Myths about OSHA rules and inspections are nothing new. The latest misinformation comes from a law firm raise ire of poultry companies.
DuPont has filed a litany of excuses to challenge OSHA’s findings about violations related to the November 2014 death of four employees.
Women in the trucking industry face severe sexual harassment, rape and retaliation; advocates call out chemical giant DuPont on their safety consulting business; home health care workers gain new wage protections; and Texas cities take action on living wages.
I’ve been reviewing OSHA’s proposed rule to protect beryllium-exposed workers. In the agency’s 262-page Federal Register notice, I see an Administration that has gone above and beyond when it comes to assessing the proposals costs to employers.
Child Labor
Worker database documents 1,073 occupational deaths so far in 2015: ‘Every one of these deaths is preventable’
More than 1,000 U.S. workers have died due to job-related events in the first seven months of 2015, according to new data from the U.S. Worker Fatality Database. Researchers estimate that total fatalities will likely reach 4,500 by the end of the year, which would mean that the nation’s occupational death rate experienced little, if no, improvement over previous years.
Not an accident
Not an “accident”: Davide Nascimento, 28, suffers fatal work-related injury in Longmeadow, MA
This week’s snapshot of just one work-related fatality in the US. This one occurred on Friday, July 31, in Longmeadow, Massachusetts.
Department of Labor
Congressional budget proposals slash OSHA funding, push back on silica exposure standard: ‘These cuts and these riders are unconscionable’
The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration is no stranger to budget cuts — the agency is already so underfunded that it would take its inspectors nearly a century, on average, to visit every U.S. workplace at least once. In some states, it would take two centuries. Unfortunately, appropriations bills now making their way through Congress don’t bode much better for OSHA.
Republican proposal to ban unions at the IRS could mean trouble for other federal employees; ExxonMobil refinery in California cited for violations in February explosion; OSHA fines poultry company for “outrageously dangerous” conditions; and a strip club dancer calls for the same protections and respect afforded to other workers.
OSHA is proposing a new health standard to protect workers who are exposed to beryllium from a debilitating respiratory disease and lung cancer.
Injury Control & Violence
Not an “accident”: Ascencion Medina, 44 suffers fatal work-related injury in Greenville, SC
This week’s snapshot of just one work-related fatality in the US. This one occurred on Thursday, July 30, 2015 in Greenville, South Carolina.