BP Hit with Largest-Ever OSHA Fine of $87 Million
Labor Secretary Hilda Solis announced today the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has levied the largest fine in its history—$87.4 million—against BP for failing to correct safety problems identified after a 2005 explosion that killed 15 workers at its Texas City, Texas, refinery.
In a telephone press conference this morning, Solis said the fines are the result of BP’s failure to comply in hundreds of instances with a 2005 agreement to fix safety hazards at the refinery.
Solis said the fines represent the Obama Labor Department’s commitment to maintain safe workplaces:
Let me be clear. This administration will not tolerate disregard of our laws. Employers have a legal and moral responsibility to protect their workers who ultimately are America’s most important assets. The laws are designed to level the playing field for all businesses and ensure that workers in any economic climate are kept out of harm’s way.
The Secret’s Over and Out: Bush Chemical Exposure Rule Killed
It’s no secret now. The Bush administration’s clandestine move to loosen the rules on how much toxin or dangerous chemicals to which workers can be exposed—and to make it more difficult to issue new worker protection rules—is now officially dead.
The U.S. Department of Labor announced this week that the proposed rule was unnecessary and withdrew it. The rule came to be known as the secret rule because of the Bush administration’s attempt to keep it off the public’s and media’s radar screen last year.
In January, as one of its first official acts, the Obama administration ordered work halted on the chemical exposure rule and other last-minute regulatory changes the Bush administration tried to ram through before leaving office.
Obama Nominates Occupational Health Expert to Head OSHA
In what is described as “a win for every worker,” President Obama yesterday nominated Dr. David Michaels to head the Occupational Safety and Heath Administration (OSHA).
On the science blog, Effective Measure, Revere writes:
OSHA once again has deeply committed health and safety professionals at its helm. It’s a big job and as important as they come. Lives depend on it….This is a win for every worker.
Michaels is an epidemiologist and research professor at the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at The George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services. He has conducted numerous studies of the health effects of occupational exposure to toxic chemicals, including asbestos, metals and solvents, and has written extensively on science and regulatory policy.
Report: Bush’s Voluntary Program Didn’t Help Job Safety and Health
An investigation by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) confirms what union and other workplace safety advocates have charged for years—the Bush administration’s reliance on voluntary policing by employers of their safety and health actions did not improve worker safety.
The GAO report, released this week, concludes that under the Bush administration the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s Voluntary Protection Program lacked proper oversight, did not improve worker safety and diverted scarce resources from other enforcement duties.
The program has been in place since 1982, but the Bush administration greatly expanded it and widely promoted it as an alternative to strong enforcement of workplace safety and health laws. During its last five years, the Bush administration more than doubled the number of workplaces under the voluntary program.
Now Labeled a Pandemic, Swine Flu Poses Threat to Health Care Workers
The H1N1 (swine flu) virus is now the first global flu pandemic in 41 years. The World Health Organization (WHO) yesterday declared the virus a Phase-6 pandemic, its highest level of warning.
The declaration means the virus has circled the globe and poses a threat to spread more rapidly among populations. So far, there have been 27,737 cases of swine flu and 141 deaths in 74 countries. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says there have been 13,000 cases of the flu and at least 27 deaths.
WHO classifies the reported cases as mild to moderate. But two other factors are causes for concern. About half of those who have died from the H1N1 virus were young and healthy people not normally susceptible to flu. Second, the virus continues to spread in the warm summer months in the Northern Hemisphere, a time when flu viruses normally disappear.
More Die on Job in New York State Because of Bush’s Safety and Health Cuts
Eight years of Bush administration cutbacks in funding for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), particularly for an adequate inspection force, puts New York state workers at greater risk of dying on the job, a new report reveals.
“Dying for Work in New York,” released yesterday, also says immigrant, minority and nonunion workers are at greater risk on the job. The report was sponsored by the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (NYCOSH), the New York State AFL-CIO and the New York City Central Labor Council.
Unions Urge OSHA to Enforce Swine Flu Worker Protections
With more than 5,000 confirmed and probable cases of the H1NI (swine flu) virus in the United States—including 82 infections in health care workers—as well as six deaths and reports that the virus is continuing to spread, the AFL-CIO and several unions today urged the federal government to act swiftly to protect workers.
In a letter to Jordan Barab, acting director of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, AFL-CIO Safety and Health Director Peg Seminario writes that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suspects the number of confirmed cases understates the actual level of infection and that the H1N1 virus is spreading. Says Seminario’s letter:
As OSHA and CDC have recognized, health care workers, emergency responders and other workers who come into close contact with patients infected with the novel H1N1 virus are at increased risk of exposure and infection and require protection.
Labor FY 2010 Budget Will Protect Workers. What a Concept
Labor Secretary Hilda Solis told two congressional committees this week that the Department of Labor’s fiscal year (FY) 2010 budget will
restore capacity in our worker protection programs, which have languished for years.
Appearing in separate hearings before the Senate and House Appropriations committees’ Labor, Health and Human Services and Education subcommittees, Solis said the department’s budget—including a 10 percent increase for worker protection programs—will fund three priorities:
- Renewed capacity of programs that protect workers’ safety and health, pay and benefits;
- New and innovative ways to promote economic recovery and the competitiveness of our nation’s workers; and
- Carrying out programs in a way that is accountable and transparent to the public and our stakeholders.
OSHA, MSHA Move on Bush-Stalled Health and Safety Rules
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is moving forward on several new workplace safety measures that languished for years under the Bush administration. The move follows last week’s unveiling of the Obama administration’s Labor Department budget that boosts OSHA’s funding by $51 million and includes the hiring of 160 new safety inspectors.
According to the Labor Department’s regulatory agenda released yesterday, the safety agency will move on several rules stalled under Bush’s OSHA, including rules to protect workers from exposure to dangerous substances and chemicals such as silica (which can cause serious respiratory disease), diacetyl (a flavoring additive linked to “popcorn lung”) and beryllium (a light metal that can cause lung damage, especially to metal and dental workers).
Swine Flu Hits 26 Health Care Workers
The H1N1 (swine flu) crisis reminds us that each day, the nation’s front-line health care workers are the foundation upon which our health care system is built. As Jordan Barab, the acting head of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), told the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee yesterday:
If they are not able to work due to illness, or unwilling to work due to fears for their health, individual patients and the country’s entire health care structure will suffer.
