Regulation We may have won some battles, but the War on Contraception and on Science is still going strong
July 17, 2008 The Pump Handle 3Comment

by Susan F. Wood, PhD Recently the New York Times and RHRealityCheck reported on a leaked internal proposed regulation that calls for more and different enforcement of anti-discrimination provisions for health care providers.  The provisions are forms of conscience clauses that do not allow discrimination in hiring or promotion of health care workers who do […]

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Regulation Congress demands briefing on Chao’s mystery proposal for risk assessment
July 10, 2008 The Pump Handle 4Comment

Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and Congressman George Miller (D-CA) are demanding answers from Labor Secretary Elaine Chao on her mysterious proposed rule on risk assessment.  I reported earlier this week that the Secretary’s office sent a proposed rule to OMB on July 7 entitled “Requirements for DOL Agencies’ Assessment of Occupational Health Risks.”  Although this proposal might sound […]

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Mining Secret rule on OSHA risk assessment?
July 8, 2008 The Pump Handle 4Comment

I found the most curious item on OMB OIRA’s webpage today, and my paranoia about end-of-the-term mischief by the Bush Administration kicked into high gear.  The item is listed as a proposed rule submitted to OIRA for review on July 7 titled: “Requirements for DOL Agencies’ Assessment of Occupational Health Risks” (RIN: 1290-AA23)  (Link here, select […]

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Regulation Who met with OMB on cranes last week??
July 1, 2008 The Pump Handle 2Comment

Update: 7/1 (4:00 pm): The link is fixed!  It was two reps of the National Association of Home Builders, four staff of OMB and one from the Dept of Labor’s Solicitor’s Office.  Hmmm…no one from OSHA attended the meeting.  On June 18 we reported here that OSHA had submitted to OMB’s Office of Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) […]

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Injury Control & Violence Tree Cutter Deaths: Chance for Joint OSHA-MSHA Rule??
June 27, 2008 The Pump Handle

Earlier this month, William Scott Hill, 33, of Staffordsville, KY was killed while cutting trees to prepare for a surface coal mine for the Premier Elkhorn Coal Company (TECO Energy).  Mr. Hill was employed by Gopher Contracting of Jackson, KY.  His death on June 3 reminded me of other fatalities involving tree cutters working at mining operations, including […]

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Environmental Health Voices of Experience at Firedoglake Book Discussion
June 23, 2008 The Pump Handle

On Saturday, Firedoglake hosted an online discussion on David Michaels’ Doubt is Their Product: How Industry’s Assault on Science Threatens Your Health – and David was lucky to have the chat hosted by Jordan Barab, whose wonderful Confined Space blog provided so much inspiration for The Pump Handle. In his introduction, Jordan not only did a […]

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Environmental Health Remember the Dec 19 T2 Lab Explosion?
June 18, 2008 The Pump Handle

Updated (6/19/08) below Just before last year’s holiday season,  Charles Budds Bolchoz, 48; best friends Karey Renard Henry, 35, and Parish Lamar Ashley, 36; and company owner Robert Scott Gallagher, 49, lost their lives in a violent explosion at T2 Laboratories in Jacksonville, Florida (previous posts here, here).  The firm manufacturered Ecotane®, a gasoline additive “methylcyclopentadienyl manganese tricarbonyl” (i.e.,  […]

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Mining Miners’ Deaths and Deadbeat Operators
June 18, 2008 The Pump Handle

Mr. Robert Carey, 45, an athracite coal miner from Shamokin, Pennsylvania was killed on Monday by falling rock/coal at the Harmony Mine.  So far this year, 26 workers at U.S. mining operations have died on-the-job.  Just this past Sunday, former MSHA chief J. Davitt McAteer had an Op-Ed in the Charleston Gazette entitled: “Enough: No More Mining Deaths.”   He wrote: […]

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Injury Control & Violence Crane Industry Disgusted with OSHA Delay
June 16, 2008 The Pump Handle 2Comment

Updated below ( 6/18/08 ) Earlier this month I wrote in “Crashing Cranes, Deaths and the White House’s Edict” about the inexcusable inaction by the US Department of Labor and OSHA to address the decades-old problem of crane-related deaths.  I am not alone in my disgust at this regulatory system, which yet again is failing to protect our nation’s […]

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Environmental Health A Litany of Delays on PFOA at EPA, ATSDR
June 9, 2008 The Pump Handle

An attorney representing a large group of PFOA-exposed individuals sent a letter to EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson and ATSDR Director Howard Frumkin, urging them not to delay any further the release of hazard information and risk assessments on the contaminant perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA, a.k.a. C8).  Mr. Bilott was writing on behalf of residents who live near DuPont’s Washington […]

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