Sick uranium miners and their families continue to suffer, while Congress sits on expanding compensation; trade associations push back against a safety reporting rule for federal contractors; Maine residents to vote on raising the minimum wage; and a new app could make it much easier for workers to report safety violations.
Government
“An empty feeling” following CSB’s report on West Fertilizer disaster, and eating my words
Disaster investigation reports can leave victims with an empty feeling. Will any of those recommendations be adopted? A notice on OSHA’s website suggests it may be making progress on recommendations made by the Chemical Safety Board.
Affordable Care Act
Obama’s last budget proposal tackles antibiotic resistance, opioid abuse, climate change
President Obama released his 2017 federal budget proposal yesterday, recommending funding boosts for a number of public health priorities. And even though his presidency is coming to an end and so this budget is probably dead on arrival in the Republican-controlled Congress, it’s worth a peek inside.
Injury Control & Violence
Not an “accident”: Harold Felton, 36, suffers fatal work-related injury in Seattle, WA
This week’s snapshot of just one work-related fatality in the US. This one occurred on Tuesday, February 26 in Seattle, WA.
Federal laws fail to protect workers left out of state workers’ comp systems; electronics recycling workers and their families face dangerous lead poisoning risks; California farmworkers join forces with low-wage food service workers for better pay; and a worker who died during preparations for the Super Bowl is remembered.
Food Safety & Nutrition
Amputations abound at Tyson Foods, OSHA records shed more light on industrial food production
OSHA now requires employers to report when a work-related amputation occurs. In the first nine months under the new regulation, how many amputations did one of the country’s largest food manufacturers report to OSHA?
Environmental Health
Appeals Court rejects coal industry complaints, upholds health protections for miners
In a decision issued yesterday, the US Court of Appeals rejected the National Mining Association’s legal challenge to a Labor Department regulation to better protect coal miners from developing black lung disease.
Injury Control & Violence
Not an “accident”: Kevin Purpura, 39, suffers fatal work-related injury in Wheeling, WV
This week’s snapshot of just one work-related fatality in the US. This one occurred on Wednesday, January 15 in Wheeling, WV.
The Center for Investigative Reporting exposes discriminatory hiring practices within the temporary staffing industry; a worker dies in another chemical facility explosion in Houston; a new Amnesty International report links tech giants to child labor; and Amazon is cited for failing to report workplace injuries.
Think about all the objects you use every day that are made with pieces of metal. Before that object got to you, a worker in the metal manufacturing industry used a machine to cut, saw, bend and assemble the metal pieces into the countless products that make our lives easier. But sometimes those machines break. And when they do, a simple and inexpensive procedure helps ensure both worker and machine can return safely to the job.