As the Mine Safety & Health Administration furloughs employees, three mineworkers were killed on the job in three days; OSHA issues fines in West Fertilizer explosion case; and another Bangladesh factory fire kills nine workers.
Agrochemical bans have passed or are under consideration in some countries where young, previously healthy agricultural workers are developing chronic kidney disease at alarming rates; a study of cleanup workers who worked on Gulf of Mexico beaches and marshes following the 2010 BP oil spill finds “significantly altered blood profiles” associated with higher risk of some cancers; and OSHA cites a waste company and its temp labor provider following a workers’ death from heat stress.
Respirators have improved since the Ground Zero response and recovery effort exposed workers to airborne contaminants; the Government Accountability Office criticizes the data underlying USDA’s proposed poultry rule; and Jersey City will consider paid-sick-leave legislation.
Wage theft at is in the news; funding’s getting cut off for a program that can help first responders know what chemicals they might be exposed to while responding to industrial fires; and California’s Occupational Health Branch warns outdoor workers about the risk of Valley Fever.
Fast-food workers hold one-day strikes for better wages; President Obama issues an executive order directing federal agencies to cooperate on chemical-facility risks; and a new study finds the potential for dangerous levels of formaldehyde exposure with a popular hair-straightening treatment.
A Massachusetts farmworker and California postal worker collapsed while working and died; Manhattan McDonald’s workers and Chicago Dunkin’ Donuts workers walked off the job to protest excessive heat. The Senate confirms Obama’s nominees for Secretary of Labor and EPA Administrator, while advocates call on those two agencies to do more to protect healthcare workers and farmworkers.
The Senate Environment & Public Works Committee hears about regulatory shortcomings related to the Texas fertilizer plant explosion; 70 clothing retailers agree to a legally binding plan for safety inspections at Bangladesh factories supplying their clothing; and Hyatt and the UNITE HERE union reach a tentative agreement.
A federal judge rebukes a coal company that sued a miner for filing a whistleblower discrimination complaint; EPA and OSHA have yet to announce formal enforcement activities for the West, Texas fertilizer plant explosion; and LA bus drivers say pesticides used on buses are making them sick.
A fire in a Chinese poultry plant with narrow halls and locked exits killed 120 workers; a NIOSH study finds high rates of carpal tunnel syndrome among poultry workers and fuels concerns that USDA’s proposed rule allowing line-speed increases will increase health risks to workers; and Congress takes steps toward addressing military sexual assault.
As immigration legislation passes the Senate Judiciary Committee, a report demonstrates why agricultural employers consider a guest worker program to be so important; Bangladesh garment workers win important improvements; and OSHA penalizes an energy company for firing an employee who raised safety concerns about a nuclear-energy project.