Confined Space

ASBESTOS NEWS

As Congress debates what to do about compensation for thousands of victims of asbestos who have still not received compensation, it is useful to remember that the arguments are not really about statistics, or even money, but real people. It's also hopeful to know that we may finally be approaching the day when the use of asbestos will finally be banned in this country.

A Poisonous Legacy

April 29, 2003
By Steve Clark,
Business Report staff

Two sides face off over solutions to 'endless wave' of asbestos litigation
Nobody told Ronald Leleaux the dust he was breathing could hurt him, but it wasn't because nobody knew.

Leleaux, a 68-year-old Coast Guard veteran, worked a variety of industrial jobs from 1954 until 1971, the last six years spent at Baton Rouge's ExxonMobil refinery.

Like countless workers in industrial trades in the decades following World War II, he was routinely exposed to high levels of asbestos while on the job.

Leleaux remembers one of his worst experiences: an 18-month stint working inside a sprawling on-site rubber manufacturing facility dubbed the "finishing building." The corrugated-asbestos roof sheltered massive machines called extruders, which also were covered in asbestos.

"They would be running those big extruders in there, and they also had vibrators, and they had presses," Leleaux says. "That whole building would just tremble and it would be kind of smoky in there. That was nothing but that asbestos. You were breathing all that. We weren't told anything about what it would do."

Scarred and scared

Today, Leleaux, a lifelong nonsmoker, spends most of his day in a La-Z-boy recliner, an oxygen tank by his side, at the Livingston Parish home he shares with Leona Leleaux, his wife of 34 years.

Ronald Leleaux was diagnosed with asbestosis in 1997 after suffering steadily worsening breathing problems for years. Non-malignant yet debilitating, asbestosis is a scarring of the lungs caused by long-term exposure to the fibers from asbestos, a mineral used in thousands of household and industrial applications until being phased out in the 1970s and 1980s.

Eventually Leleaux's breathing got so bad he could sleep only two or three hours a night and some nights awoke in a panic after his breathing stopped altogether.

Leona remembers those nights. She put cold rags on her husband's face, turned on the fan and stayed up with him until he was breathing again. Read more

Panel urges U.S. to ban asbestos imports

BY ANDREW SCHNEIDER
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Posted on Sun, May. 04, 2003

WASHINGTON - (KRT) - A blue-ribbon panel funded by the Environmental Protection Agency has issued a surprising recommendation calling on Congress to ban the import, production and distribution of products containing asbestos.
The deadly mineral is no longer mined in the United States, yet the government says about 30 millions pounds of the lethal fibers are being imported into the country each year.

The findings come as a shock to some of those who have long advocated a ban because so many of the panel's members have ties to industries involved with asbestos. That gives the panel's recommendations extraordinary weight, those involved with the asbestos issue say, and could aid efforts already under way in the Senate to outlaw the importation of the deadly fibers. Read more

Labels: Asbestos

How’s My Driving?

There was an interesting article in Sunday’s Washington Post about the high number of lives saved in the Iraq war due to the increased use and effectiveness of body armor which almost eliminated deaths due to bullet or shrapnel injuries to the chest or abdomen. Buried in the article were a couple of paragraphs that could provide valuable insight into a major workplace hazard: highway accidents.

Highway accidents are the leading cause of workplace fatalities, making up almost 29% of the almost 6,000 workplace fatalities in 2001, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

These figures have been used by anti-OSHA activists to try to minimize the workplace death toll in the U.S, using the excuse that highway accidents are allegedly the result of bad personal driving habits (or drugs or alcohol or whatever), and therefore there driver's fault and clearly not under the control of the employer.

The U.S. military, however, apparently sees it differently. There are measures that can be taken to reduce traffic accidents, and they saved lives in the recent war in Iraq:
Twelve years ago, 50 percent more soldiers died in accidents (235) than in battle (147). In the recent war, there were only a third as many noncombat fatalities (36) as deaths in battle (101). The same pattern appears to hold for nonfatal injuries, with the data on evacuated Army troops showing that 107 had noncombat injuries, compared with 118 who had combat wounds.

[Col. Terry J. Walters, the physician who is chief of health policy in the office of the Army's surgeon general] attributed the steep drop in noncombat deaths and injuries, in part, to the Army's effort to improve driver safety and to ensure that soldiers were well-rested when operating vehicles. In the first Gulf War, motor vehicle accidents alone accounted for about half of all serious injuries. "Because this was such a motorized effort, we expected many more accidents than we actually saw. I think this is a definitive success story," she said.
Perhaps the Department of Transportation should consult with the Pentagon before issuing new rules concerning how long truckers are allowed to drive.

Playing It Safe

The only thing Don Croff and Dan Rotar would like to see climbing in the Ford Van Dyke plant is the facility’s safety score.

That’s why, as the UAW’s health and safety representatives at the Sterling Heights, Mich., plant, they want work brought down to ground level, instead of having skilled-trades workers climb on top of machinery or use harnesses to get the job done. Check out the UAW’s Health and Safety Page

What's good for the goose....

Groups Want 3 Strikes Law for Businesses

Updated: Sunday, May. 4, 2003 - 2:18 PM EST.
By STEVE LAWRENCE
Associated Press Writer

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - Borrowing from a popular punishment for multiple street crimes, California consumer activists are trying to create a three-strikes-and-you're-out law for corporations.

"If this is good enough for individual felons in California, it's certainly appropriate for the Enrons of the world," says Carmen Balber, a consumer advocate for the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights.

The foundation and several other consumer groups, as well as organizations representing environmentalists, labor unions, seniors and trial lawyers, are backing a bill that would bar a corporation from doing business in California if it's convicted of three felonies in a 10-year period.

The measure, by Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, takes its name from the state's three strikes law, which provides sentences of 25 years to life in prison for individuals with two prior violent or serious felonies who are convicted of a third felony. Read more

Meet the New SOL, (Almost) The Same As The Old SOL

Staying to the Right at Labor

From the Washington Post

Liberals and union folks shouldn't look for much change at the Labor Department because Eugene Scalia left after failing to be confirmed as solicitor. The White House said last week it will nominate deputy solicitor Howard Radzely for the post. He has been a law clerk for Scalia's dad, Antonin, who sits on the U.S. Supreme Court, and before that for conservative appeals court Judge J. Michael Luttig. (here Scroll Down)

TOXIC WATER NUMBERS DAYS OF A TRAILER PARK

By Rick Bragg
May 5, 2003
The New York Times

LAQUEMINE, La., May 1 — Before the water went bad, most people in the trailer park never thought of their aluminum-skinned houses as a mobile home, only home. Hard against the rows of sugar cane, not far from the big chemical plants that light up the evening sky, the trailers in the Myrtle Grove park were dented but decent, and the tires rotted in the grass.

Now, staying in the tree-shaded neighborhood just outside the river city of Plaquemine is unthinkable. There is poison in the well water that they used to drink, a chemical used to make plastic called vinyl chloride. The state knew this years ago, but residents were not told. They wonder what it will do to them someday, and what it has done to them already. More

The War for Chemical Plant Safety
One of my well-traveled colleagues dragged into my office the other day and asked (rhetorically), why does the federal government have mandatory regulations requiring grandmothers to take off their orthopedic shoes before they can get through airport security, and yet our whole system of keeping millions of people safe from terrorism targeted at chemical plants is totally voluntary?

Since then I’d been meaning to write something about the debate over chemical plant safety and terrorism. Last Friday's outrageous Wall St. Journal editorial, seemingly written by the American Chemical Council, has finally gotten me off of my butt. You can’t read it online, because you have to be a subscriber. So either go through the garbage of a nearby office building or trust me.

Question: What does chlorine have to do with terrorism? Answer: Nothing much, but that isn’t stopping new Jersey Democrat and world-class nuisance Jon Corzine from trying to ban it under the guise of homeland security….
Actually, the legislation introduced by Corzine has everything to do with chlorine, other highly hazardous chemical and terrorism. As the Journal itself points out,
The U.S. has at least 15,000 chemical plants refineries or other sites that use or store significant amounts of potentially hazardous chemicals, but no one has fully assessed their security.
Indeed, according to the National Environmental Trust, out of these 15,000 facilities,
in the EPA’s Risk Management Program, of these 110 plants hold enough chemicals that, if released through explosions or other mishaps, could form deadly vapor clouds put more than one million people in danger each. EPA found that each of 700 facilities could put at least 100,000 people at risk, and each of 3,000 facilities could put 10,000 people at risk
Corzine, whom the Journal accuses of “using terror fears to sneak through an environmental agenda that has nothing to do with safety” has introduced a bill for the second year in a row that requires the government to identify facilities that pose the greatest risk, assess their vulnerability to attack, and enforce safety upgrades. Plants would get credit for any voluntary measures already taken, and sensitive information would remain secret.

It would require sites to do a hazard assessment and consider the introduction of inherently safer technologies. Substituting a less hazardous chemical for a more hazardous chemical is one type of inherently safer technology. There are several ways to do this, listed in the Corzine Bill:

(i) use less hazardous substances or benign substances;
(ii) use a smaller quantity of highly hazardous chemicals;
(iii) reduce hazardous pressures or temperatures;
(iv) reduce the possibility and potential consequences of equipment failure and human error;
(v) improve inventory control and chemical use efficiency; and
(vi) reduce or eliminate storage, transportation, handling, disposal, and discharge of highly hazardous chemicals.
Senator Corzines’ bill is about getting rid of chemicals, period. He’d give half of the responsibilities for coming up with new security regulations to the highly trained, highly motivated anti-al Queda special forces at ---the Environmental Protection Agency.
The Journal clearly doesn’t like the idea of Inherently Safety Technologies.
In practice, this means the federal government could require sites to replace chemical it doesn’t like with ones it does – no matter how much more expensive, or less effective.

But as any first-year chemistry student knows, you can’t just willy-nilly substitute compounds…. Even when there is a substitute, the cost would be prohibitive. The millions of dollars that small communities would be forced to spend on a chlorine substitute for water purification is money they wouldn’t use on new fire engines or other first-response equipment.
Well, clearly the Wall St. Journal editors failed first-year chemistry. Replacing highly hazardous chemicals with equally effective less hazardous chemicals is not pie in the sky, either technically or financially. Immediately after September 11, Washington D.C.’s Blue Plains Wastewater Treatment Plant changed from chlorine to sodium hypochlorite, which is a strong version of bleach, but much safer. The change cost about $1 million, which translates into about 50 cents per customer more annually for sewage treatment.

"Needless to say, our neighbors were very pleased that we discontinued that practice," said Libby Lawson, a spokeswoman for the District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority. "We had to rearrange a few of our economic priorities, but, obviously, it can be done."

This approach makes sense on a number of levels. There clearly may be a terrorist threat to chemical plants. A year ago, the CIA warned of the potential for an al-Queda attack on U.S. chemical facilities. But even if the only threat we had to worry about was terrorism, how much sense does it make to only commit resources to guard a target (with questionable effectiveness) when in most cases it’s entirely possible to shrink or even remove the target completely? As outlaw Willie Sutton explained, they robbed banks because that’s where the money was. Terrorists would be tempted to attack chemical plants because that’s where the greatest potential for terror is. Take the money out of the banks - -or the catastrophic potential out of chemical plants -- and no one cares.

But in reality, terrorism is not the only thing we have to worry about when it comes to chemical plant safety – in fact it’s probably not even the primary concern. Ever since the Bhopal catastrophe at a Union Carbide plant in India that released a toxic cloud of methyl isocyanate, killing more than 3,000 people and injuring 600,000, the American public has been concerned about similar catastrophic incidents happening here—and with good reason.

The legislation passed in the wake of Bhopal set up a process that identified the 15,000 plants of highest concern and created the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation board that investigates chemical accidents, identifies the root causes and recommends measures to prevent future incidents. The CSB's database and a perusal of any news database reveal hundreds of incidents each year, many of which were only kept from becoming large-scale disasters by luck. In other words, if one is concerned about catastrophic chemical accidents, one need not just dwell on terrorism; there’s enough concern with management system and equipment failures.
It’s no accident, therefore that Greenpeace hailed as a “breakthrough” the original Corzine Bill that died last year
The Journal seems to perceive a grand enviro-socialist conspiracy to take over control of the chemical industry, noting that the idea of inherently safer technologies (and for some groups, even phasing out chlorine completely) was on the environmentalists’ agenda prior to 9/11. Given the hazards inherent in chemical plants that use highly hazardous materials, concern about chemical plant safety and interest in inherently safer technologies has, in fact, understandably been on the agenda of environmentalists and communities living near chemical plants ever since Bhopal. The only difference is that they make more sense in this post-9/11 world. In fact, before 9/11 and since that day, we have seen many chemical plant explosion stemming from management system errors and equipment failures, and none related to terrorism.

Another small quibble with the Journal’s word selection. The Corzine bill didn’t exactly “die” last year. It would be more accurate to say that it was assassinated by the American Chemistry Council after the bill passed the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, unanimously, 19-0. According to the National Journal, “Then the council ramped up its opposition arguing that the bill’s regulatory regime was overzealous and so potentially costly that it risked driving American companies out of business. By the time the full Senate took up the bill in September, most of the committee’s Republicans agreed with the industry’s message. The GOP members backtracked on their earlier vote and the measure died.” (National Journal 4/26/03, p. 1310-1311)

The ACC is concerned that the Corzine bill would “Drive American companies out of business?" Now where have we heard that before? Hint: Check industry testimony on every environmental or health and safety regulation proposed over the past 30 years.

Indeed, one would have that that after 9/11 laws requiring the safety of chemical plants would have been hot on the heals of laws requiring enhanced airport security. But that was not to be. While some chemicals users, such as the Washington D.C. sewer authority, cited above, got the idea quickly, others remaining frighteningly lax. An article in Government Executive magazine reviews a number of reports of lax security at highly hazardous chemical plants.

After 9/11 the ACC assured us that the association and its members were voluntarily taking care of the problem. In June 2002, the ACC announced that it had “made enhanced security activities mandatory for its members, to help assure the public that all member facilities are involved in making their neighbors and America more secure”

According to Government Executive Magazine, however:
The industry’s largest trade group, the American Chemistry Council, now requires member companies to assess their vulnerabilities. Those analyses were completed at the end of last year. By the end of 2003, member companies must develop security plans. The association eventually will require companies to get verification of their assessments and plans from an independent third party, according to Chris VandenHeuvel, an association spokesman.

Results from the assessments are being kept secret. Not even the association sees them. VandenHeuvel says the association does not have a secure location to keep the reports, nor does it have security experts on staff. The association requires that chief executive officers at member companies certify compliance with the mandate to assess vulnerabilities. But an association executive, speaking on the condition of anonymity, acknowledges that the group has no way to verify company results.
Newspapers across the nation are filled with frightening stories of the potential damage that a terrorist attack on nearby chemical plants could do. (Examples here and here and here and here)

The Bush Administration, which was considering having EPA issue chemical security regulations under its existing Clean Air Act authority, last October “abandoned efforts to impose tough new security regulations on the chemical industry to protect against possible terrorist attacks, following months of intense internal fighting within the administration and resistance from the industry....The decision marks a victory for major chemical manufacturers who have argued they can improve security without regulatory intervention.” Instead, the Administration has decided to opt for new legislation that would give all authority for chemical plant security to the Department of Homeland Security.

The Government Accounting Office is not amused. A recent GAO report on chemical plant security found that “''Chemical facilities may be attractive targets for terrorists intent on causing massive damage,'' yet “despite all efforts since the events of Sept. 11, 2001, to protect the nation from terrorism, the extent of security preparedness at U.S. chemical facilities is unknown,"

The GAO report also went after the EPA, charging that the agency had backed off of regulating chemical plant security because of a threatened lawsuit by the ACC.

Even the chemical industry is finally resigned to some sort of legislation. But not the Corzine bill with its talk of inherently safer technology and giving the EPA any authority over chemical plant security.

The ACC has announced that it would favor legislation that will: “Require facilities to conduct vulnerability assessments and address deficiencies, provide oversight and inspection authority by the Department of Homeland Security, and create strong enforcement authority to ensure facilities are secure against the threat of terrorism.”

The Journal and the ACC think that a bill being drafted by Senator James Inhofe, (D-OK), chairman of the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee, is a “good start.” Inhofe’s bill subjects sites to oversight by the Department of Homeland Security (and not EPA) and gives Homeland Security (and not EPA) the power to set standards and then fine any site that doesn’t comply.

There are several problems with this. First, critics charge that it essentially lets the industry decide for itself what those standards will be and so far, the chemical industry’s strategy is confined to increased patrols, vehicle inspections and biochemical training for local emergency personnel. Second, of course, it ignores the whole concept of inherently safer technologies. Third, it ignores EPA, with its obvious expertise in making plants safer, as opposed to just guarding them. Finally, although the bill may require plants to conduct vulnerability assessments, it is unclear if anyone at Homeland Security would ever be looking at them. It is likely that they plan to trust the ACC to monitor compliance.

Inhofe's staff released a two-page memo explaining that Homeland Security should be solely responsible because
"security is separate and distinct from safety at chemical plants, which is the province of EPA and OSHA," the Labor Department's Occupational Safety & Health Administration.

Environmental activists had complained about being excluded from Inhofe's consultations with military experts in the administration and the private sector. "Whom would you trust to protect chemical plants against terrorists, former Navy Seals or Greenpeace?" Inhofe's staff said in the memo.
The bottom line, of course, is that ACC members don’t want anyone telling them how to run their businesses if they can get away with a few higher fences and a few more guards. But it is becoming increasingly clear that communities that live around these plants do not trust the chemical industry to patrol itself, nor do they necessarily have faith that more guards really mean more security. Nor, finally do they have faith that they would be safe even in the absence of terrorism. That's why, according to the National Journal, the ACC is preparing to spend at least $50 million on a "massive media campaign" this year to defeat the Corzine bill. And they'll try to keep it secret. As one chemical industry veteran told the National Journal In some ways, for the chemical industry to be recognized as a powerful lobby would be a disaster for relations with federal regulators and environmentalists."

The Wall St. Journal does finally get one thing right:
Nowadays the first refuge of political scoundrels is “homeland security.”
Hear that Mr. John “Who needs the Bill of Rights” Ashcroft, Mr. Tom “Unions are a Security Threat” Ridge and Mr. George W. “Let’s hold the Republican Convention as Close to September 11 as Possible” Bush?

Labels: Chemical Plant Security

The War At Home: Sighs Too Deep For Tears

Short weekend break from health and safety issues. I'm going to put the end of the Washington Post column about the gangs of Washington first:

Think of all the pistols tucked in waistbands across this city. And all the gunshot victims in wheelchairs, and the murders we rack up by the day. With some of the toughest gun control laws on the books and with gun-packing groups like 1-7 roving D.C. streets with the audacity of the 3rd Infantry Division, Washington has the unmitigated gall to demand that the Palestinian Authority disarm West Bank terrorists. Charity begins at home.

Speaking of sighs too deep for tears.

Aside from revealing the gross absurdities of our leaders' priorities -- both nationally and locally -- this article especially touched me because I lived on those blocks in 1980 -- it's where I met my wife. Depressing to see how much "progress" we've made in almost a quarter of a century. But hey, didn't he look great in that flyboy suit? Make's you darn proud.

Attention Farm Workers, Gardeners, Park Workers, Highway Workers, Groundskeepers

Pesticides Linked with Prostate Cancer
Thu May 1,12:03 AM ET Add Science - Reuters to My Yahoo!

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Farmers who use certain pesticides seem to have a high risk of prostate cancer (news - web sites), U.S. government researchers said on Thursday.

The researchers, who published their study in the American Journal of Epidemiology, confirmed other findings that show farmers have an unusually high risk of prostate cancer.

"Associations between pesticide use and prostate cancer risk among the farm population have been seen in previous studies; farming is the most consistent occupational risk factor for prostate cancer," Michael Alavanja of the National Cancer Institute (news - web sites), who helped lead the study, said in a statement.

Researchers at NCI and at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the Environmental Protection Agency (news - web sites) studied 55,332 farmers or nursery workers who worked with pesticides.

Between 1993 and 1999, 566 new prostate cancers developed among the men, compared to 495 that would normally be expected in Iowa and North Carolina, the two states studied.

The risk of developing prostate cancer was 14 percent greater for the pesticide applicators compared to the general population.

One pesticide, methyl bromide, increased the risk of prostate cancer in all men.

Six others raised the risk in men with a family history of prostate cancer. They are chlorpyrifos, coumaphos, fonofos, phorate, permethrin, and butylate.

More than 220,000 U.S. men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer this year, according to the American Cancer Society (news - web sites), and 30,000 will die of it.

The biggest risk factors for prostate cancer are age and family history. Black men have higher rates of prostate cancer and men who eat lots of red meat and animal fat also appear to have a higher risk.

Thanks to Rory O'Neil for forwarding this.

And now for a little politics…

You political junkies may have noticed this article in the New York Times (which you can no longer read without paying because the idiotic Times charges for any article more than a week old!) last week:
National Desk | April 22, 2003, Tuesday
BUSH'S AIDES PLAN LATE SPRINT IN '04

By ADAM NAGOURNEY and RICHARD W. STEVENSON (NYT) 2049 words
Late Edition - Final , Section A , Page 1 , Column 1

President Bush's advisers have drafted a re-election strategy built around staging the latest nominating convention in the party's history, allowing Mr. Bush to begin his formal campaign near the third anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks and to enhance his fund-raising advantage, Republicans close to the White House say.
Michael Tomasky has an article on the American Prospect website contrasting the Democrats’ spirited condemnation of Senator Rick Santorum’s anti-gay remarks, with their feeble response to the Republicans’ decision break a “gentlemen’s agreement" and hold the latest convention in American history so that they can stage it (in New York) as close to September 11 as possible.
And they in essence acknowledge, discreetly but quite openly, that the purpose is to squeeze as much political gain out of the attacks, and the national-security issue, as they can.

This is a many-layered offense -- to the traditions and integrity (such that remains) of the American political process, to the firefighters and police officers who did not give their lives so that Bush could later use their deaths to get a bounce in the polls, to every American citizen who doesn't drink Karl Rove's Kool-Aid, and to plain decency.
Tomasky offers four possible Democratic responses: hell raising by Democratic Senators, rescheduling their Convention for late August, not doing a Convention at all (thereby saving the money for the campaign), and fourth:
Plan, or encourage others to plan, a serious, thoughtful, humble, dignified series of counter-events for the week the Republicans are in New York that show how real Americans -- Republicans who wish to participate included -- commemorate somber occasions.
The last suggestion sounds like a good role for Labor.

But Tomasky’s a pessimist – or a realist: “Of course, none of this will happen. The Republicans will have their way, and Bush will maul them on the security issue. But, by God, Democrats will have the gay vote.”

But if there’s any message we can take away from this, it’s that it’s never too early to start thinking of strategies for Regime Change ’04. After all, there’s only 629 days, 19 hours, 29 minutes, 12 seconds until Inauguration Day 2005.

OSHA Kills

Read it here.

If you check out OSHA's Website, you'll find a page entitled OSHA Saves Lives. "Not so," say "scholars" at the Mercatus Center. Despite OSHA's director John Henshaw's assertion that “Safety and health add value to businesses, workplaces and people's lives,” a recent study by two authors from the anti-government Mercatus Institute argues that, in fact, OSHA inspections actually cause more workplace fatalities.

How so, you ask? Well I can't begin to describe the statistical methods that the two authors, Jonathan Klick and Thomas Stratmann, both of George Mason University, used to come to this conclusion in their study. I'll leave the deconstruction to those who can understand statistics better than I. You can also read a simpler, abbreviated version of the study if visit your local newsstand and pick up the latest copy of Regulation magazine, published by the right-wing, libertarian Cato Institute. (It doesn't appear in electronic form.)

The most interesting part is their explanation of this phenomenon. From the Regulation article, here it is in a nutshell:

Surprisingly, we found that fines have no statistically significant effect on death rates and increasing inspections actually leads to significantly higher fatality rates. On average, we found that an additional 100 inspections in a given state-industry in a particular year leads to between 1 and 2.5 additional deaths in that industry

What accounts for such a surprising result?...When the firm increases its efforts because of OSHA enforcement, the worker rationally substitutes away from his own efforts. That is, if the firm is doing more to protect the worker, the worker has less incentive to protect himself. (emphases added)

So, let me get this straight. You have a bunch of employees in a dangerous workplace. OSHA inspects the workplace, finds violations and cites the company, which starts paying more attention to workplace safety. But, "increased worker safety measures induce riskier behaviors on the part of workers," according to the abstract of the study.

The typical "rational" worker, figuring that OSHA has forced his employer to be more responsible, now "has less incentive to protect himself." No sooner does the employer finally get serious about safety then workers suddenly start jumping down into unshored trenches, crawling down into unmonitored confined spaces, sticking themselves with HIV-contaminated needles and climbing tall buildings without fall protection. "Respirators? We don't need no stinking respirators!"

It must be so, because, according to its web page, Mercatus boasts that "We draw upon both real world experience and wide reading in multiple academic disciplines."

The report is almost not worth analyzing, but a few things stick out. Most glaring is the authors' assumption that injuries and fatalities are caused by workers' unsafe behaviors and actions.(For more on behavioralism, see here and here.) When management takes care of safety (under pressure from OSHA), workers somehow won't feel they have to "behave" safely. Well if the authors actually had an "real world experience" they'd know that the reason workers are injured and killed at work is because they are exposed to unsafe conditions and hazards.

One thing they did get right. If workers are not involved in the employer's safety program -- in identifying and controlling hazards -- the program is unlikely to be effective.

So who are these guys? Cato is a well endowed "libertarian" Washington D.C. think tank that "seeks to broaden the parameters of public policy debate to allow consideration of the traditional American principles of limited government, individual liberty, free markets and peace." They publish Regulation magazine, which regularly features anti-regulation and articles about the benefits of abolishing OSHA.

The Mercatus Center is part of George Mason University. They are known for coming out with annual reports on the (high) cost of regulations to American business , and other papers arguing for the abolition of OSHA. The director of the Mercatus Regulatory Studies Program is Wendy Gramm, George H.W. Bush's Administrator for Information and Regulatory Affairs at the Office of Management and Budget and Executive Director of the Presidential Task Force on Regulatory Relief.

Not appearing on Gramm's resume is the fact that she is the wife of former right-wing Senator Phil Gramm (R-TX) and a former member of the Enron Board of Directors. The George Mason/Mercatus campus also happened to be where the Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao decided to hold one of her three ergonomics "forums," after the Congress and Bush Administration repealed the ergonomics standard.

I am nominating this study as a future member of the Loony Right-Wing Theory Hall of Fame. It's reminiscent of a theory pushed by the Office of Management and Budget under George Bush I which postulated that health and safety regulations led to higher worker fatality rates because regulations cost businesses money, forcing them to pay workers less. The lower one's income, the worse their diet, leading to all kinds of bad health effects.

Oh, and the surprising conclusion of the Regulation article: "If workers effectively undo safety regulations, it is doubtful that OSHA can do much to "save lives, prevent injuries, and protect the health of American workers."

For this I stay up late at night?

Labels: Mindnumbingly Stupid Stuff

An Act of God?

Employers often blame "acts of God" or the "whims of Mother Nature" for workers' deaths in trench collapses or by asphyxiation in manholes or other confined spaces. In other words, despite OSHA regulations and general industry recognition, "nothing could have been done to prevent this tragedy." This article about the death of a tomato field worker, Immokalee farm worker killed by lightning strike, might actually come close to an act of God. Or?

When lightning and thunder threaten, my kids are rushed off their soccer and baseball fields and out of the public pool. I wonder if field workers are also given the opportunity to seek shelter from the storm as experts and federal government agencies recommend? It's not smart to try to fool Mother Nature.

Labels: Freak Accidents

Letters from Readers: Why Get Involved?
Jordan, My question is what can a group do to get the citizens to act after they learn about a situation ( like the ones you offer) ?

We can't get registered voters to vote !! Then they complain, whilke the city is taxing and spending us to death. The police were threatened by firing if they looked at AFSCME. So they did not organize..
-- J. K.
J.K: My "theory" is that people will vote if they think that voting matters -- or that not voting means that they will get screwed (even worse than they are now).

My small part in this struggle (and the reason for this Blog) is to try to show people that voting can directly determine how safe their workplaces will be (and those of their family and friends) and whether or not they will be coming home from work in the same shape they left the house that morning.

If even one more Democrat had been elected to the Senate (or a few more in the House of Representatives), we might have saved the ergonomics standard. If Democrats who voted wrong (even some moderate Republicans) had truly feared the wrath of millions of pissed off workers (and their families and friends) at next election time, maybe they wouldn't have voted the wrong way.

We lost the ergonomics standard and millions of workers pay the price every year because of it. If every worker with a musculoskeletal disorder voted -- and if they convinced a couple of their non-voting friends to vote, we might have a very different picture in this country.

My thoughts. Your comments?

-- Jordan

Screened Out
$2.95 will buy you the May 12, 2003 edition of the Nation which has an excellent article about "How 'fighting terrorism' became a bludgeon in Bush's Assault on Labor," by David Bacon.

Unfortunately, it's not on their website in a linkable electronic version. Some quotes from Bush Administration officials will give you a taste:
"Collective Bargaining would be incompatible with the nation's safety," Chris Rhatigan, spokesperson for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA.)

"Security is paramount and collective bargaining could cripple the system." Nico Melendez, TSA Representative.
What is linkable on their website, however, is William Greider insightful analysis the Bush "vision" in Rolling Back the 20th Century. Read them. (P.S. I receive no funding or support from The Nation for these plugs. Not even a free subscription or even a blurb about this Blog.)

Old OSHA Directors Don’t Die, (But They Make Sure They’re in God’s Good Graces When They Do.)
Some say that the problem with high government office – like Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA – is that it goes to your head; people treat you like God – or like the Devil. So it may not be surprising to look at Thorne Auchter’s current career choice. Auchter, you may remember if you’ve been in the OSHA game for long, was Ronald Reagan’s first OSHA Director and spearheaded Reagan’s attempt to dismantle OSHA.

Well, Thorne has apparently reversed the Reagan mantra: government is no longer the problem, it’s the solution to the problems of the U.S., Iraq, the Middle East, and Heaven itself.

Seems Auchter has become the CEO of Grace News Network, now the beneficiary of our tax dollars. What in heaven is Grace News Network? Read on:
The U.S. government this week launched its Arabic language satellite TV news station for Muslim Iraq.

It is being produced in a studio -- Grace Digital Media -- controlled by fundamentalist Christians who are rabidly pro-Israel.

That's Grace as in "by the Grace of God."

Grace Digital Media is controlled by a fundamentalist Christian millionaire, Cheryl Reagan, who last year wrested control of Federal News Service, a transcription news service, from its former owner, Cortes Randell.

***
Grace Digital Media and Federal News Service are housed in a downtown Washington, D.C. office building, along with Grace News Network.

When you call the number for Grace News Network, you get a person answering "Grace Digital Media/Federal News Service."

***
According to its web site, Grace News Network is "dedicated to transmitting the evidence of God's presence in the world today."
Sounds like a perfect fit for Radio Baghdad.
Labels: Ronald Reagan

LEGAL DOESN’T MEAN SAFE: Black lung study casts cloud over coal-dust limits

A rather disturbing article from the Louisville Courier Journal revealing that miners –- both below and above ground -- are still getting black lung disease at alarming rates, even thought they have worked their entire careers at supposedly “safe” or at least “legal” limits of coal dust.

WASHINGTON -- New cases of black lung are developing in miners who have worked their entire careers under federal coal-dust limits that were supposed to prevent the crippling respiratory disease, according to a new study.

Tommie Hall, of Topmost, Ky., worked in mines for 26 years under the dust-control limits. Yet he said he has black lung and has filed a claim with the state.

His breathing is so bad that it takes him 10 to 15 minutes to recover after climbing the single flight of stairs in his house, said Hall, 50.
Dust controls in the mines he worked in were regularly ignored, he said. Miners knew they couldn't complain. ''If you said something, you'd go look for a job,'' Hall said. ''That's the way it is.''

Even more disturbing is that these findings may be underestimated:

The study emphasized that it was limited to working miners and that the X-rays were voluntary. Participation rates in X-rays were low, and data on work experience wasn't consistent, researchers added.

Dr. E. Lee Petsonk, one of the authors of the study, also pointed out that disease rates among retired or sick miners who were forced to leave work weren't included, nor could researchers do much about miners who didn't participate but may have signs of black lung.

As we always say when training workers about chemical exposure limits, "legal does not mean safe." I wonder if the same problems exist for OSHA's Permissible Exposure Limits, which are coming up on their 40th birthday?

Workers Memorial Day Articles in Today’s Press

Too many Hispanic workers are dying on the job (Houston, Texas)

Hundreds mourn fallen workers at ceremony (Olympia Washington)

Remembering those who gave lives at work (Clarksville, TN)

Workers Rally for Safe Conditions (Jackson, Mississippi)

Parents keep up FIGHT for safety (Nashville, TN)

Fewer workplace deaths in Mass., but immigrant worker deaths rising (Portsmouth, NH)

Workplace deaths decline in Mass. (Boston, MA)

Memorials for those who died on the job (Philadelphia, PA)

Redesigned Workers Memorial to honor local victims (South Bend, IN)

Pohat man who died on job honored (Bethlehem, PA)

UNION MEMBERS GATHER FOR MEMORIAL AT TYLER PIPE (Tyler, TX)

Ceremony will commemorate those who died at their jobs (Pittsburgh, PA)

Aumentan las muertes de trabajadores latinos (New York, NY)

WORKERS MEMORIAL DAY SPECIAL
Remember when WMD stood for Workers Memorial Day?

Bush's OSHA: Flee from All That You Can Be

Now as you all know, I really try to give these guys in the Administration the benefit of the doubt sometimes. Even if they weren't really elected. Even if many of them are anti-worker zealots who behave like subsidiaries of the Chamber of Commerce and National Association of Manufacturers. I think some of them really do want to do something to save workers' lives, in their odd, dysfunctional, nasty Republican way. And you've got to give them a little credit for recognizing Workers Memorial Day every year. A little.

But sometimes, sometimes, they just drive me over the edge. Especially on Workers Memorial Day. Let me count the ways.

1. OSHA's theme for Workers Memorial Day 2003 is “Safety and health add value to businesses, workplaces and people's lives.” We know that this is the them because OSHA’s Workers Memorial Day Press Release repeats this phrase twice. This is amusing because this was the year that the New York Times and Frontline did a series on McWane Industries, which clearly believed that added value lay in making as much money as possible not caring how many workers you injured or killed until finally high OSHA fines, adverse media attention and threats of criminal prosecution forced the company to be accountable for its workers' safety and health. Interestingly, corporate accountability is the world-wide labor union theme for Workers Memorial Day this year.

2. Henshaw to Families of Workplace Fatalities: "Message -- I care." Last year's big Workers Memorial Day announcement from OSHA was that Assistant Secretary John Henshaw would personally write letters to the families of all workers who are killed on the job. This year, OSHA triumphantly announced that Henshaw had, in fact, "written to the families of over 500 men and women who lost their lives while at work." (How careless of them to "lose" their lives. Where did they go?)
Statistical Note: Letters were sent to only 500 of the more than 6,000 workers killed in on-the-job "accidents" each year, because many are in state plan states and others fall outside of OSHA's jurisdiction, leaving 1,000 deaths that OSHA investigated. For half of those, "OSHA has not been able to identify parties where letters could be sent." Just as well. All those letters could have caused a musculoskeletal injury.
3. Last year on Workers Memorial Day, OSHA announced that it would "soon begin to collect data on country of origin and primary language capability for all workers involved in fatality and other serious accident investigations." That was a good thing. In fact if you look up the two recent confined space deaths that I wrote about a couple of weeks ago, you would find that they were coded as immigrant workers.

Now that OSHA has a better handle on who's being killed, this year's big immigrant announcement was that OSHA was going to address the high number of immigrant fatalities by releasing not one, but two public service announcements to over 650 Spanish radio stations across the country. One spot is meant for employees and their families; the other targets employers.

We here at Confined Space think that these public service announcements should be really helpful in preventing the deaths of Hispanic workers. I can hardly wait to see them. I'm sure that if only those public service announcements had been out a few months ago, those two Hispanic workers (and probably hundreds of others) would be alive today. And I'm sure all of those employers who kill Hispanic workers are shaking in their boots:
Message from OSHA to Contractors Who Employee Hispanic Workers: You are accountable for the health and safety of your employees. Yet you have been taking advantage of your workers, especially your immigrant workers, seriously injuring and killing many of them. We're out of patience. You've been warned. You've had your last chance. We are now bringing down the full weight of the Government of the United States upon your heads. We are announcing today the release of two public service announcements. And if you don't shape up, we'll release two more. And we'll keep releasing them until you understand that health and safety means added value to your enterprise. And if you still don't get the message, you can look forward to a long, painful future of partnerships, alliances and voluntary guidelines.
Time out for an ironic note on all of this. Henshaw's promise to write letters to the families of workers killed in the workplace ("lost their lives") drew strong praise from Ron Hayes, a member of OSHA's National Advisory Committee on Safety and Health, who became a workplace safety activist several years ago after his son was killed in a workplace accident and OSHA fined the company only $42,000. The irony, is that the TOTAL fine against the company that killed the two workers in the confined space referenced above was $62,000. Only $56,000 of that -- $23,000 a body -- was for the fatalities.

4. Eureka! On this Workers Memorial Day, OSHA has just discovered (or re-discovered) that "the long term health effects of exposure to chemicals and other toxins can take years and even decades to determine." So what's the agency to do with this new-found knowledge?

Three guesses.
a) Issue new chemical exposure standards.

b) Announce a major new initiative to propose legislation allowing the agency to revise OSHA's old Permissible Exposure Limits for chemicals -- limits that are currently based on recommendations from the 1960's

c) Announce that a respiratory disease study will be undertaken in cooperation with the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health to improve outreach, compliance assistance and enforcement efforts relating to specific contaminants and industries.

d) Announce a health targeting system, similar to one used to guide enforcement efforts in general industry.

e) (c) and (d)

f) (a) and (b)

(Hint: If you guessed (a) or (b), I know a guy in Baghdad who has some Weapons of Mass Destruction to sell you.)
Time's up. The correct answer is (e). (Really)

5. Enhanced Enforcement: Last month the agency announced its "Enhanced Enforcement Program to target employers who have a history of the most severe safety and health violations." This is a result of the McWane investigation by the NY Times and Frontline. They're going after the bad actors. But no sign that they are planning to increase penalties. The AFL-CIO reports that in FY 2002, serious violations of the Occupational Safety and Health Act carried an average penalty of only $886 ($867 for Federal OSHA, $904 for state OSHA plans).

I remember not too long ago OSHA would frequently issue million dollar penalties for ergonomic and other hazards. Their latest ergonomic citations were a few hundred dollars.

As for me, I'd take all the parking tickets you can give me as long as the fines are low enough.

6. Finally, maybe I'm quibbling about wording. This is what John Henshaw said: "Every day 16 workers die in this country, and many more become injured or seriously ill. We must challenge those who are not doing their part to step up to the plate."

Now, when my kids need to do better in school, I "challenge" them to "step up to the plate." When my kids are afraid of striking out in baseball, I "challenge" them to "step up to the plate." But when my kids do something incredibly boneheaded or dangerous or careless that endangers their lives or the lives of others -- especially when they knew what they were doing was wrong -- I'm way past "challenging" them to "step up to the plate." Exit supportive parent. ENTER WRATHFUL GOD.

WHY DO WE CARE?

This is the introduction to the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970:
To assure safe and healthful working conditions for working men and women; by authorizing enforcement of the standards developed under the Act; by assisting and encouraging the States in their efforts to assure safe and healthful working conditions; by providing for research, information, education, and training in the field of occupational safety and health; and for other purposes.
Cutting through all of the spin and press releases and rhetoric, this is the bottom line: Congress gave OSHA the responsibility and the mandate to develop standards and enforce those standards in order to make employers accountable for assuring American workers a safe and healthful workplace. Employees have right to a safe and healthful workplace and the employer is responsible. The bald truth is that OSHA is not fulfilling the mandate that Congress gave it, nor are they even making a good faith attempt to do so. Despite the high number of new and revised standards needed to make our workplaces safer, OSHA has gone out of the standards business. They don't have enough inspectors to reach more than a small fraction of American workplaces each year, and even when they do inspect a workplace and cite an employer – often after workers have been killed or injured due to willfull violations of OSHA standards, the penalties are so low that most employers don't even care. They add more value to their businesses by correctly figuring that they'll never see an OSHA inspector.

You know what? I’ve changed my mind. I refuse to give them credit for recognizing Workers Memorial Day. It just cheapens the whole thing and allows them to rest smugly in their hypocrisy and dishonesty. As far as I’m concerned, Bush’s recognition of Workers Memorial Day adds no value – or dignity -- to anyone’s lives.
Labels: AFL-CIO

Interesting Facts:

U.S. Dead in Iraq War (March 20 - April 14): 134. Find their names here and here and here and many other places.

U.S. Dead in American Workplaces (March 20 - April 14): Approximately 416 (not counting those killed by workplace illnesses) Bet you can't find most of their names anywhere.

And, just in case you're interested:

Iraqi Casualties (March 20 - April 14): Don't ask.

AFL-CIO Releases 12th Annual Death on the Job Report

The AFL-CIO has released its 12 Annual Death on the Job report. The report is a national and state-by-state profile of worker safety and health in the United States. It's considered the policy "bible" for workplace health and safety activists. Here are some of the "highlights." But be sure to download the entire report. Use the information when dealing with politicians and those who hope to be politicians.

Penalties for significant violations of the law remain low. In FY 2002, serious violations of the Occupational Safety and Health Act carried an average penalty of only $886 ($867 for Federal OSHA, $904 for state OSHA plans).
Between FY 1999 and FY 2002, the number of employees covered by Federal OSHA inspections decreased by nearly twenty percent. The average number of hours spent per inspection also decreased, from 22 to 19.1 hours for safety inspections and from 40 to 32.7 hours per health inspection. The number of citations for willful violations decreased from 607 in FY 1999 to 392 in FY 2002. The average penalty per violation decreased by 19 percent, with the average penalty per willful violations decreasing by 25 percent.
At its current staffing levels and inspection levels, it would take Federal OSHA 115 years to inspect each workplace under its jurisdiction just once. In four states (Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi), it would take more than 150 years for OSHA to pay a single visit to each workplace. In 18 states, it would take between 100 and 149 years to visit each workplace once. Inspection frequency is better in states with OSHA approved plans, yet still far from satisfactory.
The current OSHA law still does not cover 8.3 million state and local government employees.
After two and a half years under the Bush Administration, rulemaking at OSHA and MSHA has virtually ground to a halt.
President Bush's proposed FY 2004 budget cuts funding for the nation's worker safety and health programs.
For the second year in a row, the Bush Administration has proposed to slash the NIOSH budget
There was a great deal of activity on state workers' compensation, driven in large part by insurers seeking to cut benefits or limit eligibility in an effort to boost profits after too much reliance on income from the stock market and years of cutting premiums to attract new customers.

Labels: AFL-CIO

No Doze?

April 1997, mid-afternoon: We were on the interstate outside of Allentown, Pennsylvania, driving back from a skiing trip in Canada, my wife beside me and the three kids in the back of the van. Traffic slowed to a stop because of an accident or road construction in front of us I glanced in the rear view mirror and saw a speeding semi bearing down on us. Before I could react, it hit us, slamming us into the car ahead, blowing our air bags and squishing our Windstar mini-van into the size of a compact Honda. Happily, aside from a few bloody noses, a slightly impaled leg from an unsafely stowed ski pole (my bad) and a bit of psychological trauma, we were all OK.

We were never sure why the truck hit us, although some people thought the driver must have been dozing. It was a clear, straight road and other truckers reported warning him over C.B. that traffic had stopped ahead.

So I observe with great interest an announcement of new federal rules that will “will allow truckers to drive an hour longer each day but require them to take two more hours of rest." The Washington Post reports that

Safety groups and unionized truck drivers oppose the new rule. Trucking companies are expected to endorse it, officials said.
The rule, which will be announced by the Transportation Department, will allow drivers to be behind the wheel for 11 hours instead of the current 10, sources said. But their overall shift, which includes time for breaks, loading and unloading, will be cut an hour to 14 hours.
The new rule, the sources added, will require drivers to take 10 consecutive hours off, instead of the current eight. Regulators who settled on the 10-hour rest period said research supports giving truckers longer periods to ease fatigue.

Drivers represented by the Teamsters union said they have "serious concerns" about the rule change because the increase in allowed driving time could add to fatigue. "It's something that helps the companies because they can work drivers harder and put them on longer runs," said Rob Black, spokesman for the Teamsters.

Safety groups were unhappy too, especially because the new rule will not require trucking operators to use electronic recording devices to keep accurate logs of the time drivers are on the road.

"The rule is meaningless without enforcement. They can't enforce 10 hours of driving now. How will they enforce 11?" said Jacqueline Gillan, vice president of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety.
...
The safety group also said that although drivers will get more time to sleep, the benefit will be offset by longer driving times. Gillan said research shows that drivers become tired after eight or nine hours on the road.

OK. I feel much safer now.

More Workers Memorial Day News

Planning a Workers Memorial Day event this weekend? Feeling alone and isolated? Well don’t. You’ve got brothers and sisters all over the world doing the same thing. Click here to find out what’s going on in the Australia • Bangladesh • Bermuda • Brazil • Canada • China • Hong Kong • Hungary • New Zealand • Spain • Sweden • Taiwan • Thailand • United Kingdom • USA • International. Click here for more information.

Poetry To My Ears

And for more inspiration, here’s a Workers Memorial Day poem from the UAW website.

And finally

Congressman Major Owens (D-NY)will hold a workplace safety hearing in New York City on April 28, 2003, Workers Memorial Day. Owens, who is the ranking Democrat on the Workforce Protections Subcommittee of the Committee on Education and the Workforce of the US House of Representatives, stated that this would be “the first of a series of activities to promote laws and regulations which protect and enhance workplace safety”

“We must fight to protect working families on many fronts with a multitude of battles. At a time when workers are making great sacrifices in blood as well as sweat; we must mount a counter offensive against cold-blooded exploiters who believe workers are expendable." Said Owens.

This is not an official Hearing of the House of Representatives because, in our peculiar form of democracy, the Republican House majority won't let the minority hold their own hearings. Refusing to learn his place, Congressman Owens will be holding a series of hearings in the coming year. If you're represented by the minority, maybe that's an idea you should suggest to your Congressional Representative.

Carty Ousted

Clearly the American Airlines board took my article (see below) more seriously than the Wall St. Journal editorial. Feel the power!

Postal Worker Anthrax Coverup, Continued

According to the New York Times, postal workers in Wallingford are a bit upset that they were lied to by the Postal Service about anthrax contamination in 2001 (see below).

It took seven months for managers to respond to a request for a full report on the contamination, said John Dirzius, president of the American Postal Workers Union local, which represents two-thirds of the 1,200 people who work in the Wallingford center. Today, postal workers here said they wanted an explanation.

"Why hasn't somebody come to a podium saying, `We made the wrong call'?" said James Willard, a mechanic who has worked at the Wallingford center for eight years. "The morale is down a lot and I don't know if that will be bridged."

Postal Service officials said today that it was the responsibility of health agencies to release medical information.

"On that score, we deliver mail," said Gerry McKiernan, a Postal Service spokesman. "We're not medical experts. We took the advice the medical experts gave us at the time."

But one of those experts, Dr. James Hadler, Connecticut's chief epidemiologist, said the State Department of Public Health and the Centers for Disease Control had told postal managers that the information should be released.

"They told us, `We want to be the ones to tell the media and our employees,' " Dr. Hadler said.
...
The union membership now hopes for a formal apology said Mr. Dirzius.Asked if one was forthcoming, Mr. McKiernan said he could not comment on a matter between labor and management.

The American Way?

This may not be a health and safety issue, but indicative of the same corporate mentality. You are probably aware of the brou-ha-ha over American Airlines convincing their unions that concessions were needed to avoid bankruptcy, but then revealing that (oops), the airline had failed to disclose before the voting that it planned to pay bonuses to six top executives next year and protect part of the pensions of 45 executives if the airline sought bankruptcy. The bonuses since have been rescinded (not the pensions), but the unions are demanding a revote. Molly Ivins had awarded it her “Boneheads of the Month” title.

Well, to the rescue rides (who else) the Wall St. Journal editorial page which says it might have been nice for American to have disclosed the information “for transparency's sake,” but that the favors to the executives were justified because what with the terrorism, falling stock prices and the “nighmares” of regulatory and labor relations problems, “CEOs,aren't exactly falling all over` each other to land airline jobs these days… That would have left the carrier with a management vacuum.” As Molly Ivins says, “I don't know if you've looked around the airline industry lately, but there is not a whole lot of executive head-hunting going on. What are they going to do, go to work for US Airways? United? Delta?”

Certainly not to Northwest, which announced yesterday that it “plans to cut the salaries and benefits of its 3,000 management employees by 5 percent to 15 percent to help the company return to profitability.” Even Wall St. likes it (not the Journal); Northwest’s stock prices rose yesterday.

And as if American’s not having a bad enough day, St. Louis University has rescinded its invitation to American CEO Donald Carty to be the university’s commencement speaker. Carty was to have received an honorary doctor of laws degree.

But the Wall St. Journal still doesn’t get it. They're worried that “because they are mad about Mr. Carty's bonus, the unions plan to take revenge by voting to put the airline into bankruptcy under which their members will take even bigger pay cuts or will lose their jobs altogether.”

So, workers are supposed to accept all the lies and disrespect the company can dish out -- and do it with a SMILE on their faces -- and then trust the company to be concerned about their welfare in the future? Someday people will understand that workers join unions not just for more money and better benefits, but also for a little fairness and R-E-S-P-E-C-T. At least Don Carty should now understand that, even if the WSJ doesn’t.

Postal Workers Kept in Dark on Anthrax

The Washington Post reports that the U.S. Postal Service violated federal regulations and undermined management's credibility when it failed to disclose anthrax test results promptly to workers at a contaminated Connecticut mail facility according to a General Accounting Office report issued Monday.

The GAO said postal officials did not comply with Occupational Safety and Health Administration rules in early 2002 when they did not fulfill a request for test results from union representatives at the Southern Connecticut Processing and Distribution Center in Wallingford.

Investigators tested the facility several times in late 2001 after letters laced with anthrax spores were mailed to two members of Congress and several media outlets. The letters caused 23 anthrax-related illnesses and five deaths.

Although initial results at the Wallingford facility were negative, later tests turned up dangerous levels of anthrax in a sample from a mail-sorting machine. The facility remained open. Workers were told only that "trace" amounts had been found and were advised to continue taking antibiotics. No workers became ill.

Officials did not release the results until September 2002, nine months after they first learned of the results.

The GAO termed the problems understandable given the confusion at the time. Nevertheless, the GAO report concluded that:

Numerous lessons can be learned from the experience, such as the need for more complete and timely information to workers to maintain trust and credibility and to help ensure that workers have essential information for making informed health decisions. Federal guidelines developed in 2002 by GSA and the National Response Team suggest that more—rather than less—information should be disclosed. However, neither the Service’s guidelines nor the more recent federal guidelines fully address the communication-related issues that developed in Wallingford. For example, none of the guidelines specifically require the full disclosure of quantified test results. Likewise, OSHA’s regulations do not require employers to disclose test results to workers unless requested, which assumes that workers are aware of the test results and know about this requirement.

Postal officials said they would update their guidelines to ensure a swifter flow of information, but according to the Post, John Dirzius, president of the Greater Connecticut Area Local of the American Postal Workers Union, said he is skeptical because union officials aren't involved in drafting the revisions.

Russia's industrial wasteland chokes on fumes

Yet another cheery jobs vs. environment story from the ex-Soviet Union.

KARABASH, Russia - Vast stretches of soot-coloured wasteland, mountains of black slag and a handful of ailing birch trees mark the landscape around the Urals town of Karabash, one of the most polluted places on the planet.
Around the clock, the five chimneys of the century-old Karabash Copper Smelting Works spew out pitch-black toxic fumes laden with sulphurous waste.

"Nothing grows in our vegetable patches - everything dies or turns yellow," said Svetlana, a mother of two who has spent her life in the town. The soil in and around Karabash is full of toxic metals including lead, mercury and arsenic.

"Our children have asthma, respiratory diseases, many now suffer from skin diseases too," Svetlana said.

Karabash, a town of apocalyptic bleakness, is a painful reminder of an environmental policy that has balked at the huge cost of cleaning up many of the ailing behemoths left behind by the Soviet Union, including its metals sector.

McWane and Steelworkers Sign Agreement

The United Steelworkers of America has reached an agreement with the McWane Corporation, a company made (in)famous by the New York Times/Frontline series detailing the high numbers of injuries and deaths at McWane Facilities. The agreement establishes "a top-level safety task force, calling it a major element to increase workplace safety."

McWane and the union already have local health and safety committees, but this joint task force will include senior members of the union and management. According to USWA Health and Safety Director Mike Wright, ""The idea is we would have a task force at the international level."

Earlier this month, Tyler Pipe agreed to pay $196,000 in penalties for citations issued by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The 18 violations OSHA identified consisted of 13 it labeled "serious," four repeat violations and one other-than-serious violation.

The plant was fined $1 million in August 2002 for violating workplace safety and health standards.

The company pleaded guilty in July 2002 to violating the Occupational Safety and Health Act regarding the incident and U.S. Magistrate Judge Judith Guthrie sentenced the company to pay a $250,000 fine and placed it on probation for a year.

That was after an employee was crushed between a conveyor belt and a pulley in 2000.

In October 2002, another employee was seriously injured after his legs were crushed when they became trapped between a truck and its bed.

Earth Day? We Don't Need No Stinkin Earth Day!

Can't believe I almost forgot it was Earth Day. Maybe it just seems kind of, well, dumb to celebrate Earth Day while watching those guys down the street take us back to those polluted days of yesteryear. And then we have things like this to brighten my week.(Check out the third paragraph and then check here to see why it's all a grand conspiracy.) But, happily, Eric Alterman pointed out a web page that made my day.

[Note From JB: I just put 4 links to other websites in this one short paragraph. Unless you link to them, you have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about. We bloggers do this kind of thing a lot. I don't know why. I'm new at this. Maybe we're showing off. Maybe we do it because we can. Maybe, in all of our modesty, we know that we can't explain a website or article as well as the website or article itself. I'd like to know if you find this (a) incredibly irritating or (b) amazingly clever and useful. Vote here.]

WORKERS MEMORIAL DAY 2003

April 28 is Workers Memorial Day -- not just in the United States, but world-wide. You can get to the AFL-CIO's Workers Memorial Day website by clicking on the button at the top. For events world-wide, the best resource is Hazards from where you can look up events in over a dozen countries and download flyers and posters. If you haven't planned an event, find one to join. We are truly not alone.

Deadly Business

And when you're done mourning for the dead, it's time to start fighting for the living. While I write about putting employers in jail who kill workers, Hazards Magaizine has whole websites devoted to the idea. Check out Safety Crimes and Deadly Business pages. (While you're at it, check out the entire site. It's an excellent resource, and thanks to the Web, available in a computer near you.). It's full of articles and posters and even a postcard campaign to Tony Blair, urging the British goverment to pass a long promised safety bill.

Hmm. Might be some ideas that will work on this side of the Atlantic as well.

Speaking of international Workers Memorial Day, let's also remember those who need health and safety protections most, and probably enjoy them least. This rather disturbing Guardian article was forwarded by Hazards editor Rory O'Neil.

Hell on earth

This is the most polluted place in Russia - where the snow is black, the air tastes of sulphur and the life expectancy for factory workers is 10 years below the Russian average. But now a local union rep is taking on the might of Russian industry in Sunday's mayoral elections - and promising to clean up the town. Nick Paton Walsh is one of the few foreigners to be allowed in.

Nick Paton Walsh
Friday April 18, 2003
The Guardian

For Volodia Tuitin, snow comes in many colours. It can be black. Sometimes it is a dirty yellow or even pink. Tuitin has spent all his 45 years in they heavily polluted mining town of Norilsk, where he now works in a copper-smelting factory. His life has been dominated by the same skyline - a desolate set of snowdrifts and battered tower blocks - punctured by tall chimney stacks belching out heavy metals and industrial dust. This is the most polluted town in Russia.

Tuitin endures daily work in the electrolysis plant. Here, toxic fumes blind the senses, forcing him and his colleagues to wear respirators. Lists of dead workers adorn the walls of the plant's lobby, usually men "only 50 or 52 years old", Tuitin says. Many of his colleagues hide their illnesses to avoid losing shifts. "If I lose my job, then I won't find another place to work in this town. What will my family eat? We go to work despite knowing conditions are bad. Forced work like this is normally called slavery."

Read the rest

Free Speech for OSHA Inspectors? Surely You Jest

Seems that OSHA inspectors and other US Department of Labor (DOL) field employees are still allowed to have their union and their newsletter (they haven't been labeled security risks yet), as long as they're careful about what they say. Apparently the survival of the program they are dedicating their worklives to is not legitimate grounds for discussion by the union -- at least if they're going to use Department of Labor interoffice mail. According to an article in the Louisville Courier-Journal, "At issue were an article and a cartoon criticizing White House policies on tax cuts and hiring private contractors for government jobs."

But the Labor Department says distribution of the December issue of the newsletter, the Courier, (the newsletter of the National Council of Field Labor Locals of the American Federation of Government Employees) was stopped because the publication "violated guidelines worked out by the union and the agency about what could be sent through the department's interoffice mail."

"Al Belsky, a Labor Department spokesman, said part of the December newsletter went beyond the guidelines for what can be distributed. The newsletter must be limited to matters of union interest to go through interoffice mail, he said." I guess tax cuts that will reduce the money to pay for OSHA enforcement and possible contracting out of OSHA jobs are not issues that the union representing OSHA inspectors should be interested in.

''That's not to say they couldn't distribute this some other way,'' he said. ''It's not censorship.'' Gee, thanks Al.

The union has filed a grievance against the agency for blocking interoffice mail distribution of its newsletter. It's not nice to mess with Secretary Chao.

Europe Whips US Companies Into Shape

For those of you who are victims of the regulatory wars of recent years (that is if you are members of labor unions, government, environmental organizations, or if you work in hazardous workplaces, or live in a polluted environment), you need to read this fascinating article in the NY Times. Excuse me if I quote from it extensively (all emphasis is added by me):

The European Union, which includes 15 member countries from Portugal to Finland and Ireland to Greece, is adopting environmental and consumer protection legislation that will go further in regulating corporate behavior than almost anything the United States government has enacted in decades. For American companies that are accustomed to getting their way in Washington, it has come as a shock.
...

Earlier this year, the European Union adopted two rules that companies in the United States estimate will cost them hundreds of millions of dollars a year. The first will prohibit electronics makers from using lead, mercury and other heavy metals in their products. The second will require the makers of consumer electronics and household appliances to pick up the bill for recycling their products. Since last year, automakers have had to take responsibility for recycling the cars they sell.

...

Broader and costlier rules are in the works. Among them are a requirement that chemical makers run safety and environmental impact tests on more than 30,000 chemicals; the industry has said that the rule could cost it more than $7 billion. The commission is also considering prohibiting consumer products companies from directing television commercials at children. And it is looking at passing a law to encourage manufacturers to cut the energy used and greenhouse gases generated in making their products. It also wants to reduce the number and volume of hazardous chemicals in products made in Europe.

OK, lets stop here for a moment. Why is this? Why can the European Union impose these regulations not only on their own companies, but on U.S. companies. Regulations one-quarter this stringent in the U.S. bring cries of SOCIALISM! WAR ON SMALL BUSINESS! KILLING THE GOOSE THAT LAID THE GOLDEN EGG! JOB KILLERS! COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS! REGULATORY REFORM!

And that's just from the Democrats.

So what's their secret?

In Washington, corporate lobbying has weakened or killed legislation aimed at regulating tobacco, pharmaceuticals and pollutants that contribute to global warming. In all three cases, the affected industries spent tens of millions of dollars on lobbying and advertising, all to persuade lawmakers that regulation restricted the free market and would hurt American business.

Such tactics would not play well in Europe, where there is a long history of state intervention in the economy and where senior government officials are usually more highly regarded than are corporate executives.

Not only that, but

Some American business practices are regarded with deep suspicion here, in light of the corporate accounting scandals and what many Europeans see as the Bush administration's high-handed and unilateralist policies on the environment and Iraq.

Yeah, yeah, they're viewed "with deep suspicion" here too. Fat lot of good it does.

And here's an idea:

In the European Union, measures often seek to avert harm before it occurs. By contrast, regulation in the United States often responds to a crisis; the recent Sarbanes-Oxley legislation, for example, tightened corporate accounting rules after the Enron and WorldCom scandals.

"No longer do public authorities need to prove they are dangerous," she said at a recent conference on the chemicals legislation. "The onus is now on industry" to demonstrate that the products they sell are safe, she added.

Gosh, why didn't we think of that. Oh, yeah, I forgot, in this country we treat chemicals like people: innocent until proven guilty. (Actually, since passage of the Patriot Act, chemicals have more rights than people.)

Oh, but let's not forget that we're talking about those limp-wristed, Sadaam-loving, snail-eating French and their equally squirly German neighbors:

Often, American executives are bewildered when European ideals of social democracy trump America's more laissez-faire values. In Europe, "there is a whole kind of underlying socialist suspicion of corporations," said a lobbyist for an American investment bank. "Consumers are treated like children in Europe."

Au contraire, mein Freund. Seems to me consumers (and workers) are treated like f*!%#^ing HUMAN BEINGS rather than the losing end of a cost-benefit analysis. Hell, we don't even treat children like children in this country.

European regulators, however, seem to perceive the companies themselves as children who will misbehave if left unattended. In Washington, corporate lobbyists deride legislation as an example of "big government." But such arguments do not play in Brussels.

Now these are the two best paragraphs:

John T. Disharoon, a lobbyist for Caterpillar who moved to Brussels three years ago from Washington, says policy makers in the United States are generally more accountable to the public than European regulators. "So it basically changes the entire lobbying dynamic," he said. "Traditional pressure points like jobs, economic data, what it will do to industry are not as effective."

Note from the editor: More accountable to the public? The Public? Who do we think Mr. Disharoon considers "the public" here? Three guesses:

(a) Workers
(b) Consumers
(c) Business Interests

If you don't know the answer, read on....

The biggest difference in Brussels and Washington, lobbyists here say, is that American politicians rely far more on corporate donations to finance their election campaigns. Further, the revolving-door phenomenon, a virtual institution in Washington where former officials go to work for the industries they once regulated, is far less common in Brussels.

(I once again want to thank Grist for bringing this article to my attention as it was buried somewhere in yesterday's business section, rather than being on the front page of Section A where it belonged.)

It's amazing what a clear picture we can get of ourselves by looking through the eyes of other countries. What we're dealing with in this country is a no-holds barred, ideological war against workers, consumer, children, communities and the environment, using lies like economic efficiency, weighing costs and benefits, and tons of other garbage. And it's a war we're losing and will continue to lose unless we educate people and make them mad. Not mad enough to despair. Just mad enough to fight.

Life Gets Cheaper

And while I'm in such a fine mood, WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?

Contractor Cited for Exposing Workers to Confined Space Hazards
Two Employees Died at Miami Beach Job Site

FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Electrical Technologies Corporation for exposing employees to safety hazards at a Miami Beach job site where two workers died after entering a manhole and being exposed to hydrogen sulfide gas. The agency issued four citations with proposed penalties totaling $62,000.

Now, all of you who have been reading my rants for the last few years know that I have this THING about employers killing workers in trenches. Because EVERYONE who is in construction knows that trenches can collapse and kill. And they should go to jail if they kill people in trenches.

I also have a THING about confined spaces. Partly the same reason. And partly because about 10 years back an AFSCME member was killed in a manhole and the manager said "Oh, gosh! We never had any idea. Someone must of poured some chemical in there or something. Just one of those terrible tragic things." This person should have gone to jail, because no one who runs a wastewater treatment plant or a sewage system can honestly claim they don't know about confined spaces. This person didn't go to jail. The employer (the city) wasn't even cited or fined because this happened in one of 26 states in this country where it is still perfectly legal to kill public employees.

But I digress....

First, why does this press release say "Contractor Cited for Exposing Workers to Confined Space Hazards?" The Contractor didn't "expose" workers to confined space hazards. The contractor killed two workers in a confined space.

Second, why is the fine only $56,000 for willfully killing two people -- the original victim and the rescuer. (Actually, they probably came within seconds of killing a third worker -- another potential rescuer who managed to get out when he felt dizzy.) Quite a bargain for two -- almost three -- deaths. And just to add insult to injury, four guys had been working inside an unsafe 12-foot deep trench before one climbed down the manhole to unclog a hose. Those and other citations brought the grand total to a whopping $62,000.

Now everyone knows that OSHA doesn't have anywhere near enough staff to do the job that Congress told it to do 33 years ago. But what they can do is send a message to the employers that probably won't be inspected. $62,000 may be an "ouch" for a small contractors, but the potential for millions of dollars or jail time might really catch their attention. I don't know what the circumstances were in this case. Maybe it was a small company. Maybe this, maybe that. But $28,000 per life?

But it's not all OSHA's fault. It's up to Congress to give OSHA the authority to increase its penalty structure and make it easier to impose criminal penalties and jail time.

I could go on and on. And I will. Some other day.

Labels: confined space hazards

How Low Can You Go?

When California and several other states banned the use of crippling short-handled hoes in the mid-1970's, farmworkers breathed a sigh of relief. But it didn't take long for farm owners to get around the ban. Instead of short-handled hoes, how about no hoes at all -- hand weeding? Pretty clever. Now the United Farm Workers, along with the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation and the California Labor Federation are urging CalOSHA to ban hand weeding as well. Read about it in the LA Times.

Club for Growth: Never Underestimate the Stupidity of the American People

Check this out. And it's not from the Onion. What are these people thinking???

Conservatives Attack Two GOP Senators With Electronically Doctored Images
Washington Post
Sunday, April 20, 2003; Page A05

Politicians generally are happy to pose with a flag. But not the French flag, especially these days.

With the help of a little digital wizardry, the conservative Club for Growth is airing ads showing Republican Sens. Olympia J. Snowe (Maine) and George V. Voinovich (Ohio) in proximity to French flags in order to disparage their resistance to President Bush's tax-cut plans.

Snowe and Voinovich have said they will support only $350 billion of Bush's $726 billion proposal, and their critical votes in the closely divided Senate this month led to a deal aimed at limiting the tax cut to $350 billion. This raised the ire of the Club for Growth, an anti-tax advocacy group with a penchant for throwing political rocks at moderate Republicans.

The TV ads, which will run for 10 days in Maine and Ohio, recall France's opposition to the U.S. invasion of Iraq. They go on to say "some so-called Republicans," naming Snowe in the Maine ads and Voinovich in the Ohio ads, "stand in the way" of Bush's tax-cutting plans at home. Digitally inserted French flags flutter beside the senators' images.

"It's hilarious," said Voinovich spokesman Scott Milburn. "It reminds me of the Iraqi information minister's daily briefing. It's so incredible that it barely deserves a response."

The Republican Main Street Partnership, representing about 65 moderate GOP lawmakers and governors – including Snowe but not Voinovich – is responding with newspaper and TV ads that defend Snowe and describe the Club for Growth as "misinformed New York City elitists."

As for the French flag, it may not have been such as good idea in the Maine ads. A good number of Snowe's constituents are of French Canadian ancestry, and they rather like the French flag.

Well if the French are opposed to tax cuts for the rich, huge deficits, underfunding education, cutting back on health care for children, the poor and the elderly, and defunding workplace health and safety and environmental enforcement agencies, then all I can say is Viva la France!

By the way, you can see the ads yourself at the Club for Growth's web page.

Their mission is to run conservative Republicans to the right of the moderates. Seems to work pretty well. Either they pick up a more conservative congressional seat (or at least a nomination), or they at least force the Republican moderates to always be looking over their right shoulders.

Now why can't the left do that? When a bunch of Democrats (Lincoln (D-AR), Hollings (D-SC), Breaux (D-LA), Landrieu (D-LA), Miller (D?-GA) and Baucus (D-MT)) betrayed the people who elected them by voting to overturn OSHA's ergonomics standard in 2001, the AFL-CIO jumped up and down and screamed and yelled and then worked their asses off to get them all re-elected. And given the situation, it was the only thing we could do. Given the situation.... But maybe we need to change the situation. Start our own "Club."

Have a nice weekend

Going to West Virginia for the weekend. No internet. Happy Easter. Later....

(Agent) Orange Alert

The Daily Grist reports on a NY Times story in the about a study showing that

The U.S. military sprayed twice as much herbicide on Vietnam during the war there than previously estimated, according to a study published today in the journal Nature. Relying on previously unexamined military documents and new assessments of dioxin concentrations, the study found that an additional 1.8 million gallons of toxic herbicides, mostly Agent Orange, were used by the Armed Forces. From 1961 to 1971, more than 10 percent of what was then South Vietnam was sprayed with defoliants in an effort to destroy food crops and remove forest cover from combat areas. An estimated 14 percent of Vietnam's forests were obliterated, and the herbicides have been blamed for birth defects and illnesses in both Vietnamese citizens and American veterans. The U.S. compensates veterans for diseases associated with the spraying in Vietnam but has refused recompense to the Vietnamese until more data are available.

Dr. Jean Stellman, of Columbia University, who authored the report said that the report "also suggested that a significantly higher number of Vietnamese civilians had been directly exposed to the spraying than had earlier been realized."

By the way, if you're interested in environmental issues, brought to you in a concise, interesting and often humorous style, you need to check out the Daily Grist. They'll also e-mail you a digest of articles every day.

Working Conditions Improve Due to Labor Struggles
Found a good article that talks about the role of Canadian unions in the struggle to improve workplace safety and health:

It was 1963, the year that coincided with the birth of Canadian Occupational Safety, that Joe Morris, then vice-president of the Canadian Labour Congress, set out the principles that have guided labour in its efforts to protect the lives, health and limbs of employees in the workplace.

“It is the responsibility of the government to set minimum standards of working conditions; it is the responsibility of management to provide safe and comfortable working conditions; and it is the responsibility of labour to ensure that the conditions it enjoys are safe, and that they are maintained that way."

The article highlights labor's contribution to addressing the hazards of asbestos, toxic chemicals, workplace stress, ergonomics, mining and the new issues like work processes.

Something to consider in the great debate over whether unions should devote resources to workplace health and safety. Makes you feel like the fight is worth it.

(This article is one of several interesting articles to the 40th anniversary issue of Canadian Occupational Safety magazine. Check it out.)

Moderate Republicans to Bush: Lay off Labor

E.J. Dionne in the Washington Post writes today about moderate, pro-labor Republicans who oppose Bush Administration efforts to harass the labor movement by increasing the burden and complexity of the required LM-2 Financial Reporting form.

The Republicans wrote to Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao earlier this month, stating that: "'We believe that union resources are best utilized when representing members during negotiations or grievance handling, not adapting and complying with an unprecedented level of detailed financial information and government forms," they wrote. 'While we share your concern over the burden of government regulation of small businesses, we believe the same standard should apply to labor organizations as well.'"

Dionne describes the recent Administration-Labor relationship: "The reporting rules are just one of many swipes the administration has taken at organized labor. Last year's homeland security bill was held up by a single issue: whether employees of the new department would be guaranteed collective bargaining rights and civil service protections. The president opposed the guarantees. He used the issue to win the 2002 congressional elections, and he got the bill he wanted. The administration quickly deployed its enhanced powers to deny collective bargaining rights to 56,000 newly federalized airport screeners."

Noting efforts by many labor leaders to get past the Ullico scandal by calling for the resignation of Ullico President Robert Georgine, Dionne concludes that: "American workers deserve honest unions. That means they also deserve an administration that doesn't see disabling the labor movement as one of its essential political goals. In their letter, the pro-labor Republicans argued that there are 'better ways to help rank-and-file members obtain useful information about their unions.' Too bad there's not much of an audience in these partisan days for such sweet reasonableness."

The Cost of Workplace Injury and Illness

Liberty Mutual insurance company has released its annual Workplace Safety Index showing that the direct cost of disabling work-related injuries and illnesses grew by 8.3% between 1998 and 2000 to reach $42.5 billion (that’s with a “b”) a year. The $42 billion only counts “direct” costs, which include “payments made to injured workers and their medical care providers.” Direct costs are only a part of the total costs.

“Indirect” costs, such as “overtime, training and lost productivity related to an injured employee not being about to perform their normal work” are estimated by Liberty Mutual to be between $127 billion and $212 billion, bringing the total financial impact of disabling workplace incidents to an astounding $170 billion to $255 billion a year. This is based on a survey of managers, 40 percent of whom report that each $1 of direct costs generates between $3 and $5 of indirect costs.

And even this is an underestimate as Liberty Mutual defines a “disabling incident” as six or more days away from work. This means that injuries resulting in less than 6 days away from work aren’t even counted in the total cost.

Ergonomic injuries accounted in 2000 for over a third ($14.7 billion) of the total direct cost of workplace injuries and illnesses, with “overexertion” accounting for $11.9 billion or 28% of total direct costs, and “Repetitive Motion” accounting for $2.8 billion, or 6.5% of the total. Liberty Mutual estimated ergonomic injuries to total only $13 billion in 1999 and $12.1 billion in 1998. As many states don't even compensate for many ergonomic injuries, these costs most likely seriously underestimate the total cost of ergonomic injuries as well.

During this same period that we saw the costs of workplace injuries and illnesses rising, the frequency of disabling workplace injuries fell a little more than 1 percent. Liberty Mutual blames the increase in costs to growing use of advanced and expensive medical treatments, people going to the doctor more, and, most curiously, the alleged fact that many jurisdictions have broadened their definition of work-related injuries, meaning that workers compensation covers more medical conditions that previously. I’m not sure if there is anyone involved in the workers compensation field who could cite a major movement toward broadening coverage workplace medical conditions, especially workplace disease. And the general trend in many states is to reduce workers compensation benefits.

And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
Happy Passover

Tim Robbins on Patriotism, Dissent and Baseball

Tim Robbins gave a great speech at the National Press Club today which is being broadcast (right now!) on CSPAN. As Congress is out (thank God!), CSPAN is showing a lot of repeats, so maybe it will be on again. Check the CSPAN schedule. Watch it.

P.S. Or, thanks to Rory O'Neil, I now have a copy of the transcript. I'll send it to you if you E-Mail Me.

P.P.S. Or, you can also find it here.

OSHA: TB Standard? What TB Standard?
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees President Gerald W. McEntee today petitioned Labor Secretary Elaine Chao to immediately issue its long overdue tuberculosis (TB) standard to protect American workers against exposure to TB, a standard that will also protect workers against Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). AFSCME was among the unions to originally petition the agency for a TB standard almost 10 years ago.

OSHA originally proposed a TB standard in 1997 and was close to issuing the standard when the Bush Administration came in and immediately shoved it to the back burner. OSHA even has a Compliance Directive enabling the agency to enforce violations of best practices for TB control. The standard was strongly opposed by such organizations as the American Hospital Assocation.Thirteen people have died of SARS in Canada and there have been 193 suspected cases in the U.S., but no deaths.

In what might be considered an understatement, James August, director of occupational safety and health for AFSCME warned that

"There is great anxiety among health-care workers that it could happen here because of international travel. And there is no reason to think it couldn't, given what happened in Toronto."

AFSCME was one of several unions to originally petition OSHA for a TB standard in 1995.

What's most interesting about this saga is that OSHA just posted a SARS Web Page. And although there are tons of references to OSHA's Bloodborne Pathogens Standard and references on its SARS webpage, there's not a single reference to tuberculosis, despite the fact that OSHA has an extensive TB webpage describing the same precautions that are needed to protect health care workers and others against SARS. Is the agency embarassed that it had deepsixed the standard when it's clear now that it was needed?

Actually, it's clear that a TB standard was already needed. Athough a serious outbreak several years ago was controlled, TB is still a serious problem in the United States. Drug resistant strains are especially deadly. And, as OSHA documents, in its Web Page, "TB is the leading cause of death due to an infectious agent in the world," which means it's a major problem among immigrants in the U.S.and anyone who is exposed to them.

AFSCME's petition referenced a National Academy of Sciences/Institute of Medicine (IOM) 2001 Report that "Overall, the committee concludes that tuberculosis remains a threat to some health care, correctional facility, and other workers in the United States. Although the risk has been decreasing in recent years, vigilance is still needed within hospitals, prison, and similar workplaces, as well as in the community at large." The IOM study also concluded that an OSHA standard was necessary to protect workers.

On the other hand, OSHA has designed an attractive SARS logo and the agency, which has basically gone out of the regulations business, has included its usual legal disclaimer on the SARS web page, assuring employers that while they can be cited under the General Duty Clause for not providing a safe workplace, the the information on its web site is not "itself is not a new standard or regulation, and it creates no new or independent legal obligations." Wouldn't actually want to cite employers for not protecting their employees.

According to a Reuters article, "Officials at OSHA declined comment." Must be busy with homeland security, and voluntary guidelines and, uh, stuff.

Labels: tuberculosis

More McWane Violations: High Crimes, Low Fines

There was once a time in America where a small agency called OSHA sent big messages to American industry by handing out million-plus dollar fines to deserving enterprises. Of course that was when we had a pinkos in the White House named Reagan and Bush (I).

NY Times, Tuesday, April 15, 2003:

"McWane Inc., an Alabama-based pipe manufacturer with one of the worst workplace safety records in America, has been fined $196,000 for new violations at its largest plant, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced yesterday."

"Union officials, long critical of OSHA's enforcement efforts, said that yesterday's fines were far too light given McWane's history and the gravity of the new violations.

"These are things that kill people," Margaret Seminario, director of safety and health at the A.F.L.-C.I.O., said of the new violations at Tyler Pipe. "Here you have very, very serious hazards, an employer with an atrocious record. And you get basically a slap on the wrist with respect to enforcement."

More here.

Labels: McWane

Worker "Error" Department (Cont'd)

Workplace accidents seem so easy to figure out if you don't know what the workers were actually doing and what the working conditions actually were.

"The guy just wasn't paying attention. That's why he got hit by the truck/forklift/box." "The guy was supposed to be flagging, but he wasn't following proper procedures."

Cause identified.
Culprit found and duly punished.
Case closed.
Justice done.
Too bad.
You all be more careful next time.
Move on.

There was an excellent article in today's Newsday describing what actually went on down in the NY Subway when New York City Transit worker Joy Antony was hit by a train and killed when he was supposed to be "flagging," but had been told to do other duties by his supervisor, Deanroy Cox. Now they want to fire Cox and the Transport Workers Union is criticizing the decision, even though Cox is a supervisor and not a member of the union. I talked about this a few days ago, but this article goes into more detail about why this was a management system failure, and not a supervisor's error. It's nice to think that sometimes the "buck" stops at the top. But more often than not, the shit rolls downhill.

If I was King of the World, there would be a requirement that before passing judgment on any worker for an "error" that led to an injury or fatality, the "judges" would do the job, under the same conditions for a week. Then tell us who's to blame.

Labels: Blame the Worker

Broaden the Struggle: We all have a Right to Know
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a story about the Tualatin Valley Water District that had discovered that it bought products from McWane Industries, a company investigated by the NY Times and Frontline for the high number of worker deaths and injuries in their facilities. The water district was exploring the idea of changing suppliers due to the company’s record. Since then, I have received inquiries from municipal unions interested in taking similar actions against McWane.

But why stop with McWane? McWane may have been one of the worst actors, but certainly not the only bad actor in the United States, much less the rest of the world. How can public entities and other companies and organizations that are interested in sending a real message to corporate outlaws get the information that is needed about their environmental, labor and human rights practices?

Good question. One coalition is already working on this problem. The International Right To Know Campaign is a coalition of labor, environmental and human rights groups with the following purpose:

At this time of heightened concern about international issues, U.S. companies are informal ambassadors of our country around the world. When operating abroad, they should represent our democratic ideals and our values. However, American companies have too often been implicated in human rights abuses, environmental destruction and labor rights violations.

Here at home, U.S. companies are required to report specific environmental and labor information publicly. However, U.S. corporations have no legally binding obligations whatsoever to disclose comparable information for their operations abroad. Restoring trust in corporate America means U.S. companies must not only provide accurate financial information, they must also disclose information concerning their environmental, labor and human rights practices. Disclosure would allow investors and consumers to make educated choices – choices that are based on a factual and comprehensive portrayal of a company’s business activities – both here at home and abroad.

Check it out.

Southwestern Exposure

And, if you’re interested in what’s happening below (and on) the U.S.-Mexican border with U.S. companies, unions on both sides of the border, and campaigns to protect workers, check out the Maquiladora Health & Safety Support Network, which is a network of 400 occupational safety and health professionals providing

information, technical assistance and on-site instruction regarding workplace hazards in the 3,000 "maquiladora" (foreign-owned assembly) plants along the U.S.-Mexico border. Network members, including industrial hygienists, occupational physicians and nurses, and health educators among others, are donating their time and expertise to create safer and healthier working conditions for the one million maquiladora workers employed by primarily U.S.-owned transnational corporations along Mexico's northern border from Matamoros to Tijuana.

More SARS

More information on labor unions' response to SARS:

Airline Unions Recommend That Members Be Cautious
Officials at the nation's airlines said last week that the cleaning methods they had in place were already sufficient to rid an aircraft of a mystery respiratory illness, even if an infected passenger was found on board.

But airline unions are recommending that their members take even more stringent action to protect themselves against severe acute respiratory syndrome, known as SARS.

OSHA on SARS

OSHA had develped information on SARS that can be found here.

CDC's SARS webpage is here.

AFL-CIO SARS news is here.

Rumsfeld to Iraq's Heritage: "Hey, Shit Happens."

"In the months leading up to the Iraq war, U.S. scholars repeatedly urged the Defense Department to protect Iraq's priceless archaeological heritage"

"Months before the invasion of Iraq, Pentagon war planners anticipated the fall of Saddam Hussein would usher in a period of chaos and lawlessness, but for military reasons, they chose to field a light, fleet invasion force that could not hope to quell such unrest when it emerged, Pentagon officials said yesterday."

Rumsfeld: "We don't allow bad things to happen. Bad things happen in life, and people do loot."

Yeah, I mean it's not like we're, uh, responsible for anything that happens in Baghdad. Anything bad, that is.

Meanwhile, Back On The Ranch....

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) has hit hardest at those most involved in fighting it -- hospital workers. And hospitals, supposed to be havens during medical emergencies, have often turned out to be fountainheads of contagion.

INFECTING THE FIRST LINE OF DEFENSE
Hospital Staff Are Hit Hardest by Deadly Lung Disease

Patricia Tamlin was working the night shift at Scarborough Hospital in Toronto when she started feeling hot. She was caring for a man fighting a dangerous new pneumonia, but had been protecting herself with masks and gloves. So she swallowed a Tylenol and finished her shift. What no one knew was that another man Tamlin had nursed was also infected. Read the rest in the Washington Post

And in the NY Times: Mystery Illness Changes Life of Hong Kong Doctor

Short Takes

The House of Representatives has once again voted in favor of drilling in the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) for the umpteenth time. The Senate will inevitably vote against. No one really believes it's going anywhere. "Insiders" think the only reason the Republicans keep brining it up is not that they think they'll prevail, but only to try to split the labor movement. Fortunately, on our side is Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, who has done more to build political solidarity within the labor movement anyone else I can think of.

Who's Minding the Store?

I don't know why the NY Times story about sacking the National Museum of Iraq strikes me so hard. They're just "things," contrasted with with pictures and stories of dead and mutilated children and parents, no medical care, non-stop looting and mayhem -- but the fact that "Nothing remained, museum [in the museum] at least nothing of real value, from a museum that had been regarded by archaeologists and other specialists as perhaps the richest of all such institutions in the Middle East," while the U.S. Army did almost nothing to stop it makes me kind of sick.

There's another reason all this is bothering me. While no one's watching to museums or hospitals in Baghdad, who is not watching the alleged chemical weapons and nuclear depots in other parts of the country (assuming they exist?) I'm afraid we're all going to have some whirlwinds to reap.

Worker Error Department, Part 2
Yet another in an occasional, but never-ending, series on how management blames workers (even if they’re supervisors) in order to cover up failures in management systems.

Transport Workers Union Calls Transit Authority Staffing Levels Dangerous

The New York City Transport Workers Union (TWU) Local 100 has come to the defense of a New York City Transit (NYCT) supervisor who is being charged with responsibility for the death of a transit worker last November. NYCT management has proposed to fire the supervisor, Deanroy Cox, who is not a member of Local 100.

"Management is scapegoating Cox for something that was the fault of managers above him," said Local 100 Vice-president John Samuelsen. "The problem is staffing levels. If they put all the blame on Cox, it undercuts our effort to make sure that staffing is adequate so work can be done safely."

On the day of the fatality, Cox headed up a 3-person crew to test track signals. According to Samuelson, the minimum number of people who can do that kind of work is four, one of whom must work exclusively at flagging, to protect the rest of the crew from moving trains. With a 3-person crew the flagger must spend part of the time assisting with the signal testing. "Cox didn't decide to go out with two men, he was assigned two men," said Samuelson "He wasn't in a position to say how many men he was taking. Management told Cox to do it one way and then when a fatality happened they told him he wasn't supposed to do it that way. The only way Cox could get the work done was to have someone flagging and working on signals at the same time. Joy Antony tried to do that and it killed him."

The circumstances that led to Antony's death are indicative of the difficulty faced by Local 100 in trying to prevent on-the-job injury and illness. A month before Antony was killed, Local 100 had won a ruling from NYCT's Office of System Safety, which stated that signal-testing crews must include at least four workers. But, according to Local 100 Safety Director Toney Earl, "signal management ignored the Office of System Safety mandate," and continued to send out teams of three men to test signals, like the team that included Antony.

Less than two months after Antony's death, Local 100 negotiated a new contract, which gives Local 100 members the right to refuse unsafe work. "It makes a tremendous difference to us, even though many managers in the system aren't aware that we have that right," says Samuelson. "We have caught managers trying to do things the old way but for the most part they are sticking to the safety terms of the new contract."
Source: NYCOSH UPDATE ON SAFETY AND HEALTH, Vol. VII, No. 21, Friday, April 11, 2003 See also NY Times Article

Labels: Blame the Worker

The GOP Ridiculous Quote Log

A Buzzflash New Analysis

Making it's way around the web . . .

"All things equal, I would prefer to have a child in a school that has a strong appreciation for the values of the Christian community, where a child is taught to have a strong faith...The reason that Christian schools and Christian universities are growing is a result of a strong value system. In a religious environment the value system is set. That's not the case in a public school where there are so many different kids with different kinds of
values."
- U.S. Education Secretary Rod Paige [Washington Post, 4/9/03]

"My sons are 25 and 30. They are blond-haired and blue-eyed. One amendment today said we could not sell guns to anybody under drug treatment. So does that mean if you go into a black community, you cannot sell a gun to any black person?"
- U.S. Rep. Barbara Cubin [Congressional Record, 4/9/03]

"Nothing is more important in the face of a war than cutting taxes."
- House Majority Leader Tom DeLay [NY Times, 4/3/03, CongressDaily, 3/17/03]

Labor Demands PPE Payment Standard From OSHA

The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW), joined by eight additional labor organizations, filed a petition today with the Secretary of Labor to demand a rule within 60 days that mandates employer payment for personal protective equipment. The Congressional Hispanic Caucus also joined in the request. This standard has been stalled at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration for three years.

Since its inception, it had been OSHA practice to require employers to pay for all Personal Protective Equipment such as gloves, boots, hearing protection and other protective equipment required by OSHA standards, although this requirement was not specifically written into OSHA's 1994 PPE revised standard.. The OSHA Review Board ruled in 1997 that OSHA could not require employer payment unless it was written into a standard. So, in 1999 OSHA proposed the "Payment for PPE Standard," took comments and held hearings.

As the petition states, "The rulemaking record overwhelmingly supported OSHA's determination that a rule was needed to clarify this issue and protect workers from the risks posed by their employer's failure to pay for protective equipment." In addition to testimony from unions, "NIOSH, the International Safety Equipment Association, the American Society of Safety Engineers, the State of Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry, and many other groups all strongly supported the issuance of the rule. In addition, the rule was generally supported by a number of employer groups including Shell Offshore Inc., Southwestern Bell Telephone, Heavy Constructors Association of The Greater Kansas City Area, National Tank Truck Carriers, Inc. , the Mechanical-Electrical-Sheet Metal Alliance , and the American Trucking Association.

The standard was almost ready for publication when the Bush Administration came into office. It has lain dormant since and is now classified "Next Action Undetermined."

The petition points out that Latinos are particularly affected:

The situation at a non-union meatpacking plant in Omaha, Nebraska, is a case in point. This plant has primarily a Hispanic workforce. The workers are required to wear rubber boots to reduce the risk of falling on slippery floors, but the employer deducts the cost of the boots from their paychecks. If the safety equipment workers wear to prevent knife cuts is lost or stolen, workers must pay for replacements. For some types of PPE, this company, like many others, furnishes only the first set of PPE, and after that, when the item is worn out, the worker must pay for its replacement. Workers faced with such policies frequently do not replace safety equipment when it wears out, because they cannot afford it or elect not to buy it. As a result, workers end up working with holes in their gloves, such that their hands are not protected from knife cuts, or wearing hearing protection that has lost its protective value due to wear.

Pointing to the Department's rhetoric about committing resources to Hispanic worker outreach and training, the letter states: "Rather than just promising more funding for outreach and education, the Department of Labor and OSHA Immigrant workers need more than outreach and education. They need protection."

Just as the OSH Act requires employers to pay for engineering controls, such as ventilation and mufflers to control noisy equipment, the Act requires that the employer pay for personal safety equipment such as safety goggles and protective gloves. There has never been any ambiguity about who pays for engineering and administrative controls, and nor should there be any question about payment for PPE. It would be totally contrary to the language and spirit of the OSH Act to permit employers to pass along the economic burden of safety controls to workers.

Other labor organizations signing the petition were: the AFL-CIO, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, UNA/American Nurses Association, Building Trades Department, AFL-CIO, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, and the United Steel Workers of America.

Labels: AFL-CIO

Worker Error Department
(I sometimes search Google News for the term “Worker Error.” It almost always turns up some good stuff. For example…)

Here we have a story from the New Jersey Herald about a truck driver, John Baer, who had worked for Able Energy for twenty years. One day he transferred propane from a 10,000-gallon truck to a 3,000-gallon truck. Then he got in his truck and drove off. Except that he forgot to disconnect the hose, which ruptured. The emergency shut-off valve on the large truck failed. The gas spewed out, ignited, exploded causing the evacuation of 1000 residents for five days, closing of schools and $7 million in damage. The explosion damaged 67 homes in the immediate area, with 11 suffering "major damage,

The headlines read: Human, mechanical error blamed in Newton explosion

There were rumors that Baer was smoking while loading the propane. Also it turns out it's not legal to transfer propane from a large truck to a smaller truck. The Herald reported that “Able Energy Chief Operating Officer John Vrabel said the employee has more than 20 years' experience working with propane but failed to follow company operating procedures. Vrabel said the Able employee faces disciplinary action for his mistake. He said fuel isn't often transferred from a larger truck to a smaller one. "I would not characterize it as a common practice, no," Vrabel said.

A later article revealed that Baer no longer worked for the company.

Justice done? Maybe. But wait, a few issues….

1. Maybe Baer was a total screw-up. Maybe he was a conscientious worker, having a thoughtless moment. I don’t know him. But he had been working there for 20 years. Couldn’t have been too much of a screw-up.

2. Although Vrabel was SHOCKED that Baer had been illegally transferring propane for a larger truck to a small truck, it turns out that the state fined Able $408,000 “for performing some 816 illegal fuel transfers between August 1, 2000 to March 14, 2003 at the Diller Avenue facility,” in addition to other violations. (I guess 816 times isn’t “often.”)

3. One “witness” said only that he had seen Baer with a pack of cigarettes, not necessarily smoking.

4. This is the most interesting part to think about: Suppose Mr. Baer had driven away, leaving the hose connected and the emergency shutoff valve had functioned properly, shutting off the propane when the hose ruptured. Same action, but no explosion, no damage, no injuries, no evacuation, no media, no fines. Total damage if the valve had worked: A new hose and maybe a slap on the wrist for Baer.

So, what's the root cause? Who is taking the fall?

Labels: Blame the Worker

BASEBALL HALL OF FAME JOINS REPUBLICAN PARTY
(Take me out of the Ball Game--Please!)
Calling all baseball fans. This you have to see. Click here.

SARS At Home: Is Transmission to Health Care Workers Important (from a public health perspective)?

The New York Times reports that there have been over 150 cases of SARS in the United States, including three health care workers. No one has died. There seems to be some controversy emerging, however, about what the U.S. is reporting to the World Health Organization (WHO), and the importance U.S. health officials place on workplace transmission.

Although the World Health Organization has asked countries to send information about every case, the U.S. has apparently not reported "secondary transmission case" Patient to health care worker transmission are considered by the CDC as "secondary transmission," as opposed to "community transmission." The U.S. has only been reporting "community transmission" to the WHO.

Because the secondary spread to hospital workers and household members "represents close contact transmission of patient to health care worker or ill person to family contact in a household setting," the C.D.C. does not consider such secondary transmission as community transmission, Dr. [James] Hughes said

And as for health care workers...

"What is important from a public health perspective is are you having uncontrolled transmission in a community setting, and that clearly is not happening in the United States," Dr. Hughes said." .

I would wager that there are some health care workers would probably dispute the contention that transmission in a health care environment is not "important from a public health perspective." Once again, we are taken back to those days of yesteryear when the CDC overlooked the crucial role that health care workers play in any health crisis (then it was AIDS), and the priority that must be placed on caring for the caregivers if they expect the caregivers to be able to do their jobs.

FOR SOME GOOD LINKS TO SARS RESOURCES, CHECK OUT HAZARDS and LabourStart

More information about Pekka Aro who died last week from SARS

ICFTU Mourns Loss of Pekka Aro, Trade Unionist and ILO Official

Pekka Aro, an International Labour Organisation official and former national and international trade union representative passed away in Beijing on Sunday following a short illness diagnosed as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

Aro, 52 years old, had a distinguished career in the international trade union movement prior to joining the ILO in 1992. After working for the Finnish Glass and Porcelain Workers' Union and the Paper Workers' Union, he became Deputy General Secretary of the International Federation of Chemical, Energy and General Workers' Unions ICEF (now the Global Union Federation ICEM) from 1984 - 89. During this time he was Chairperson of the ICFTU Working Party on Occupational Health, Safety and the Environment, a body which he was instrumental in establishing, and carried out work of historic importance in this field. A prolific author of articles and books, he co-authored "The Trade Union Report on Bhopal" after leading an ICFTU-ICEF mission to study the causes and effects of the industrial disaster at the Union Carbide plant in that city. (ICFTU OnLine (Brussels 7 April 2003)) Forwarded by Vern Mogensen

Too Busy Writing Weak Ergonomics Guidelines and, uh, umm Homeland Security. And Stuff...

New OSHA Chemical Exposure Limits Ordered
04/03/2003

WASHINGTON (AP) A federal appeals court has ordered the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to issue regulations to set a new limit on work exposure to the industrial chemical hexavalent chromium. The order by the U.S. Appeals Court for the 3rd Circuit gives the agency until January 2006 to issue a final rule with new exposure limits for the chemical, which has been shown to cause lung cancer if inhaled at certain levels. A proposed rule must be issued by Oct. 4. The court order was in response to a lawsuit filed last year by Public Citizen and the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers International Union. The lawsuit claimed that OSHA was aware that its current exposure limit posed a cancer risk to workers, but has continually delayed any action. The groups have urged OSHA to lower the limit for more than a decade.

Labels: Ergonomics

SARS CRISIS AND THE UNIONS

By now you've all heard about SARS -- Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome.

As of this morning, according to the WHO, 2,671 cases in 17 countries have been reported, with a total of 103 deaths.

Unions around the world have been reacting to the crisis in different ways. While health care unions are putting out information to their members on how to protect themselves, unions in the airline industry have taken strong positions -- in some cases calling for bans on flights to countries like China which are most affected by the illness.

Labourstart is now running more than 30 such news stories from trade unions in Canada, Japan, New Zealand, and the Netherlands on our brand new page devoted to trade unions and the SARS crisis, here: http://www.labourstart.org/sars/

It is extremely important that trade unionists, particularly those involved with health and safety issues, be informed. You need to know what other unions are doing and thinking.

One of the sad things you'll learn upon visiting our page is that the first reported Western victim of SARS to die in China last week was Pekka Aro. Pekka was an outstanding trade union figure and a pioneer of use of information technology by the international trade union movement. There are several links to the story of Pekka's life (and tragic death) on LabourStart's SARS page.
From Rory O'Neil, Hazards Magazine

Paul Wellstone Dead is a 99% Better Lawmaker than Norm Coleman Alive

A Comment on Wellstone Creates Furor for Successor
By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG

WASHINGTON, April 8 — Senator Norm Coleman, a freshman Republican from Minnesota known for his brash style, is caught up in controversy over remarks he made suggesting that he is a far better lawmaker than his Democratic predecessor, Paul Wellstone, who died in a plane crash just 11 days before the November election. Read the rest of this disgusting article.

I told Minnesota not to vote for him, but would they listen to me?

Shouldn't These Guys Be in Jail?

Now, many of you know that I have a "thing" about trenching deaths because everyone who runs a business that involves digging trenches should know that workers shouldn't be working in any unshored/unsloped trench over 5 feet deep. What's particularly criminal about the case described in the article below, however, is that this firm was supposedly an "expert" in underground construction. So they don't even get the benefit of playing dumb; they don't get to say they "should" have known about trenching safety. They DID know.

And then the workers were forced to sign a statement (written in a language they didn't understand) saying they had been trained. Now, what good does training do when you're down in an unprotected 10 foot deep trench?

I once taught a workshop for municipal public works employees who regularly went down into deep trenches without any shoring and they were trained -- to dig out their co-workers as fast as possible when the trench caved in on them. (But that was perfectly legal because they were public employees in a small New England state whose biggest city hasn't won a World Series since they sold a certain baseball player.)

On second thought, maybe jail is too good for them.

OSHA Fine for Trenching Death

Associated Press

SANTA YNEZ, Calif. - A Lompoc construction company building the 90,000-square-foot Chumash Casino faces up to $91,000 in fines for violations of federal safety standards that allegedly led to the trench collapse death of a worker.

The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration said the violations were particularly egregious because R. Williams Construction represented itself as an expert in underground construction and was hired because of that alleged expertise.

Federal investigators said workers were allegedly asked by R. Williams officials to sign a statement that they had received training in trench work when they hadn't. Some workers said the statement identifying them as trench experts was in English though some could not speak, read or write English, including the Lompoc man injured in the accident, OSHA said.

Jose Aguiniga, 42, of Buellton was killed and his co-worker Adam Palamar suffered a shattered pelvis when the 70-long, 10-foot deep trench they were working in collapsed while they were digging a new sewer line Sept. 19, 2002.

"OSHA excavation and trenching standards clearly state what standards must be in place to protect workers in this type of construction," OSHA deputy regional administrator Christopher Lee said in a statement. "This employer knowingly placed workers at significant risk by failing to take the most basic precautions against trench collapse."
more

Labels: Criminal Prosecution, Trench Hazards

**Re*!&$m Change at Home**

This is from Max Sawicky's excellent Blog, MaxSpeak. I, of course, would never be so coarse, but in the interest of freedom of the press, etc, etc, I thought you might be interested:

MORE SYNONYMS. Assorted right-wing f**wads have objected to the use of the term "regime" in reference to the Bush Administration. To faciliate learned dialogue, MaxSpeak herewith provides alternative terminology for use in referring to the President and his associates:

junta, mob, cabal, putschists, confederacy, gang, crew, the boyz, the outfit, this thing of ours, the entity, dictatorship of the bourgeoisie, ring, clan, klan, syndicate, riffraff, horde, canaille, gangland, gangdom, children of darkness, house of prostitution, the undead, the living dead, unindicted felonry, rustlers, cut-throats, murderers, bounty hunters, desperadoes, mugs, pugs, thugs, nit-wits, half-wits, dim-wits, vipers, snipers, con-men, Indian agents, Mexican bandits, muggers, buggerers, bush-whackers, horn-swagglers, horse-thieves, bull-dykes, train-robbers, bank-robbers, ass-kickers, shit-kickers, and Methodists!

Health Benefits? Nah! She Was Just a Contractor. Yeah, a Contractor. That's the Ticket.

Family looks for answers in relative's death
By KATRICE HARDY, The Virginian-Pilot
© April 4, 2003

Cinthia Murillo plans to leave Chesapeake on Saturday to bring her sister back to their hometown of Mexicali, Mexico, for burial.

Family members have been in Hampton Roads for two weeks trying to learn more about how Dahlia Burr Murillo died in a construction accident and whether she had health benefits with the Norfolk company she worked for.

If she did, the family believes, then most of her hospital medical expenses, and maybe some of the burial costs, would be covered.
.......
Porter-Blaine officials, who declined to comment, have told OSHA that Murillo did not have benefits because she was an independent contractor.

Cinthia Murillo believes that her sister did have benefits. Porter-Blaine took 12 percent out of Dahlia's checks, she said recently.

Read the rest here.

McGOVERN IN 'O4!

THE REASON WHY

by George McGovern

[from the April 21, 2003 issue of The Nation]

Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die.
--Alfred, Lord Tennyson
"The Charge of the Light Brigade"
(in the Crimean War)

Thanks to the most crudely partisan decision in the history of the Supreme Court, the nation has been given a President of painfully limited wisdom and compassion and lacking any sense of the nation's true greatness. Appearing to enjoy his role as Commander in Chief of the armed forces above all other functions of his office, and unchecked by a seemingly timid Congress, a compliant Supreme Court, a largely subservient press and a corrupt corporate plutocracy, George W. Bush has set the nation on a course for one-man rule.

Read the Rest

The Great Debate I: Union Health and Safety Programs vs. Organizing

On March 9, 2003, John Wilhelm, president of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees, was quoted in the New York Times as saying that "the A.F.L.-C.I.O. was spread too thin and should devote more of its money and energy to organizing. Mr. Wilhelm said he would even consider ideas like eliminating the federation's respected health and safety department to channel more money into organizing. 'My view is that if we don't devote the largest possible amount of money to organizing and to political action that relates to organizing, we will go out of business," he said. "And if we go out of business, we can't help anybody's health and safety.'"

This statement has caused quite a bit of discussion and some concern among union health and safety staff, as well as rank and file activists about the role of health and safety programs in unions, especially in the context of the obvious need to increase resources dedicated to organizing. Is there, or should there be a conflict between health and safety programs and organizing? Is it a zero-sum game? It may be true that if unions go out of existence, they can't help anyone's health and safety. On the other hand, don't many workers join unions because they see the labor movement in general, and their local union in particular, as their only ally in the fight for safe working conditions?

I'd like to make this the beginning of a continuing on-line discussion. I would be happy to reprint anyone's thoughts (attributed or anonymously) or excerpts of relevant articles.

To kick off the discussion, I'm reprinting below excerpts from a speech by Diane Stein, Executive Board Member, Local 1-149, Paper, Allied-Industrial Chemical and Energy Workers (PACE) and Outreach Coordinator, World Trade Center Worker & Volunteer Medical Screening Program, on receiving the Karen Silkwood award from NYCOSH.

In 1974, Karen Silkwood led a fight in her nuclear plant to expose safety hazards that could potential cause a great deal of harm both to the plant workers and to the environment. Later that year she was killed while on her way to bring documents about the plant to a New York Times reporter.

Most people in this room know that story, but what you may not know is that Karen was doing this work not just for the safety issues involved, but because there was a union decertification drive going on in her plant. She understood that in order to achieve any measure of safety and respect on the job, her job was to make sure that it stayed unionized.

I know that there is debate in the labor movement right now about whether we can afford to continue working on safety and health when we need so many resources devoted to organizing. While none of us would argue against organizing, I would argue that we can't afford to do away with what some may consider to be "special projects" and that includes safety and health.

People join unions because they need better work lives. Safety and health is a huge part of that struggle.

The TWU knows this. They are actively engaged in a struggle to make work safer for track workers, following the four tragic deaths of track workers over the past several months.

People concerned about ergonomics know this. The only sector that has gotten any significant measure of protection from OSHA on ergonomic issues are the unionized sectors (meat packing and nursing homes).

Chemical workers know this. The original process safety management standard, which is designed to reduce the risk of explosions and fires, is a direct result of union action. And the expansion that we currently seek to make these rules stronger is a multi-union effort, with support from our friends in the environmental community.

Without unions actively working on these issues, we would be failing the people we represent.

People join unions because they know that unions are the only institution who really put forward their agenda. We cannot abandon that agenda because we need resources for organizing. It simply doesn't make sense.

Unions have a huge task. We need to do our share to ensure that workplaces are safe, that our communities have clean air and water, that adequate health care is available to all.

We can not separate these issues and we cannot choose among them. We must be an advocate for social justice wherever and whenever we can if unions are to have a meaningful place in people's lives.

But we can't do this alone. The only way to achieve these goals is by working in coalition with others who share our vision of social justice. Environmentalists, public health advocates, women's and civil rights organizations must all be our partners in the struggle for a better world.

Mining Firm Wins a Ruling, but Loses a Town

How Do Republicans Spell "Diversity?"

More on Chemical Plant Security

ASBESTOS NEWS

How’s My Driving?

Playing It Safe

Groups Want 3 Strikes Law for Businesses

Meet the New SOL, (Almost) The Same As The Old SOL

TOXIC WATER NUMBERS DAYS OF A TRAILER PARK

The War for Chemical Plant Safety

The War At Home: Sighs Too Deep For Tears

Attention Farm Workers, Gardeners, Park Workers, Highway Workers, Groundskeepers

And now for a little politics…

OSHA Kills

An Act of God?

Letters from Readers: Why Get Involved?

Screened Out

Old OSHA Directors Don’t Die, (But They Make Sure They’re in God’s Good Graces When They Do.)

More Workers Memorial Day Articles in Today’s Press

What Is This?!

LEGAL DOESN’T MEAN SAFE: Black lung study casts cloud over coal-dust limits

Workers Memorial Day Articles in Today’s Press

WORKERS MEMORIAL DAY SPECIAL

Bush's OSHA: Flee from All That You Can Be

Interesting Facts:

AFL-CIO Releases 12th Annual Death on the Job Report

No Doze?

More Workers Memorial Day News

Carty Ousted

Postal Worker Anthrax Coverup, Continued

The American Way?

Postal Workers Kept in Dark on Anthrax

Russia's industrial wasteland chokes on fumes

McWane and Steelworkers Sign Agreement

Earth Day? We Don't Need No Stinkin Earth Day!

WORKERS MEMORIAL DAY 2003

Deadly Business

Hell on earth

Free Speech for OSHA Inspectors? Surely You Jest

Europe Whips US Companies Into Shape

Life Gets Cheaper

How Low Can You Go?

Club for Growth: Never Underestimate the Stupidity of the American People

Conservatives Attack Two GOP Senators With Electronically Doctored Images

(Agent) Orange Alert

Working Conditions Improve Due to Labor Struggles

Moderate Republicans to Bush: Lay off Labor

The Cost of Workplace Injury and Illness

And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

Tim Robbins on Patriotism, Dissent and Baseball

OSHA: TB Standard? What TB Standard?

More McWane Violations: High Crimes, Low Fines

Worker "Error" Department (Cont'd)

Broaden the Struggle: We all have a Right to Know

More SARS

Rumsfeld to Iraq's Heritage: "Hey, Shit Happens."

Meanwhile, Back On The Ranch....

Short Takes

Worker Error Department, Part 2

The GOP Ridiculous Quote Log

Labor Demands PPE Payment Standard From OSHA

Worker Error Department

BASEBALL HALL OF FAME JOINS REPUBLICAN PARTY (Take me out of the Ball Game--Please!)

SARS At Home: Is Transmission to Health Care Workers Important (from a public health perspective)?

SARS CRISIS AND THE UNIONS

Paul Wellstone Dead is a 99% Better Lawmaker than Norm Coleman Alive

Shouldn't These Guys Be in Jail?

Re*!&$m Change at Home

Health Benefits? Nah! She Was Just a Contractor. Yeah, a Contractor. That's the Ticket.

BASEBALL HALL OF FAME JOINS REPUBLICAN PARTY
(Take me out of the Ball Game--Please!)

**Re*!&$m Change at Home**