The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled late last month to uphold an OSHA rule to protect 2.3 million workers who are exposed to respirable crystalline silica. A three judge panel was not convinced by any of the arguments to reject the OSHA rule that were made by attorneys for the National Association of Home Builders, American Foundry Society, and other industry groups. The judges’ 60-page opinion had this bottom line: “We reject all of Industry’s challenges.”
An OSHA news release about a $545,000 settlement with Marshall Pottery was strange to me. The agency hadn’t previously announced the willful violations and $830,000 proposed penalty to the firm related to the death earlier this year of employee Arturo Tovar.
The Center for Public Integrity’s Jim Morris writes a soulful account of a plumber named Jim Spencer who was fatally injured on-the-job in 2016. Read it before looking at the new BLS data on the 5,190 worker fatalities from the same year.
President Trump boasted yesterday at a photo op of his plans to cut the “red tape of regulations.” His regulatory agenda ignores his crush on coal miners by threatening current rules to prevent black lung disease.
Hospital records and workers’ compensation data from Michigan reveals many more crushing-type injuries occur on the job than suggested by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
An Oklahoma rehab center funnels forced free labor into private industry; the National Labor Relations Board reconsiders Obama-era union election rules; farmworkers at risk from California’s wildfire smoke; and domestic workers organize for greater labor rights in Seattle.
Recent pieces address why black women in the US are so much more likely to die during or after childbirth; death and disease in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria; and several aspects of workplace sexual harassment, from problems in specific industries to solutions from leaders in their fields.
Food Safety & Nutrition
Government auditors validate safety complaints from meat and poultry workers
An investigation by GAO of the meatpacking and poultry industry validates concerns raised by workers about fear of losing their jobs if they report safety problems, and being denied access to the bathroom and proper medical care for injuries.
Firefighters report they are more concerned about getting cancer from their job than about the other health dangers they face.
Local efforts help California nail salons create healthier working conditions; California court ruling a win for farm workers and labor unions; Milwaukee institutes new safety measures after a city employee is shot and killed; and flight attendants chronicle sexual harassment in the skies.