Labor unions are becoming de facto immigrant rights groups; Trump pick to head MSHA is a former coal executive; Cal/OSHA opens more investigations into Goodwill’s safety conditions; and a new memorial honors first responders who became ill after exposures during the World Trade Center terrorist attacks.
At the federal level, worker safety and health policies swung from high points to low points over the last 12 months. Those highs and lows–from new OSHA protections issued by the Obama administration to proposed rollbacks of funding and regulations by the Trump administration. Many of the highs and lows are described in the sixth edition of The Year in U.S. Occupational Health and Safety.
Department of Labor
A Labor Day tradition: Sixth annual yearbook on worker health and safety released today
For the sixth year in a row, we present “The Year in U.S. Occupational Health & Safety,” our attempt to document the year’s highs and lows as well as the challenges ahead.
Age bias a challenge to prove in the workplace; coal miner deaths up over last year; workers protest after the death of a California farmworker; and the United Auto Workers looks forward after union defeat at Nissan plant in Mississippi.
I explain five reasons why I’m not shocked by the epidemic of black lung cases among U.S. miners.
Like Capt. Louis Renault in the film Casablanca, I could declare “I’m shocked, shocked to learn about the epidemic of black lung disease in the U.S.”
The first six months of the Trump administration nine coal miners have been fatally injured on the job. That’s one more than all of 2016.
California farmworkers living in fear of deportation; Ontario health care workers call on officials to address violence in the workplace; West Virginia legislators consider dramatic loosening of mine safety standards; and thousands of workers get ready to strike on May 1.
Senators preparing for next week’s confirmation hearing for Trump’s Labor Secretary should study National COSH’s newly released Agenda for Action. “Protecting Workers’ Lives & Limbs” makes dozens of recommendations to improve occupational health and safety policies and practices which will fall under the purview of the future Labor Secretary.
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.