Archive for the ‘Workplace Health & Safety’ Category

April25

This Workers’ Memorial Day, “Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living” (Mother Jones, 1925)

By: Keith Wrightson

Each year, thousands of working men and women die on the job. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 4,609 workers in 2011 did not return home from a day’s work (2012 data will be available later this year). On April 28, we observe Workers Memorial Day to remember those who have suffered and died on the job and to renew our efforts for safe workplaces. This year, the struggle continues as members of Congress have jeopardized Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) funding with the so-called “sequester” budget cuts.

The resources that have been appropriated to OSHA are not only to enforce rules and regulations, but also to provide training for workers and returning military personnel, fund research and create new regulations. Sadly, OSHA’s tight budget inhibits its ability to carry out its mission.

The latest economic reports from the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicate that more than 143 million workers are employed in the United States. Yet, OSHA’s budget for Fiscal Year 2012 was $583 million — a paltry 4 dollars per American worker to ensure safety and health on the job.

What’s even more shocking is OSHA’s inability to levy significant fines on employers who have broken the law. The Occupational Safety and Health Act limits the fines that OSHA can charge negligent employers to a maximum of $7,000 per safety violation deemed “serious,” even if the violations resulted in a worker death. The threshold for fines is in dire need of modernization.

It’s time for our country to fulfill the promise of safe jobs for all and to hold employers accountable for their actions.

Continue Reading

Posted in: Activism, Workplace Health & Safety2 comments

April18

Texas refinery explosion draws attention to limited OSHA resources as factor preceding tragedy

By: Keith Wrightson

The West Fertilizer Company facility that exploded in a deadly blast Wednesday evening had not been inspected by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in at least 10 years. While we leave it to investigators to determine what exactly happened, we already know that this facility and ones like it operate with very little oversight, and that this is a problem.

Records show that the facility in West, Texas, owned by Adair Grain Incorporated, has not been inspected by OSHA in the past 10 years.

In the past five years, only two Texas facilities in the same classification – that produce fertilizer using ammonia – have been inspected by OSHA, records show. The agency, with a budget of roughly $568 million, lacks the resources to regularly inspect these types of facilities, including the many with high danger levels. Often facilities do not see an inspector for decades at a time.

While OSHA’s budget had increased slightly in the past several years, it was recently reduced yet again by budget sequestration, which means fewer inspectors to monitor facilities like the West Fertilizer Company. Small budgets also make it even harder for the agency to issue new safety standards. The agency’s budget is similar to what it was several decades ago, but the size of the economy – and the number and complexity of workplaces to inspect – has grown tremendously.

Though total occupational deaths are far lower today than they were decades ago, more than 4,000 workers still die every year on the job in the United States, most in incidents that could have been prevented. Last night’s tragic explosion in Texas is a reminder of the work still ahead to make our nation’s workplaces safer.

Devoting only a miniscule portion of our budget to protecting workers is a policy choice – and it’s the wrong one.

Keith Wrightson is Public Citizen’s workplace safety expert. Keep up with Public Citizen’s workplace health and safety work by following @SafeWorkers on Twitter.

Sign up to receive a weekly email highlighting the best from Public Citizen’s blogs.

Posted in: Regulation, Social Justice, Workplace Health & Safety2 comments

March1

Maryland legislation will protect construction workers, taxpayers and industry

By: Keith Wrightson

Flickr photo via Granth

Taxpayer dollars should only go to contractors that safeguard their employees from dangerous work conditions. Yet, throughout the United States, government agencies at the state, local, and federal levels award contracts for bridge repair, sewer installation, school renovation and other construction projects to irresponsible companies that endanger their employees’ lives.

We see this problem writ large in the State of Maryland.

To make sure taxpayer dollars are used responsibly, and in response to an August 2012 Public Citizen report, Maryland lawmakers introduced a bill Tuesday that would require companies to meet safety standards as a prequalification for working on public projects in the state.

House Bill 1486 was introduced by Maryland Delegate Brian McHale (D-Baltimore) and co-sponsored by Delegate Cheryl Glenn (D-Baltimore). The Public Citizen report showed safety shortfalls cost the state $712.8 million between 2008 and 2010. During that time, Maryland recorded 18,600 construction industry accidents, of which 11,000 required days away from work or job transfer. Additionally, 55 construction-related fatalities were reported in those years.

Continue Reading

Posted in: Workplace Health & Safety1 comments

February14

Action needed on two year anniversary of delayed worker safety rule

By: Guest blogger

By: Amit Narang and Keith Wrightson

Two years ago today, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) submitted a proposal to  update the standard that protects workers from exposure to crystalline silica dust. The proposal was submitted to a small office within the White House’s Office of Management and Budget called the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA). Although the review should have concluded after 90 days, two years later the proposal still remains under review, leaving the public in the dark as to how strong the new standard will be, much less when it will finally come into effect.

While the standard remains tied up  at the White House, leading scientists are convinced that OSHA’s current silica dust standard, which was issued in 1971, is leaving workers to be exposed to crystalline silica levels far exceeding those considered safe.

Over 1.7 million workers are exposed to potentially hazardous levels of silica dust, mostly in the construction, hydraulic fracking and sandblasting industries. Inhaling the dust causes lung cancer and silicosis, a debilitating lung disease. Silicosis also puts an increased strain on the heart and increases the risk of heart failure.

OSHA estimates that silicosis contributed to, or caused the deaths of 200 to 300 workers per year from 1990 to 1996 and says that many more silicosis-related deaths have gone undetected. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says silicosis kills more than 200 workers per year and disables hundreds more, claiming more than 14,000 lives since 1968.

Continue Reading

Posted in: Activism, Health, Regulation, Social Justice, Uncategorized, Workplace Health & Safety1 comments

January22

In the wake of tragedy, mine safety administration publishes new regulations

By: Keith Wrightson

Flickr photo by Talk Radio News

On the heels of the conviction of former Upper Big Branch Mine superintendent Gary May, Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis has announced a final rule to strengthen safety in the nation’s most dangerous mines.

The rule revises the Mine Safety and Health Administration’s (MSHA) pattern of violations regulation (POV), which is a part of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977. Until now, the POV regulation had not been implemented. It will finally give MSHA the much-needed authority to stop mine production if a pattern of dangerous job conditions are present.

MSHA has said that the rule will ensure that mine operators monitor and address the most hazardous safety problems in their mines. It will also strengthen MSHA’s ability to respond to dangerous mining conditions, and improve safety and health regulations for mining’s most important resource – the miner. The new rule does much more than increase fines for infractions. If a mine operator continues to thumb its nose at working conditions, it could be shut down.

Continue Reading

Posted in: Regulation, Workplace Health & Safety0 comments

© Copyright . All Rights Reserved.