It’s Time for Protection Against Deadly Silica Dust
More than 300 scientists, doctors and workplace safety experts are asking President Obama to step in to speed much-needed protections against worker exposure to crystalline silica.
They signed a letter to the president today, urging him to direct the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to complete its review of a proposed rule from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) on silica dust.
Some 1.7 million workers are exposed to crystalline silica, which kills some 200 workers each year and causes new cases of silicosis in as many as 7,300 workers, mostly in the construction field. Silicosis is incurable but preventable.
Says Leonard Serafin, a former railroad worker from California:
Every day I struggle to do activities because of my condition. I want to see that other people are protected from this dust—it’s not fair to expose people to something this dangerous when they can be protected. Read the rest of this entry »
House Budget Attacks Job Safety for Rooftop Workers
This just in from the Center for American Progress:
HOUSE GOP BUDGET LAUNCHES FULL ON CLASS WAR – Dave Jamieson: “In addition to blocking President Obama’s health care law and slashing funding for job training, the budget plan presented by House Republicans for health and labor programs this week would scuttle several worker safety protections put forth by the Department of Labor…The budget also takes aim at an obscure but notable Labor Department rule intended to reduce the death and maiming of construction workers who toil on rooftops. The department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) had planned to ramp up the enforcement of harness rules for roofers working on residential construction sites. In a move that will likely please the construction lobby, the Republican plan forbids the agency from doing so.”
Report: Estimates of OSHA Regulation Costs Way Off Base
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Last year, researchers Nicole and Mark Crain conducted a study that claimed federal regulations cost businesses $1.75 trillion a year. Included in that total is the assertion that Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulations cost businesses $65 billion a year. But the study is fundamentally flawed, says John Irons, Economic Policy Institute’s (EPI’s) director of policy and research.
The Crain and Crain model contains basic conceptual mistakes and relies on extraordinarily poor data. Its results should neither be used as a valid measure of the economic costs of regulation nor as a guide for policy.
In “Flaws Call for Rejecting Crain and Crain Model,” released last month, and “Deconstructing Crain and Crain: Estimated Cost of OSHA Regulations Is Way Off Base,” released last week, EPI punches holes in the methods used in the study and its conclusions. Check out the critiques here and here.
Here’s one example. EPI found that more than 99 percent of the $65-billion estimate on OSHA costs is based on regulations adopted in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. EPI Vice President Ross Eisenbrey and Director of Regulatory Policy Research Isaac Shapiro explain that one reason that estimate is wrong is that businesses have already adjusted to changes they needed to make to comply with the regulations, and the cost estimates do not account for these changes.
New App from OSHA Helps Workers Avoid Deadly Heat-Related Illnesses
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When you’re working outside you certainly know when it’s hot. But do you know when it’s so hot that you need to start taking precautions to prevent heat related illnesses? Thousands of workers become ill from heat-related illnesses every year and in 2010, 30 workers died from heat stroke.
This week, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced a free app for mobile devices that will enable workers and supervisors to monitor the heat index and take steps to ensure safety.
Labor Secretary Hilda Solis says the new app is one way to get the message out that heat-related illnesses are preventable.
Summer heat presents a serious issue that affects some of the most vulnerable workers in our country, and education is crucial to keeping them safe.
The app, available in English and Spanish, combines heat index data from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration with the user’s location to determine necessary protective measures. Based on the risk level of the heat index, the app provides users with information about precautions they may take, such as drinking fluids, taking rest breaks and adjusting work operations. Read the rest of this entry »
OSHA Crackdown on Severe Violators Nets 182 Firms
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited 182 workplaces—two-thirds of them construction firms—in its year-old severe violator enforcement program (SVEP), according to BNA’s Daily Labor Report (DLR—subscription required).
Using information from a Freedom Information Act request and public records, DLR found that the most common reason for a company to earn a place on the list was what OSHA terms a “high gravity” violation of a safety hazard on which that OSHA has put an emphasis. Those include fall hazards, construction, combustible dust, grain handling, excavation and trenching and several others. Of the 182 employers cited in the SVEP, 109 made the list because of such violations.
The next most common reason (32 companies) for a SVEP citation was a workplace death at a company that had been previously cited for violation that was related to the fatality or other repeated violations. Read the rest of this entry »
Join OSHA’s Safe Workplaces Photo Contest
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is sponsoring a nationwide photography contest: “Picture It! Safe Workplaces for Everyone.”
The contest, which is part of OSHA’s yearlong 40th anniversary celebration, will help kick off a national effort to raise awareness about workplace safety and health.
The contest is open to anyone age 18 and older and will run through Aug. 12. Both professional and amateur photographers are welcome to enter. Participants can find contest rules and submit photographs at www.osha.gov/osha40/photo-contest.html.
4,340 Killed on the Job; Job Safety Laws ‘Must Be Strengthened’
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Forty years after the passage of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act), “there is much more work to be done….The job safety laws must be strengthened,” finds the 2011 AFL-CIO annual job safety report “Death on the Job,” released this morning to commemorate Workers Memorial Day. (Click here for the full report.)
In 2009 (the latest figures available), 4,340 workers were killed on the job—an average of 12 workers a day—and an estimated 50,000 died of occupational diseases. More than 4.1 million workplace injuries and illnesses were reported in private and state and local workplaces. But the report says the 4.1 million “understates the problem,” and the actual number is more likely 8 million to 12 million.
The safety report estimates that since the OSH Act become law 40 years ago tomorrow, it has saved an estimated 431,000 lives. The nation’s two mining laws, the 42-year-old Coal Mine Health and Safety Act and the 34-year-old Mine Safety and Health Act, have saved thousands more.
Last year’s string of major workplace tragedies, however, shows the desperate need for stronger safety and health rules coupled with tougher enforcement. Those disasters included the Upper Big Branch (W.Va.) coal mine explosion that killed 29 miners, an explosion at the Kleen Energy plant in Middletown, Conn., that killed six workers, another at the Tesoro Refinery in Washington State that killed seven workers and the BP/Deepwater Horizon Gulf Coast oil rig explosion that killed 11 and caused a massive environmental and economic disaster. Says the report:
The nation must renew the commitment to protect workers from injury, disease and death and make this a high priority. Employers must meet their responsibilities to protect workers and be held accountable if they put workers in danger. Only then can the promise of safe jobs for all of America’s workers be fulfilled.
Honor Fallen Workers, Fight for Job Safety on Workers Memorial Day
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In hundreds of events around the nation on Workers Memorial Day, April 28, workers will gather together at worksites, city parks, houses of worship and local and state government offices to remember those who have lost their lives on the job and demand strong safety laws and tough enforcement of those laws.
In Cumberland, Md., union, faith and community activists will hold a prayer vigil for workers killed and hurt on the job. In Tucson, Ariz., the Pima Area Labor Federation will honor fallen workers and call on state and national lawmakers to make job safety a priority.
Click here to find a Workers Memorial Day event near you or to register an event.
In 2009 (the latest figures available), 4,340 workers were killed on the job and another 50,000 to 60,000 died of occupational diseases. More than 4.1 million workplace injuries and illnesses were reported in private and state and local workplaces.
Tomorrow, the 2011 edition of the AFL-CIO’s “Death on the Job” report on the state of safety for the nation’s workers will be released. It includes a state-by-state look at job deaths and injuries, a demographic breakdown of workers killed and hurt on the job, an in-depth look at job safety enforcement and more. Be sure to check back here.
With the Occupational Safety and Health Act reaching its 40th anniversary April 28, the Obama administration is refocusing the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Mine Safety and Health Administration on protecting workers and enforcing safety laws after years of neglect by the Bush administration.
As OSHA Turns 40, A Look Forward
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AFL-CIO Media Outreach Fellow Nora Frederickson sends us this report on a discussion at the Center for American Progress on the future of Americans’ health and safety at work.
Since 1970, workers in every state have counted on workplace inspections, whistleblower protections, and standard safety regulations from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to keep them safe at work. Today, unions and their partners in business are expanding their roles in helping OSHA protect workers today, according to panelists at “OSHA at 40,” a discussion at the Center for American Progress on Thursday featuring David Michaels, Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health. In two separate panels, Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health David Michael laid out OSHA’s plans for the future and talked with representatives from the labor, business and academic communities about how to adapt safety regulation for the changing workplace. Read the rest of this entry »
Workers Memorial Day Honors Those Killed on Job, Including BP Rig Workers
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A year ago today–as workers were being pushed to finish drilling faster than some thought was safe, according to news reports–the BP Deepwater/Horizon drilling platform, 72 miles off the Louisiana coast in the Gulf of Mexico exploded. Eleven workers were killed, the rest were rescued.
The BP well then begin spewing 206 million gallons of oil—19 times more than the Exxon Valdez disaster—triggering the worst environmental and economic disaster ever in the Gulf Coast.
Two days later the rig sank to the bottom of the Gulf—likely carrying with it the bodies of the dead workers that have yet to be recovered.
On April 28, as they call for tougher job safety laws as part of the 22nd annual Workers Memorial Day, workers across the country will honor those killed on the BP Deepwater/Horizon rig and the thousands more killed on the job each year. (Click here to find a Workers Memorial Day event near you or to register an event).
