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Four Workers Killed on the Job Yesterday. How Many of Us Know?
Every year, some 5,700 workers are killed on the job. Those deaths, which occur one or two at a time at a worksite, are noted in articles of two or three paragraph in local papers—if at all. Only when a large number of workers are killed do workplace deaths get national attention.
(Check out Tammy Miser’s Weekly Toll for the tragic rundown of the latest deaths on the job.)
Yesterday in the Village of Superior, Wis., the deaths of four workers—apparently from the buildup of toxic fumes—as usual went unreported in the national press. The workers were attempting to replace a pump in what was described as an underground holding tank at a landfill.
Jeff Vito, Superior director of Development and Government Affairs, told local reporters the four died while in a confined space, adding that working in such conditions is tremendously dangerous.
In fact, it was the second time in a month a group of workers was killed while working in a confined space. Last month, six Colorado construction workers were killed after a buildup of flammable vapors trapped them in a hydroelectric plant tunnel.
Safety experts say the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has fairly strong rules about working in confined spaces, but those rules apply only to “general service workers,” not construction workers.
After the past year’s well-publicized mine disasters, there was a groundswell of congressional and public support to develop stronger mine safety laws and ensure that the Bush administration’s Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) enforces both the new laws and the ones already on the books.
Looking at the seriously needed moves to improve mine safety, yesterday’s deaths led safety and health advocates to raise a couple of questions.
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Why isn’t there a similar movement to address non-mine workplace disasters?
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Where is OSHA’s long-promised confined space standard for construction workers?
Two good questions.
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2 Comments
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I have to give our local paper a lot of credit when their is an industrial related death our paper puts it on the front page. They also follow it up after an investigation into the cause.
In 2002, thankfully, joyfully, nine miners were rescued from the Quecreek Mine in PA. A few days later, Bush visited the site and posed for photos with some of the miners. The story was carried worldwide.
That same year – during the time when westcoast contract negotiations were taking place – seven dockworkers were killled on the job, and nary a peep was heard from the “Prez”.
Oh, he got ahold of dockworkers, but it had nothing to do with the Brothers and Sisters who died. The contact came when he took the side of employers, and imposed a Taft-Hartley injunction in response to an employer lock-out of dockworkers.
When it comes to increased mine safety, or safety on the docks or anywhere else, Bush is missing in [in]action. Tributes to fallen workers don’t happen except when photo ops geared to enhance his image are available. Ask the still-suffering victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita…and an uncaring and racist government.
Why this guy has the support of even one worker, let alone the 25% “approval” rating he now enjoys is beyond me.
And its time for people to stop whining and blaming. They need to look into the mirror. That apathetic shell looking back at them allows it to happen. It happens because American workers have become a nation of sheep….being led to [their] slaughter.
This country is our country! The Constitution is our Constitution! The people we elect to office are supposed to represent us!
Unless, however, you’re willing to demand that the thieves return our country, our Constitution, and our well-being back to us , it won’t be long before you’re picked off too.
Wake up working men and women! Demand that Members of Congress represent you, and if they don’t, toss their butts out into the street.
(Or, you can always say, “baa, baa, baa” on the way to bankruptcy court, and on the road to financial ruin, poor health, and an insecurity that brings anguish to the soul.)