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Weekly Toll Documents Lives Lost on the Job |
A regular feature of the late blog Confined Space was the Weekly Toll, the always-too-long rundown of workers killed on the job around the country. Culled from local newspapers and other media reports, the Weekly Toll reminded us that every day on the job, from factory to construction site to office, workers die.
While Confined Space is gone—Jordan Barab is putting his job safety and health expertise to work with the House Education and Labor Committee—Tammy Miser, who put together the reports, is continuing her work chronicling worker deaths on the new blog, Weekly Toll.
Miser has a close connection to the families of workers killed on the job. Her brother, Shawn Boone, was killed in an October 2003 explosion at the Hayes Lemmerz manufacturing plant in Huntington, Ind. His death, like that of so many other workers, could have been prevented, according to an investigation.
The blast at the plant, which makes cast aluminum automotive wheels, was caused by an accumulation of aluminum dust, according to a report from the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB). The report says the explosion and fire was caused by:
the ignition of fine powdered aluminum in a dust collection system in which hazards were neither identified nor adequately addressed CSB Chairman Carolyn Merritt said:
This accident followed a classic syndrome we call ‘normalization of deviation,’ in which organizations come to accept as ‘normal’ fires, leaks or so-called small explosions. The company failed to investigate the smaller fires as abnormal situations needing correction or as warnings of potentially larger more destructive events. The CSB almost always finds that this behavior precedes a tragedy.
Her brother’s death spurred Miser to establish the United Support Memorial for Workplace Fatalities, a webpage for the families of workers who have died on the job. The opening message on the site reads:
Families who have a loss need to be acknowledged. We will not allow others to discount us any longer.We are the brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers and children of America. Families and their losses are not a number or a statistic. We are the very ones making your profits.We are not asking for more than we are entitled to, Our Right, The Right to a Safe and Healthful Workplace. We need leaders to restore our faith in governmental humanity.
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New words to an old song!! In the Folk tradition
(Tune: Derby Ram)
Jim Grahme he died from cancer
Asbestos fibers were to Blame,
But from the day Jim Grahme died
The Union sings his fame.
Chorus
He’s every worker’s brother,
He is the Union’s son,
And in Jim Grahame’s memory
We’ll fight till we have won.
He worked for health & safety,
And for Union- workers’ rights.
The job he did is never done,
Jim, we won’t give up the fight.
Chorus
Asbestos Jim Grahame inhaled
Is what has caused his death.
“Don’t let this happen to anyone else.”
Jim Grahme said with his last breath.
Chorus
Tag it Bag it and remove it
Where ever you safely can.
Don’t drill or scrap or disturb it
It’s time we see it banned.
James Grahame, Steward, Safety Committee Chair and member of CWA local 9410
What does it mean to have a Union Brother or Sister? Someone, who you not only spend your working life with, but who you attend meetings with, work on solving grievances or safety problems, count votes on elections or walk with on a picket line. A man or a woman who watches your back and you watch theirs. It means we are a family and we are not alone. As it has been our motto in the labor movement for over a hundred years “ An injury to one is the concern of all,” I am in pain today for I have lost my Friend, James Grahame, My Union Brother, a Steward, Safety Committee Chair and election committee member a former operator, service representative, testing technician and communications technician ESS. How did he die so young at age 52, a year after he had retired from Pacific Bell? He died on November 25, 2003 from Mesothelioma a cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. A week before he died he attended a safety committee meeting for the purpose of having SBC place labels on Asbestos hazards in their buildings. Even while he was having a hard time breathing, his concern was stated to me “Don’t let this happen to any one else! Please get the asbestos marked and removed where possible!” I promised him I would work to accomplish that end and I shall do so, because he is my brother and you are my Brothers and Sisters. We both want you not to be exposed to Asbestos. That is his legacy to you and my promise to our brother Jim Grahame.
ASBESTOS, TAG IT, BAG IT, AND REMOVE IT! DO NOT EXPOSE MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS ANYMORE!!