. His father was an underground coal miner and a member of the United Mine Workers Union for 37 years. Both his grandparents were coal miners. But, Republican-controlled Capitol Hill is now the Twilight Zone when I heard him say the following last […]