No, not me. I never get to go anywhere fun.

Upset that the Tour de France is over? Well now you can follow the excitement of the AFL-CIO convention -- almost live -- from onsite bloggers and other news sources. Will they split? Who will split? Will a last minute deal be made?

Jonathan Tasini, currently situated in the in the bowels of the Chicago Sheraton, has been keeping us up on all the inside stories and emerging developments in the dispute between the Sweeney loyalists and the "dissidents" of the Change To Win coalition, and will continue to keep us up-to-date at Working Life.

Tim Nesbitt, President of the Oregon AFL-CIO will also be blogging from the convention.

You can also find continuous analysis by Nathan Newman, Bill Fletcher, Jo-Ann Mort and others at the TPM House of Labor Blog

Meanwhile, LabourStart will also be offering comprehensive coverage of the Convention. (Also remember, if you have a webpage, you can integrate the LabourStart newsfeed into your site. (Check the right-hand column of Confined Space for an example.)

And I'll make sure to cover any breaking workpace safety news from the convention. (In other words, don't expect to hear a lot from me.)

Labels: AFL-CIO

Instead of going away ourselves this year, we just sent all the kids away and partied here like before we had kids. (Well, not quite.)

But all good things must come to an end. This weekend we're picking one up.

Back on Sunday.

Usually, it's the highway and pubic works employees laboring on the hot asphalt that have a problem during hot weather, while their administrative co-workers work in air-conditioned luxury back in the home office.

Not this week in Long Island, however. While the mercury was hitting 85 outdoors, in the headquarters building of Nassau County's Department of Public Works Highway and Bridge Maintenance Division, it was 94. The air conditioning has been out for the past eleven days.

"It's hot as hell in here," says Barbara Wagner, a laborer in the fleet management division who has worked there for six years on and off. "Do we have to be taken out by ambulance before somebody does something about it? People are getting sick." Sal Scalafani, the auto-parts storekeeper supervisor and one of just three workers still in the building at 4 p.m. on July 18, agreed. "It's intolerable," he says. "Even just working on keyboards you're soaking wet."

In one nearly empty room, more than a dozen fans were cranked up to top speed, blowing stagnant hot air back and forth. The metal ventilation ducts were old and worn, with brown paint chipping off. Some were missing grates or damaged.

So what's the problem? Old equipment, and the nemesis of public employees (and citizens) everywhere: privatization of government services:

Jerry Laricchiuta, the newly elected president of Civil Service Employees Association Local 830, calls the situation "unacceptable." He says Dena Miller, deputy commissioner of the department of public works, credits the AC-repair holdup at the Cantiague building to a missing part and a problem with an outside contractor.

"That's what happens when you don't have county workers doing your work," says Laricchiuta, noting that when a compressor at the Department of Social Services broke down on July 19, a county worker fixed the system in a day. "When you contract to outside agencies, they own you."

Anyway, not to worry. The problem has been resolved. The air conditioning should be working again -- in a week.

Labels: Public Employees

Former OSHA head John Henshaw has joined Behavioral Science Technology, Inc. (BST) as a part-time "senior principal consultant" who will "advise BST clients on matters of environmental health and safety (EHS), and leadership's role in creating injury-free workplaces."

BST, as its name implies, is the nation's leading behavior safety consulting firm. Behavioral safety assumes that workers' behavior is at the bottom of most health and safety problems (as opposed to hazardous working conditions) and that incentives (like money) or punishments will "correct" that behavior.

Unions oppose safety incentive games as one of a variety of ways to discourage workers from reporting injuries or otherwise underestimate the rate of injuries and illnesses in the country.
A bridge contractor in California that was recently accused of undercounting injuries had a safety incentive Program" in which they dole out $100 to $2,500 bonuses, depending on the number of worker hours logged without a recordable injury. They also suspended a whole crew of workers because one of them suffered an on-the-job injury.

And incentive games like safety bingo can do more harm than just discouraging reporting. Minor injuries - the type that are most likely not to be reported - should be seen as warning signals of much more serious injuries: In a Massachusetts workplace, a worker was caught in an unguarded machine and crushed to death. Minor injuries that had occurred on that machine weren't being reported because the plant utilized both a safety bingo game that rewarded workers for not reporting injuries and a post-injury drug testing policy that mandated drug testing for all workers who reported injuries."

NASA had a five-year, $10 million contract with BSC to change the agency's culture following the Columbia disaster, but canceled less than halfway through.

There's much, much more on behavioral safety in Hazards Magazine

Labels: Behavioral Safety, John Henshaw

Desperate to divert media attention away from consiglieri Rove, President Bush rushed out his Supreme Court nomination tonight: John Roberts.

The general consensus seems to be that although Roberts is (very) conservative, he's not a right-wing wack-job, so he's probably a shoe-in. And although the right wing blogosphere is delighted, even some lefties think it could have been much worse. On the other hand, it's still early. There could be an illegal alien in the closet. Maybe he drank a beer before the age of 21 or made an illegal right turn.

But, of course, the question on all Confined Space readers' minds today is: "How is John Roberts on workplace safety and labor issues?"

The answer is probably not great.

At the beginning of this month, I posted an article entitled Supreme Court Abolishes OSHA, EPA where I quoted political analyst David Sirota saying that in its Supreme Court coverage the press is missing "the real storyline of 'Big Money' vs. "Ordinary Americans."

I raised the specter of a Supreme Court majority that agrees with the so-called "constitution in exile" movement which argues that the most important rights are economic rights, particularly the right to property, and anything that take away those rights -- such as environmental or workplace safety laws -- are, or should be, unconstitutional. And I quoted University of of Chicago law professor Cass Sunstein, warning that "many decisions of the Federal Communications Commission, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and possibly the National Labor Relations Board would be unconstitutional."

So where are we the morning after the nomination?

First, Roberts was on the short list of the big business community:

Glenn Lammi, chief counsel of the conservative Washington Legal Foundation, identified at least three possible nominees that big business would cheer: John Roberts Jr., Edith Brown Clement and Janice Rogers Brown. All three are federal appeals court judges.

Corporate America would favor Roberts and Clement because both were once private practitioners who represented business interests -- experience the Rehnquist court now lacks. Given their past experience, the thinking goes, both judges might be friendly to corporate America.

There's a chance too that either Roberts or Clement could influence the court to decide more cases deemed critical to business. The court under Chief Justice Rehnquist has been criticized for not taking up enough cases each term generally, and business cases in particular.

The ACS Blog reports that

Judge Roberts' nomination to the D.C. Circuit was opposed by organizations concerned with his prior record. As a law student, Judge Roberts argued for an expansive reading of the Takings and Contracts Clauses, something which might suggest sympathy towards the Constitution-in-Exile movement, a movement of political conservatives who favor reinterpreting the Constitution to strike down economic regulations.

OK, he was just a law student. What about real life? Prior to being appointed to the D.C. Circuit, Roberts worked for the Reagan and Bush (I) administrations and in private practice.

According to the Alliance For Justice,

In private practice, Roberts has often represented corporations in suits against private individuals or the government. He represented Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Kentucky, Inc., in its successful petition to the Supreme Court arguing that a worker with carpal tunnel syndrome is not disabled such that she is entitled to accommodation at work under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Mr. Roberts took the position that Ella Williams, an automobile assembly line worker, was not covered by the ADA, even though she was fired because carpal tunnel syndrome – which she acquired as a result of activities she was required to perform as part of her job – prevented her from doing all of the tasks required by her job.

Then there's this from the Center for Investigative Reporting:

In April 2000, Washington DC lawyer John Roberts filed an amicus brief on behalf of the National Mining Association in the federal 4th Circuit Court to block a lawsuit filed by West Virginia citizens opposed to the coal industry's destructive "mountaintop removal" practice. Two years later, Roberts was nominated by President Bush and confirmed to the powerful DC Circuit Court of Appeals. In April 2004, as a judge on that court, Roberts ruled against environmentalists who were pushing for more restrictive government regulations over copper smelters--many of whose owners are members of the National Mining Association--that emit toxic lead and arsenic pollutants.

As a judge, according to People for the American Way, Roberts ruled against application of the Endangered Species Act in Rancho Viejo, LLC v. Norton, indicating that he may well be ready to join the ranks other right-wing officials in their efforts to severely limit the authority of Congress to protect environmental quality as well as the rights and interests of ordinary Americans.

The Alliance for Justice fears that his views as indicated by the Rancho Viejo case, "could threaten a wide swath of workplace, civil rights, public safety and environmental protections."

The Alliance hasn't come out against Roberts yet, but called on the Senate "to fulfill its constitutional duty to fully vet Judge Roberts’ qualifications, background, and constitutional philosophy to see if he meets the high standards for a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court. "

UUPDATE: And court watcher Linda Greenhouse in today's NY Times:

the nominee's network of associations suggests a firm identification on the conservative side of the legal spectrum: not only his involvement with the Federalist Society, but his service, before he became a judge, on the legal advisory council of the National Legal Center for the Public Interest, a group here that describes its goal as promoting "free enterprise, private ownership of property, balanced use of private and public resources, limited government, and a fair and efficient judiciary." It is a group that attracts support from many prominent conservatives.

And then Nathan Newman reminds us of AFL-CIO v. Chao (2005):

This decision upheld most of the Labor Department's punitive reporting requirements by labor unions, but could not demand such reporting from non-union organizations where unions merely elect some representatives to their boards. Roberts in dissent by himself wanted to give the labor department full power over any organization where a union had any representation in its leadership.

Nathan Newman has the best commentary on this issue. First, addressing the argument that Roberts has a very short paper trail because he's only been on the Appeals court for two years, Nathan points out that he has a much longer private sector trail and experience in the Reagan and Bush I administrations where he's distinguished himself as a partisan hack.

Regarding the argument that Roberts' true personal views can't be judged by his private sector history because he was "only representing his client," Nathan responds:

Of course, deciding to spend years working for this particular client, the Reagan administration, says a lot about Roberts' personal views, but Juan is right in one sense: Roberts has spent his career as a mind-for-hire on behalf of the rightwing Republican agenda. Whatever he said was done to advance his career with no intellectual integrity, since according to his defenders, he didn't believe a word he said.

So if his career is one of years of political hack partisanship, sprinkled with a few years acting as a well-paid hack on behalf of corporate interests, why should we believe Roberts has the temperment to be an independent Justice?

***

If the words Roberts wrote for all his clients don't reflect work upon which he should be evaluated, then the two years on the bench is too little experience to be confirmed.

And if all John Roberts can say is, sorry, I've been a partisan hack for twenty-five years, so I don't have any vision that I can talk about -- well, that's not good enough either and he should be rejected.

So where does all of this leave us? At least a little worse off than before. But the bottom line is, who knows? Although Nathan and others think he's a political hack, maybe he'll mature now that he doesn't have any "clients." Maybe he's another David Souter.

Maybe I should go to bed.

Other Supreme Court Links

Think Progress
People For The American Way
Independent Judiciary (The Alliance For Justice)
SCOTUS Blog

I will be on Bill Henning's Labor Communiqué Radio show Tuesday, July 19, 5 p.m. on WNYE, 91.5 FM. Bill Fletcher is also on. The subject is the upcoming AFL-CIO convention that starts July 25 in Chicago, where divisions in the national labor movement will take the national stage. Part of the discussion will address the restructuring of the AFL-CIO, including elimination of the health and safety department.

Tune in.

The new issue of Green Labor is out and as usual, contains a wealth of information and interesting material about environmental information and news about labor and environment collaborations.

Some of the highlights include:

Steelworkers & Sierra Club: Good Jobs, a Cleaner Environment, a Safer World
What do you get when two powerful organizations team up? A lot of oomph. Read here here about the growing partnership between North America's biggest industrial union and the largest environmental group in the U.S.

Alliance Fights ASARCO Pollution in Arizona Environmentalists are supporting striking workers at one the biggest polluters in Arizona -- the ASARCO copper smelter in Hayden. That's right. We ain't lying. Take a look here.

CAFTA: Labor Pains and Environmental Flaws If it walks like NAFTA, and if it talks like NAFTA, it must be … CAFTA. Read here what the Sierra Club and the United Steelworkers think about this deal. And take a gander here of how the US Chamber of Commerce is bankrolling a speaking tour that is hyping CAFTA with the same bogus claims used to pass NAFTA.

Heard Around the Nation "Blue-Green" lobby days in "Red" state capitols. Union electrical workers installing solar panels in California. Environmentalists supporting chemical workers in New Jersey. It's a vision of the future that inspires hope. Get a glimpse here.

Shared Goals, Common Opponents "Follow the jobs" if you want to learn where pollution is coming from. That's the powerful lesson Carl Pope says he learned from the late Tony Mazzocchi, a leader in the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers (OCAW) union. Pope elaborates here.

And if you want to sign up for the e-mail verson of Green Labor, click here.

Another couple of weeks of life and death in the American workplace. "Highlights" this time include at least four women killed and three workers die of heat stroke.

Flint police officer killed when cruisers collide during chase

BURTON, Mich. (AP) -- Two police cruisers collided during a chase Saturday, killing a Flint police officer who had been with the force four months and seriously injuring three other officers, police said

The officer who died was identified as Owen Fisher, 24, a Flint native. He could have worked anywhere in the state but wanted to be a police officer in his hometown, colleagues told The Flint Journal.


Worker killed at Stone Mountain

STONE MOUNTAIN - A 63-year-old Stone Mountain Park employee was shot and killed Saturday morning following an attempted robbery.

Anita Redmon, a gate attendant at the park, had worked at Stone Mountain since April. The Stone Mountain Memorial Association is offering a $20,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of whoever is responsible for her death.

Stone Mountain Park Police and Fire Chief Chuck Kelley said Redmon was working alone at the park's West Gate when she called in a signal 44, an armed robbery, at 12:30 a.m. Police were one-third of a mile away and arrived in one minute, he said. Redmon was pronounced dead upon arrival at the DeKalb Medical Center.


Worker dies at Tumwater sawmill

TUMWATER, Wash. (AP) - A sawmill worker was fatally injured here Friday and state labor officials were investigating.

The victim was not immediately identified, said state Department of Labor and Industries spokeswoman Elaine Fischer.

The mill is owned by TreeSource Industries Inc., Fischer said, adding, "We can't comment at all on what we're seeing at the investigation scene."


Memorial ride honors killed Montville officer

MONTVILLE--Hundreds of bikes are expected to gather Sunday for a memorial ride honoring a Montville police officer killed in the line of duty.

The Montville-based New London Motorcycle Club is hosting a memorial ride for Officer Joseph Sachatello III.

Sachatello, 33, died on the night of Jan. 23, 2003, when he lost control of his police cruiser and crashed while responding to an accident.


Worker dies after falling

A 39-year-old Granbury man, father of three, died at a Metroplex hospital Wednesday, after falling 25 feet from scaffolding at the old Higginbotham’s Lumber. A 34-year-old Granbury man also fell. He was treated at an area hospital Wednesday morning.

Freddy Garcia was CareFlited to a Metroplex hospital and died a short time later. Bobby Gentry was treated at Lake Granbury Medical Center. His condition is unknown.

According to the police report, the men were standing on extension ladders placed on top of scaffolding.


Worker helping paint bridge is killed in fall

Louisville, KY -- For the Mendez brothers, bridge painting is not just a job -- it's a way to earn a better life than what they knew in Mexico.

The four brothers were willing to work at dangerous heights, amid the rumble of speeding traffic, while cleaning and painting bridges and roads for Eagle Painting and Maintenance Co.

At 7:45 yesterday morning, Jamie Antonio Mendez -- a husband and father of three -- was helping paint the Kennedy Bridge when he fell 50 feet to the ground near the Ohio River and died.

Mendez was wearing his safety harness, said David Hatherill, project manager for Atlantic Painting Co., the general contractor. There were no problems with the safety devices on the job, he said.

"We had the right safety equipment and everything," said Tasso Barris, a foreman for Eagle Painting. No one witnessed the fall," Hatherill said. "No one knows what happened."

More here.


Farm worker dies from extreme heat

BAKERSFIELD, CA - The triple digit heat in the Central Valley claimed its first life Wednesday when a farm worker died from heat exposure.

The United Farm Workers Union said the man was just doing a typical shift in a pepper field when the heat just became too much for him.

His name is being withheld since he has no family in the United States, and authorities are trying to contact his family.

The UFW is looking into the case and said the 42-year-old man had just started doing contract farm work at a pepper farm near Wheeler Ridge and Legray Road near the community of Mettler.

A coworker told the UFW the man got sick Wednesday around 3 p.m. and died about an hour later at Mercy Hospital.


Paper machine worker killed at plant

Rome, GA -- A man who worked at a Rome paper mill was killed on the job Sunday, apparently after being dragged into a machine. Kevin Ross Green, 49, was found dead at about 6 a.m. by co-workers at the Temple-Inland linerboard mill, where he'd worked for 30 years. Green was killed by the mill's No. 2 paper machine. Tony Cooper, chief deputy coroner, said Green was likely trying to repair a rope on a pulley and was dragged into the machine's large, heavy rollers. "It appears he was trying to replace one of the ropes when he became entangled in the rope, and was pulled through the rollers," Cooper said.


Fiery three-truck crash leaves Azle man dead

GRAPEVINE, TX - A 37-year-old Azle man was killed Tuesday when an tractor-trailer plowed into him and his truck on the westbound Texas 114 service road and burst into flames, police said.

Tommie Cornwell, an asphalt truck driver, was talking to Tommy Smith, 54, of Fort Worth, another asphalt truck driver, while standing on the running board of Smith's truck. The pair were waiting to be called to dump their loads on the service road, about 200 yards from Main Street, for a repaving operation.

About 8:22 a.m., a truck driven by Johnny Gutierrez, 45, of Grand Prairie careened down the service road, clipped Smith's truck and struck Cornwell's truck, pinning Cornwell between the three trucks, police Sgt. Todd Dearing said.


Gunman bursts into store, kills grocer

NEW ORLEANS, LA -- A grocer was shot to death by a man who cursed as he entered her store and then fired a single shot through protective plexiglass as she ran, police and family said.

Chieu Ha Do of Gretna didn't reach the kitchen where her husband, Nghia Huu Do, was working. He found her collapsed on the floor after the midday shooting on Tuesday.

The gunman escaped. Nothing was stolen, and police said they had not determined whether robbery was the motive.


Bus driver killed after his bus rolled over him

SAN ANTONIO, TX- A bus driver who had stopped at a convenience store for a cup of coffee was killed when he fell under the bus after he saw it moving and tried to stop it.

A spokeswoman for VIA Metropolitan Transit said officials didn't immediately know what caused Santiago Rodriguez's bus to start rolling.

Rodriguez, 43, was following his normal routine Wednesday by stopping for a cup of coffee before he started his route, the San Antonio Express-News reported in its online edition.

Witnesses said Rodriguez struggled to open the doors and stop the bus, which hit a car. Then, as several customers watched, Rodriguez fell under the bus, a wheel crushing his body.


Worker, 22, dies checking on ride

SEASIDE PARK — A 22-year-old employee of Funtown Pier was killed Saturday night — apparently while working on a ride — and the federal worker-safety agency is investigating, police said. Charles J. Carpenter, 22, of the Lanoka Harbor section of Lacey was found unconscious late Saturday night in the service area of the Arctic Circle ride, Seaside Park police Patrolman Stephen Shadiack said.


Construction worker killed

Chicago, IL -- A construction worker was killed when he fell down an elevator shaft while working at a building site on the city's Near Southwest Side early today. Herbert Richardson, described as being in his 40s, fell into the shaft while working at 1516 S. Blue Island Ave. about 1:15 a.m., police said. A 24-hour demolition job was underway at the site, authorities said. Richardson, of the 200 block of Orchard Lane in Dana, Ind., was pronounced dead at the scene at 2:40 a.m., according to a spokeswoman with the Cook County medical examiner's office. A cause of death had not been determined by this afternoon.


Truck driver killed in crash that shuts down Route 7

RIDGEFIELD, CT -- One person was killed and Route 7 was shut down in both directions indefinitely Tuesday when a gasoline tanker truck overturned and burst into flames, state and local authorities said.

The fire damaged a bridge over the Norwalk River on the major north-south highway in western Connecticut, and authorities said gasoline spilled into the river.

The truck driver, who was not identified Tuesday night, died after the truck swerved to avoid another vehicle, overturned and burst into flames, causing a large fire, Ridgefield First Selectman Rudy Marconi said.

"He didn't have a chance," Marconi said.


Construction worker dies in Waynesboro

WAYNESBORO, Va. A construction worker is dead after a steel beam fell on him at the site of a new supermarket in Waynesboro. Waynesboro police did not release the victim's name, but said he is "from the area." Police said the worker was a member of B-B-S Masonry, based in Harrisonburg. Police said a 400-pound steel beam fell roughly 30 feet from the roof of the Martin's building onto his head around 3 p-m yesterday. The accident is being investigated by Waynesboro police and the Virginia Department of Labor.


Train Collision in Mississippi Proves Fatal

BENTONIA, Miss. - Two freight trains collided and partly derailed early Sunday, killing at least one crew member and leaving rescue crews searching for three others presumed dead in the wreckage, the authorities said.

Rescue teams searched the wreckage on Sunday afternoon, but a fire that followed the crash hampered the search efforts.

The collision, northeast of Bentonia in west-central Mississippi, involved two Canadian National Railroad freight trains. A spokeswoman for Canadian National, Karen Phillips, said the cause was under investigation.

Killed were Arthur Louis Irby, 58, an engineer. The others identified by family members as being aboard the trains were: Shannon Purvis, 21, of Puckett, and Mark Cain, 52, of Sallis. Purvis was a conductor and Cain was an engineer. Also killed was 58-year-old Lee Samuel "Sam" Jones of Jackson, the conductor on the southbound train.


Worker falls, dies at plant
Body recovered at bottom of mixing hopper

SORRENTO, FL -- A Eustis electrician died Tuesday morning when he fell into a 35-foot-tall hopper and was buried in materials used to make concrete, emergency officials said. A 50-member team of firefighters from Lake and Seminole counties and Mount Dora worked for four hours to recover the body of Larry Duane New, 43. He was discovered missing at the large structure about 9:30 a.m. at Superior Concrete Services off County Road 46. New was a self-employed subcontractor working for Superior on a plant addition that makes concrete construction blocks, according to reports. More here.


Wal-Mart Employee Shot, Killed In Dispute

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. -- A Wal-Mart employee was shot and killed on the job Tuesday night. Roger Handon, 30, was stocking the shelves at the Wal-Mart on Raeford Road in Fayetteville at about 11 p.m. when he got in an argument with a man that ended in gunfire, authorities said. Handon was taken to Cape Fear Valley Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead shortly after midnight Wednesday.


Worker Dies from Electrocution

Bear, DE— An employee of Delmarva Power Company is dead after being electrocuted shortly after 11:00 Wednesday morning. The electrocution happened shortly after 11:00 Wednesday morning. The victim had 14 years of experience on the job. It happened just yards away from a pllayground, but fortunately police say, no children were around when a lethal bolt of electricity, some 14, 500 volts, shot through the body of 42-year-old Jeffrey Burke, a Lineman 1st Class, for Delmarva Power.


Carpenter Dies of Heat Stroke

Carpenter Joseph Jazdzewski, 25, of Niagara Falls, died of heat stroke Wednesday afternoon.


Construction worker electrocuted in Leavenworth

LEAVENWORTH, Kan. - A Horton man was killed when the boom he was operating touched a live power line, police said.

James Cavin, 27, an employee with Midwest Concrete Placement in Basehor, died Friday.

Leavenworth Police Maj. Patrick Kitchens said Cavin was raising the boom for a concrete pumper truck when the boom struck the power line and caused "serious electrical arcing," eventually causing the truck to catch fire.

Another worker tried to rescue Cavin, attempting to put out the fire with an extinguisher and then pulling on Cavin's body. That worker suffered minor burns and was treated and released at a hospital, Kitchens said.


Worker Electrocuted In Flomaton By Live Power Line

FLOMATON, Ala. -- An electric lineman was killed just before 5 p.m. Tuesday when he came into contact with a live power line. It was energized by a generator that was hooked up improperly.

The man -- whose name has not been released -- was transported by LifeFlight to Jay hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The man worked for Pike Electric, Inc. in Mount Airy, North Carolina.

Alabama Power spokesman Bernie Fogarty says the company is "Deeply saddened and distressed by this tragic event."

Alabama authorities say they're looking for the person responsible for hooking up the generator.


Worker killed trying to clear clogged wood chipper

TAMPA, FL -- A construction worker was killed when he was pulled through a wood chipper as he tried to clear it free of jammed tree cuttings. The man, whose name was not released, may have been trying to use his feet to push debris through the machine Wednesday, authorities said. "These are incredibly dangerous types of equipment. Usually what happens is something gets stuck, and the victim tries to clear it with his hand or foot, then they get pulled in,'' Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office spokesman J. D. Callaway said. No one saw the man, who was in his mid-40s and lived in Tampa, pulled into the machine, Callaway said. James Hardman said the man had worked for his company, James Hardman Construction, for about a year.

Hardman said he turned off the chipper when he realized what had happened.


Construction worker dies after 80-foot fall

COSTA MESA, CA -- A construction worker died Wednesday morning after falling some 80 feet at a building site at the Orange County Performing Arts Center. The worker, a subcontractor from Aluma Systems, fell as he was erecting scaffolding inside the Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, building manager Darrell Waters said. Orange County coroners identified him as Jorge Bazan, 48, of Redondo Beach. Bazan suffered two broken elbows and was conscious and alert when paramedics responded at about 8:30 a.m. but went into full cardiac arrest as he was taken to the hospital, Costa Mesa fire Battalion Chief Keith Fujimoto said. Bazan was wearing a harness at the time, but the scaffolding it was secured to collapsed beneath him, Fujimoto said. "Everything came down with him," Fujimoto said.


State police officer dies on job

Islip, NY -- A senior State Police investigator with 33 years of law enforcement experience died Wednesday after he struggled with and arrested a suspect for disorderly conduct at an Islip gas station, State Police reported Thursday. Police said in a written statement that Senior Investigator Thomas M. O'Neill, 56, was pronounced dead at Southside Hospital in Bay Shore at about 4:15 p.m., shortly after he had arrested Roy V. Mount, 52, of 15 Jeremy Ave., Plainview. The statement said O'Neill was on duty and putting fuel into his vehicle at a Mobil gas station on Wicks Road in Islip when he noticed Mount was engaging in disorderly conduct.


Worker Killed in Fall During Construction at Orange County Performing Arts Center

Orange County, CA -- A construction worker was fatally injured when he fell from scaffolding in the Orange County Performing Arts Center’s under-construction concert hall, the Orange County Register reports. Jorge A. Barzan was working on scaffolding suspended from the roof by cables when workers on the roof, not realizing he was there, adjusted the platform he was on. He was thrown from the platform, which also fell, and since Barzan’s safety rope was attached to the falling platform, there was nothing preventing him from falling 80 feet to the floor. Another worker fell 20 feet, but was stopped by his safety rope, which was attached to another part of the scaffolding.


Army officer dies after workout

FORT DRUM, N.Y. -- A public affairs officer assigned to the 10th Mountain Division died this week after a workout at an Army base in Virginia, the military said Saturday. Maj. Douglas "Duke" Duecker, 46, was on temporary duty for training at Fort Belvoir, according to a statement from Fort Drum. He died Wednesday after exercising at a gym on the base. T


Caltrans Worker Killed At U.S. 101 Road Project

Mendocino, CA -- A Caltrans worker was killed and another man was seriously injured this afternoon when they were struck by a dump truck at a road construction project in Mendocino County, the California Highway Patrol reported. (California Highway Patrol investigators said Daniel Broeske, 56, was killed Monday when the driver of the truck was attempting to dump a load of asphalt.) Wess Nally, 52, of Rio Dell, was flown by helicopter to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital. The CHP reported that he suffered major injuries. CHP officials said James DenBeste, 71, of Cloverdale, was backing up on northbound U.S. Highway 101 and preparing to dump a load of asphalt from his 1979 GMC dump truck into an asphalt-laying machine at 1:38 p.m. DenBeste did not see the Caltrans worker and Nally who were walking southbound in the construction zone directly behind the truck, according to the CHP. Both men were struck. The Caltrans worker was pronounced dead at the scene.


Worker Dies During Opening Day Festivities For New Trolley

SAN DIEGO, CA -- An autopsy is scheduled Monday for a 54-year-old San Diego man who collapsed while working on the opening day festivities for the new San Diego Trolley Green Line. Martin Willard Ogle, a freelance audio-visual specialist, collapsed at 70th Street and Alvarado Road about 11 a.m. Saturday, a medical examiner investigator said. Ogle was taken to Alvarado Hospital, where he was revived but died a few minutes later, the investigator said. He was pronounced dead at 11:48 a.m.


Construction worker identified in fatal electrocution

HEMET, CA - Authorities on Friday identified a construction worker who was fatally electrocuted at a construction site Thursday, county and city officials reported.

Horlean Antonio Gomez-Ruiz, 33, of Los Angeles, was pronounced dead at about 5:05 p.m. at Hemet Valley Medical Center, the Riverside County Coroner's Office reported.

Cal-OSHA is investigating the electrocution. Firefighters say it may have been an accident.

"I'm speculating but it appeared (Gomez-Ruiz) made accidental contact with a live wire that had 440 amps because he fell straight back from the electrical panel," said Hemet Fire Captain Eric Galliher. "The electricity entered one forearm and exited the other. It happened very quickly."


Middle Tennessee Construction Supervisor Dies In Hurricane Relief Effort

Pensacola, FL --Guy Ford of Pleasant View, Tennessee died in Pensacola, Florida Sunday from carbon monoxide poisoning. Officials said the carbon monoxide came from a generator being used as part of the Hurricane Dennis relief effort. Investigators said Ford was inside a home that had no electricity. They said the generator was providing power to the home, but that it was running in a closed garage. Ford was found unconscious in the home around midnight Sunday and taken to a local hospital, where was pronounced dead


Montgomery County worker found dead

A Montgomery County worker was found dead on the job Tuesday. Montgomery County sheriff's deputies say the worker died while mowing the grass along Mount Zion Road. Officials say it appears the 60-year-old man lost control of the heavy duty equipment he was using to cut the grass. They're not sure yet if the accident caused his death or if he died of some other medical-related problems. The County's not releasing his name yet because his family members have not been notified.


Construction flagman killed in York

FORT LAWN, S.C. - A worker directing traffic in a construction zone near York died after being struck by a truck, state troopers said. Alvyn Crawford Gibson, 73, of Fort Lawn died Monday after he was struck by a truck traveling on state Highway 161 around 12:40 p.m. The truck's driver ran Gibson's stop sign and crashed into some orange construction barrels before hitting the flagman, Lance Cpl. Bryan McDougald said. In 2003, a South Carolina Department of Transportation employee was killed on Interstate 77 in Chester County, McDougald said.


Women Killed Falling Into Vat of Cherries

Traverse City, MI -- A Traverse City woman is dead after falling into a vat of cherries at Peninsula Fruit Exchange on Old Mission Peninsula. Co-workers found 38 year old Joann Mendoza, in a vat where cherries are stored, and called the police at about seven o'clock Tuesday night. According to the Grand Traverse County Sheriff, the woman has worked at Peninsula Fruit Exchange for a number of years. Michigan Occupational Safety and Health is investigating what happened to cause this accident.


Man dies after falling into acid tank at work

New Bedford, MA - A man died A 37-year-old worker died Wednesday
after several large granite counter tops fell onto him, authorities and hospital officials said.

Jose Cuadrado of New Bedford was crushed under several granite slabs in the 10 a.m. accident at Euro Granite & Tile Co., New Bedford police said. He later died at St. Luke's Hospital, said Maria Swallow, the hospital's administrative supervisor.


1 dead, 4 hurt when roof trusses collapse

Atlanta, GA -- A construction worker at the site of a new Douglas County fire station was killed about 5:30 p.m. Thursday when roof trusses collapsed, injuring four other workers, according to authorities. The men were pinned under several frames, each weighing 250 pounds, when Douglas County authorities received the 911 call to the construction site on Sweetwater Road in Lithia Springs. "We don't know the cause of the collapse," said Wes Tallon, spokesman for the county Fire Department.

The worker's name was Noel Hernandez, 25. More here.


Man killed in accident at Webster Industries

BANGOR, Wis. — A Sparta man was fatally injured Wednesday night in an equipment accident at a hardwood lumber company in Bangor. Derek M. Peterson, 29, was struck by an end loader while working at Webster Industries about 9:08 p.m., according to the La Crosse County Sheriff's Department. He was taken by helicopter to Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center, where he died at 3:33 a.m. Thursday. The La Crosse County medical examiner's office listed the cause of death as blunt force trauma.


Ohio Boy Dies After Falling Into Grain Bin

HEBRON, Ohio -- A 16-year-old boy died Monday after falling into a grain bin on a farm owned by his family, a sheriff's captain said.

Joseph Parrish was transferring soybeans from one grain bin to another and fell trying to remove soybeans that were stuck to the bottom of one of the bins, said Capt. Chad Dennis of the Licking County sheriff's office.

The boy's father started pumping the soybeans out of the bin; the teen was uncovered about 20 minutes later, about the same time emergency crews arrived. He apparently was unable to stand up because of the crop's weight


Pilot dies in crop sprayer crash

WEBSTER, S.D. (AP) - A pilot from Bristol died Tuesday when his crop spraying plane hit a power line, Day County Sheriff Doug Nelson said. The victim was identified as Scott Sigdestad, 46.

A county highway blade operator saw the crash about 8:30 a.m. 12 miles south of Bristol, Nelson said. He said the airplane hit a Basin Electric Power Cooperative transmission line and that Sigdestad was killed upon impact.


Deli Worker, Killed In Slaying, Remembered As Gentle Person

NEW YORK, NY -- As Angel Cabrera was remembered as an angel-of-a-man by family members Monday, Greenburgh police continued to hunt for his killer.

Cabrera was fatally shot and two other men were wounded during a robbery at the Greenburgh deli where he was a clerk.

The 53-year-old Cabrera was shot Sunday night at the Cibao Grocery and Deli on Tarrytown Road and his body was found in an adjacent alleyway with one gunshot wound to the chest.

The deli owner and his brother who are in critical condition, were shot when they came to their employee's aid.


Railroad worker killed in accident

EMPORIA, KS -- A Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway employee died at about 8 p.m. Tuesday when he fell from a railroad car on E. 6th Avenue in eastern Emporia.

Emporia police officer Andy Surmeier said BNSF employee Christopher Jones, 27, was riding on the back of a train that was entering a grain elevator for switching.

BNSF spokesman Steve Forsberg said that the exact circumstances still were being investigated, but that Jones somehow fell from the car and went underneath it. He was pronounced dead at the scene.


TRACTOR DRIVER DIES

Madison, WI - A farm tractor rolled over Saturday in the town of Medina, killing the machine's operator, according to the Dane County Sheriff's Office.

Police responded at 7:40 p.m. to the incident.

Initial reports indicate the operator may have attempted to drive toward a farm field by going up a steep embankment on the side of the road. The tractor operator was pronounced dead at the scene.

The incident remains under investigation, and the man's identity is being withheld until his relatives are notified.


Chinese restaurant owner shot to death in N. Phila.

The owner of a North Philadelphia Chinese Restaurant was killed by two men who broke into his eatery early yesterday, police said.

Lin Lee-Geng, 24, was shot once in the groin inside the basement of the Oriental Kitchen on Ridge Avenue near 18th Street at about 1:30 a.m. He was pronounced dead at Hahnemann University Hospital at 2:24 a.m.

Fiery wreck on I-40 kills driver of mail truck

Lebanon, TN -- A fatal wreck involving two tractor-trailer trucks and a tanker shut down westbound lanes of Interstate 40 early yesterday morning after killing one of the truck drivers.

Officials said a tractor-trailer truck carrying mail hit a tanker carrying a nonflammable liquid from behind about midnight near exit 245 in Lebanon.

The mail truck driver was trapped in his vehicle and died at the scene, said Melissa McDonald, spokeswoman for the Tennessee Department of Safety. The name of the out-of-state man was not released because authorities were still trying to notify the family, she said.

"The way I understand it, the mail truck completely burned at the scene," McDonald said. "I'm not sure if all the mail was destroyed or not."


Worker dies after fall down elevator shaft

A construction worker died Tuesday of multiple injuries in an accidental fall down a Chicago elevator shaft, said the Cook County medical examiner's office.

Herbert Richardson, 43, of the 200 block of Orchard Lane in Dana, Ind., was pronounced dead at the West Side site at 2:40 a.m. Tuesday, a representative with the medical examiner's office said.

Police were called to 1516 S. Blue Island Ave. about 1:30 a.m. Tuesday after learning from firefighters that a man had fallen down the shaft of a building under renovation, Chicago police spokeswoman JoAnn Taylor said.


Worker killed at Texas 130 site

Travis County, TX -- A 22-year-old man died Thursday on his first day at a new job as he worked on the Texas 130 toll road project in eastern Travis County, Texas Department of Transportation spokesman John Hurt said.

Hurt said the worker was helping position a concrete drainage culvert as it was lowered into a trench when the steel bucket fell off a trenching machine, crushing him. The trenching machine, which was digging a new section, was operated by the man's uncle, Hurt said.

The victim was a Mexican citizen who had just been hired by Lone Star Infrastructure, the consortium building the highway, Hurt said.

Labels: Weekly Toll

The latest edition of OSHA Quick Takes announced the following training:

Registration Open for Spanish-language Version of Worker Safety and Health Training

Spaces are still available for the Spanish-language version of the ten-hour general industry safety and health course being offered by OSHA and participating state agencies and universities in the Chicago area. The two-day course will take place Aug. 2-3 at Chicago's West Side Technical Institute, 2800 S. Western Avenue. A wide range of subjects will be covered including machine safeguarding, personal protective equipment, lockout/tagout, bloodborne pathogens, and more. Information on the training is available through Harry S. Truman College at (773) 907-3994 or (773) 907-4367 (bilingual).

But given the events in North Carolina last week where immigration officials lured undocumented workers into arrest by mandating a fake OSHA training, OSHA might want to make the following addition to the announcement:

Please be assured that this is REAL OSHA training offered by REAL OSHA officials. This is not a bust by immigration officials.

REALLY. We're from the government and we REALLY are here to help you. We will not check to see if you're documents are in order.

Just to make sure that the OSHA officials are real, call this number and ask for the secret OSHA password and handshake: (800) 555-1212.

If you're still not sure, here are some hints on how to tell an immigration official from an OSHA official:

• Guys in short sleeve white shirts with laser pointers: OSHA
• Guys in suits with earphones wired into their suit coats: Not OSHA

• Cars with bumper stickers that say"OSHA Is Not A Town In Wisconsin:" OSHA
• Lots of black SUVs and buses with bars on the windows: Not OSHA
• Helicopters circling overhead: Not OSHA

• People carrying lots of booklets and a powerpoint projector: OSHA
• People carrying large assault weapons: Not OSHA

• People wearing hardhats: OSHA
• People wearing military helmets: Not OSHA

• People announcing where the exits are: OSHA
• People blocking the exits : Not OSHA

Finally, if you see a vehicle with "ICE" written on the side, we're not talking cold drinks or hielo: ICE stands for "Immigration and Customs Enforcement."

Related Articles

• NY Times Covers OSHA Impersonation Story, July 16, 2005
• Copy of Flyer Used To Impersonate OSHA, July 15, 2005
• Betrayal in North Carolina: Unions Condemn OSHA Impersonators, July 14, 2005
• Stupid and Deadly: Undocumented Workers Lured into Arrest With Promise of Safety Training, July 11, 2005

Steven Greenhouse, the NY Times' labor reporter, seems to be touching on all of the hot labor issues lately. Last week the plight of janitors, yesterday the OSHA impersonators in North Carolina and today, Costco: The Anti-Wal-Mart. Maybe some other newspapers should take note that people might actually want to read about real life in this country, rather than Michael Jackson or the latest missing blond.

So, Wal-Mart (and its budget division, Sam's Club), with its low wages and lousy benefits are the wave of the future, huh? The only way to keep prices low enough for what the customers demand is to pay workers as little as possible? Not necessarily. Turns out that Costco and its CEO, Jim Sinegal, have found a way to treat its employees well and keep prices low, much to Wall Street's dismay. Greenhouse writes that not everone is happy with Costco's business strategy.

Some Wall Street analysts assert that Mr. Sinegal is overly generous not only to Costco's customers but to its workers as well.

Costco's average pay, for example, is $17 an hour, 42 percent higher than its fiercest rival, Sam's Club. And Costco's health plan makes those at many other retailers look Scroogish. One analyst, Bill Dreher of Deutsche Bank, complained last year that at Costco "it's better to be an employee or a customer than a shareholder."

Mr. Sinegal begs to differ. He rejects Wall Street's assumption that to succeed in discount retailing, companies must pay poorly and skimp on benefits, or must ratchet up prices to meet Wall Street's profit demands.

Good wages and benefits are why Costco has extremely low rates of turnover and theft by employees, he said. And Costco's customers, who are more affluent than other warehouse store shoppers, stay loyal because they like that low prices do not come at the workers' expense. "This is not altruistic," he said. "This is good business."

Turns out Wall St. doesn't always know best:

Mr. Sinegal, whose father was a coal miner and steelworker, gave a simple explanation. "On Wall Street, they're in the business of making money between now and next Thursday," he said. "I don't say that with any bitterness, but we can't take that view. We want to build a company that will still be here 50 and 60 years from now."

If shareholders mind Mr. Sinegal's philosophy, it is not obvious: Costco's stock price has risen more than 10 percent in the last 12 months, while Wal-Mart's has slipped 5 percent. Costco shares sell for almost 23 times expected earnings; at Wal-Mart the multiple is about 19. Mr. Dreher said Costco's share price was so high because so many people love the company. "It's a cult stock," he said.

Emme Kozloff, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Company, faulted Mr. Sinegal as being too generous to employees, noting that when analysts complained that Costco's workers were paying just 4 percent toward their health costs, he raised that percentage only to 8 percent, when the retail average is 25 percent.

"He has been too benevolent," she said. "He's right that a happy employee is a productive long-term employee, but he could force employees to pick up a little more of the burden."

Mr. Sinegal says he pays attention to analysts' advice because it enforces a healthy discipline, but he has largely shunned Wall Street pressure to be less generous to his workers.

And how'd Sinegal graduate from CEO school?

Despite Costco's impressive record, Mr. Sinegal's salary is just $350,000, although he also received a $200,000 bonus last year. That puts him at less than 10 percent of many other chief executives, though Costco ranks 29th in revenue among all American companies.

"I've been very well rewarded," said Mr. Sinegal, who is worth more than $150 million thanks to his Costco stock holdings. "I just think that if you're going to try to run an organization that's very cost-conscious, then you can't have those disparities. Having an individual who is making 100 or 200 or 300 times more than the average person working on the floor is wrong."

And this is really crazy:

This knack for seeing things in a new way also explains Costco's approach to retaining employees as well as shoppers. Besides paying considerably more than competitors, for example, Costco contributes generously to its workers' 401(k) plans, starting with 3 percent of salary the second year and rising to 9 percent after 25 years.

ITS insurance plans absorb most dental expenses, and part-time workers are eligible for health insurance after just six months on the job, compared with two years at Wal-Mart. Eighty-five percent of Costco's workers have health insurance, compared with less than half at Wal-Mart and Target.

Costco also has not shut out unions, as some of its rivals have. The Teamsters union, for example, represents 14,000 of Costco's 113,000 employees. "They gave us the best agreement of any retailer in the country," said Rome Aloise, the union's chief negotiator with Costco. The contract guarantees employees at least 25 hours of work a week, he said, and requires that at least half of a store's workers be full time.

Workers seem enthusiastic. Beth Wagner, 36, used to manage a Rite Aid drugstore, where she made $24,000 a year and paid nearly $4,000 a year for health coverage. She quit five years ago to work at Costco, taking a cut in pay. She started at $10.50 an hour - $22,000 a year - but now makes $18 an hour as a receiving clerk. With annual bonuses, her income is about $40,000.

"I want to retire here," she said. "I love it here."

"Overly generous to workers," "too benevolent," high salaries, generous 401(k) and health benefits, low CEO pay? They ought to drum this guy out of the CEO club.

More on the Wal-Mart - Costco difference here.

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Confusing times in California. A couple of years ago, Governor Schwartzenegger proposed eliminating the University of California's labor education program which had come under fierce attack by the right wing as "Union U." Critics of the gov noted that no similar cutbacks were proposed for the University's business programs.

That proposal fizzled as the Gov reached an agreement with the Democratically controlled legislature to keep the program. So it came as quite a surprise earlier this week when the Governator vetoed the $3.8 million program.

Apparently, however, Arnold doesn't really want to kill the program; he announced that he just wants the University to use other funds to support the program.

Glad that's all cleared up.

Other "worthless" programs vetoed were $20 million for educational materials for English-learning students, prostate cancer treatment for the poor, and a plan to hire 40 new game wardens.

From Citizen Chris:

Last Night in the Darkness

At the moment I am working nights on the Port of Oakland Deepening Project. Last night was one of those nights where nothing goes right and the whole crew was sort of sent through the proverbial meat grinder. The dredge is plugged into this giant shore cable that feeds electricity to it from shore. The cable lies underwater and if it gets the tiniest pinhole in it,*poof* cable blows underwater (probably killing a nearby fish) and then the dredge is down for 8-24 hours. The engineers then must reel up the cable on a large spool sitting on a relatively small barge. Once these highly skilled Operating Engineers find where the cable blew they cut it and spend endless hours splicing one of the electrical legs.

Meanwhile the deck crew spent the night on a couple of tugboats assembling three miles or so of floating pipe line so that when the dredge got back online it could dig. I should go into more details on slamming the 37” pipe together so that a ball joint would fit into a giant socket and then we would manually turn a large 600lb. ring to lock the ball and joint thus two 500ft. sections of pipe together. The art of throwing a line on a cleat or bit is key to almost everything we were doing when fitting pipe on the water. Frankly I am too exhausted to really explain what a grind last night was on the dark murky waters of Oakland’s Middle Harbor. Lets just say-muscles were strained, curses were uttered and teeth were gnashed…but when the sun came up the job was done.

The story of immigration officers impersonating OSHA officials, has now gone national with a front page article in the NY Times by Steven Greenhouse, who first read the story in Confined Space earlier this week.

The 48 immigrants thought they were attending mandatory safety training by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. But it was not until they showed up to the meeting in Goldsboro, N.C., last week that they discovered they had been summoned for an altogether different reason.

Federal immigration officials had posted fliers telling immigrant workers for several subcontractors at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in Goldsboro that they had to attend a safety meeting. There was no meeting, however; instead there was a sting operation in which immigration officials arrested 48 people on charges that they were illegal immigrants from Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador and Ukraine.

The action had one branch of the federal government speaking out against another. The United States Labor Department as well as North Carolina's Labor Department on Friday criticized the sting, suggesting that it would make immigrant workers distrust safety officials just when safety agencies across the nation are stepping up efforts to reduce the disproportionately high injury rate among Hispanic workers.

The federal Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which is defending the "ruse" tactic in general, seems to finally have gotten the message, although it's unclear whether they will cease and desist impersonating OSHA officials.

Dean Boyd, a spokesman for the federal Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which carried out the sting, said it was part of a stepped-up effort to crack down on illegal immigrants working at chemical plants, nuclear plants and other sensitive facilities.

***

"We certainly understand OSHA's concerns about the use of their name," Mr. Boyd said. "We're putting in place procedures to ensure appropriate coordination."

I'm not exactly sure what "appropriate coordination" means, but I'm hoping it's bureaucrat-speak for "We screwed up, and we're trying to save face.

The ruse used by ICE has been roundly condemned by the AFL-CIO, the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, and the National Council of La Raza:

"We think it's an absolute outrage and danger for the immigration authorities to use this type of tactic," said Cecilia Munoz, vice president for policy at the National Council of La Raza, an advocacy group for Hispanics. "Our labor law system is completely complaint-driven, and our ability to keep the work force safe depends on workers being able to complain, and by masquerading as OSHA officials, immigration authorities will clearly discourage immigrant workers from coming forward. This won't affect just immigrant workers, it will affect the safety of all workers."

North Carolina and federal OSHA were not pleased either:

Pam Groover, a spokeswoman for the federal labor department, said, "This is not something we were involved in, and we do not condone the use of OSHA's name in this type of activity."

Finally, this is odd:

Felipe Bravo, a 47-year-old immigrant from Mexico City, was arrested at the meeting at the Air Force base, but was released when he proved that he was an American citizen. But he said his brother, Domingo, was arrested and faces deportation. They installed air conditioners and heating equipment, while many of the others worked in construction, lawn mowing or cleaning.

Mr. Bravo said that the government officials first served coffee and doughnuts and that one official stood up and said, "I got good news and bad news. The good news is we are not from OSHA, and the bad news is we're from the immigration office."

He said a swarm of immigration agents then entered the theater.

The good news is we're not from OSHA? How is that good news for workers? Sounds like all bad news to me.

Related Stories

• Copy of Flyer Used To Impersonate OSHA, July 15, 2005
• Betrayal in North Carolina: Unions Condemn OSHA Impersonators, July 14, 2005
• Stupid and Deadly: Undocumented Workers Lured into Arrest With Promise of Safety Training, July 11, 2005

Here's the flyer that was distributed to immigrant workers in North Carolina last week to lure them into a sting operation organized by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency falsing posing as OSHA officers.

It's even more disgusting than I thought. It doesn't just say OSHA training, it actually says a briefing "sponsored by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration -- OSHA."

Isn't there a penalty for impersonating an OSHA official -- even if it's done by another government official? If not, there should be.


Related Stories

• Betrayal in North Carolina: Unions Condemn OSHA Impersonators, July 14, 2005
• Stupid and Deadly: Undocumented Workers Lured into Arrest With Promise of Safety Training, July 11, 2005

Last month I reported the passage of a safe patient handling bill in Texas. Anne Hudson of Work Injured Nurses Group USA (WING USA) reports that Massachusetts, Washington, and California also have bills that are being considered:

Massachusetts HB 2662, "Relating to Safe Patient Handling in Certain Health Facilities" was introduced 12-1-04.

Washington State is planning re-introduction of safe patient handling legislation, after WA HB 1672 "Relating to reducing injuries among patients and health care workers" was stalled in committee in Feb. 2005.

In 2004, California AB 2532 "An act...relating to health facilities. Hospitals: lift teams" passed the Senate and the Assembly, but was vetoed on 9-22-04 by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger who said, "I believe this existing statutory protection and the accompanying workplace safety standards adopted by the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board are sufficient to protect health care workers from injury." For Governor Schwarzenegger's veto message:

California re-introduced safe patient handling legislation on 2-17-05 with CA SB 363 "Hospitals: Lift Teams."

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Earlier this week, the House of Representatives passed four bills that rolled back OSHA protections. The same four bills were passed last year, but never went anywhere in the Senate. Occupational Hazards' Jim Nash says the situation may be changing in the Senate this year:

The Senate OSHA oversight subcommittee has a new chairman, Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., and he is a former House colleague of Norwood.

"The fact that Sen. Isakson is a former sponsor of these bills enhances their chance of passage," commented Art Sapper, an attorney at McDermott, Will & Emery, who has testified at Congressional hearings on the legislation.

Asked if Isakson plans to consider the OSHA legislation, a spokesperson responded that the senator intends to work with Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, on "an OSHA reform package that will include Congressman Norwood's proposals." The plan is to roll out the package in July, although the timetable is flexible.

Let's keep those phone numbers and e-mail addresses handy.

Coming on top of the recent death of World Trade Center emergency medical technician Tim Keller at age 41, from 9/11-related lung disease, the US Senate is about to approve taking away $125 million meant for New York's sick 9/11 workers.

The Daily News has learned the Senate Appropriations Committee will not include the money in the budget for next year despite an outcry last month when the House took a similar step.

The cash was originally given to New York as part of an award to the state workers compensation system for people who fell ill after rushing to Ground Zero to help in the rescue. But the Bush administration demanded the money back when it was being spent too slowly - something that critics blamed on bureaucrats who didn't do their jobs.

"It's outrageous to take money away from those who sacrificed to save people's lives," said Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). "It is a cheap shot to first responders and to New York."

Oh well, at least we're treating Iraq veterans better.

Labels: 9/11 World Trade Center Workers

Catching up on some old, but good news. Back in April I reported that UNITE-HERE was using health and safety problems as an issue in it campaign to organize Angelica. Well, last month, on the verge of a nationwide strike, they came to an agreement:

Under the agreement, employees at Angelica’s non-union facilities will have a fair selection process through which they may choose whether they wish to have UNITE HERE as their exclusive bargaining representative. The Union is expected to soon initiate organizing efforts at the Company’s non-union facilities under the terms of this agreement.

In connection with this agreement, the Company and the Union have negotiated new, tentative collective bargaining agreements covering those facilities where existing bargaining agreements had expired.

Angelica, the leading health care linen service provider in the United States, had been cited in 17 different OSHA investigations.

Angelica's chief executive, Steve O'Hara, admitted that union pressure had forced the company to improve safety conditions:

O'Hara said the union's close scrutiny of the company did improve safety at Angelica's facilities and communication between the company's plant managers. Angelica now holds mock OSHA inspections and gathers managers for weekly phone meetings.

"Whenever you're put under a microscope, you find out where your weaknesses are," O'Hara said. "If we were safe before, we must be really safe now."

More on the settlement at Hazards.

Seems Wal-Mart hasn't been behaving itself in developing nations either:

Wal-Mart whistleblower James Lynn, who used to be in charge of plant certification for all of Wal-Mart's direct factory suppliers in Latin America, has documented what the National Labor Coalition in New York says is 'a consistent pattern of gross women's and human rights violations and harsh sweatshop conditions.' In factories producing for Wal-Mart he found mandatory pregnancy testing, body searches, locked fire exits, workers fainting from excessive heat, forced overtime including 24-hour all-night shifts, filthy bathrooms lacking even toilet paper and soap, no clean drinking water, workers docked two to three days pay for taking a sick day, and an atmosphere of repression and fear.

Through the miracle of the blogosphere, the story of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency sting on undocumented immigrants in North Carolina is finally making its way through Washington D.C. As Confined Space reported earlier this week, ICE agents, impersonating OSHA staff, sent out a flyer announcing a mandatory safety training to lure undocumented immigrant workers into arrest at the Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in Goldsboro, North Carolina.

Today, the AFL-CIO and the United Food and Commercial Workers union issued press releases condemning the ICE for impersonating OSHA trainers.

AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Linda Chavez Thompson stated:

Not only do such tactics scare workers away, making it less likely that workplace dangers will be exposed, but these tactics don’t comply with the government’s own policies. It is OSHA’s policy to keep the identity of those who file complaints confidential and not to collect data concerning citizenship status. The reason for these policies is simple: if workers believe that they or their families are at risk of being deported, they will not speak out about dangerous or unhealthful conditions. ICE’s actions not only undermine OSHA’s mission, but they also seriously erode the trust between agencies charged with protecting workers and the immigrant community.

Instead of scaring workers into silence by these types of immigration enforcement actions, the Bush Administration should be focusing on crafting real solutions to our broken immigration system. We have long advocated for a solution that includes a path to citizenship for undocumented workers who have been working hard, paying their taxes and contributing to their communities, and guarantees that all workers—whether US or foreign born—have enforceable rights and decent work.

UFCW President Joe Hansen also issued a statement calling on the Bush Administration to "denounce the kind of trickery that undermines safety on
the job."

“OSHA is responsible for worker safety and health,” said UFCW International President Joe Hansen. “For ICE to stage a sham OSHA meeting in order to round up and arrest people undermines OSHA’s mission, and is a step backwards for state and federal efforts to reduce worker injuries and death. Furthermore, that kind of action minimizes OSHA’s ability to do the critical work of protecting America’s labor force.”

“This unscrupulous action has shattered the trust between OSHA and the workers who depend on the agency the most,” said Hansen. “More and more often, it is immigrants who work in the most dangerous industries such as construction or meatpacking. How can OSHA reach these at-risk workers with safety information now? To these workers, OSHA no longer means safety, but betrayal.”

Meanwhile, the Raleigh News Observer called the ICE's tactics an "unfortunate way to lure suspected illegal immigrants to a sting operation."

North Carolina's labor department has faced a difficult task in trying to reduce the number of Hispanics being hurt or killed on the job. But it has been making headway by seeking out Latino crews and offering safety courses. By using the safety meeting ruse, the federal agency risked undercutting the state's efforts.

I thought you might also be interested in hearing what other bloggers are saying:

Effect Measure

Whoever in the ICE thought this one up, approved it, and issued the orders for it SHOULD BE FIRED FOR INCOMPETENCE, STUPIDITY, CALLOUSNESS, NEGLIGENCE, INCREDIBLE LACK OF JUDGMENT AND IRRESPONSIBLE BEHAVIOR.

This kind of thing is beyond the pale.

Majikthise

Jordan of Confined Space reports that immigration authorities posed as OSHA agents to capture illegal aliens. OSHA has been striving to win the trust of undocumented workers for decades. Now the feds have thoughtlessly shattered that trust. The stakes are high because immigrants are more likely to work in dangerous jobs and less likely to get the safety training they need.

Tbogg: "This is sad and stupid."

Amptoons:

Federal Immigration Officers think up a policy guaranteed to kill immigrants - a sting operation disguised as an OSHA (occupational safety and health administration) meeting, putting the lie to decades of effort by OSHA to convince illegal immigrants that they can talk to OSHA without fear. These racist, evil fucks deserve to be shot - no, to be buried alive in an industrial accident - but since the Bush administration is in charge, probably they’ll be given raises.

Upper Left:

This is just so wrong in so many ways.

There's a federal agency stomping in without coordinating with the relevant state agencies, upending years of work to nab a few dozen low wage workers. Should those workers have been in the US, let alone on the job? Probably not. Are our borders more secure because North Carolina workplaces may be more dangerous? Not hardly.

There's the matter of a federal agency using fraud and entrapment in pursuit of its mission. Not to foil some spy movie scheme to destroy the world. Just to nab a few dozen mostly Central American laborers. Did the INS get, or even bother to seek, some kind of authority to pose as OSHA workers? If so, what other agencies are they using for cover? Can we be sure that any interaction with a federal worker isn't an interview with the INS?

Crooked Timber:

[Undocumented workers] rarely know their rights, are reluctant to complain about abuses for fear of deportation, and as a result are killed or maimed far more frequently in workplace accidents than they should be. This utterly, utterly shameful operation will make undocumented workers even less likely to contact OSHA about workplace safety than in the past – and as a result will lead to more cripplings and deaths.

Finally, we're still waiting to hear from Capitol Hill and the White House. Any day now....

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Oy, more workers comp fraud in Ohio.

Damn cheating workers again? Not even close.

This time it's Ohio hospitals bilking the state for a half billion dollars, according to a study conducted by the Service Employees International Union District 1199, representing 27,000 health-care workers in Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia. This is on top of a $300 million the Bureau of Workers Compensation lost bureau may have lost investing in rare coin collections and other questionable items in recent years. The SEIU study showed that "Treating injured workers is good business for hospitals — they account for less than 1 percent of all patients but generate 12 percent of hospital revenue."

Here's how it worked, according to the Columbus Dispatch:

Say Joe Lunchbucket sprained his ankle and the actual cost to treat it was $100.

If he were on Medicare — the government insurance plan for the elderly, which compensates closest to actual cost — an Ohio hospital would be paid $95 for his treatment.

If he had private insurance, the hospital would get $122, on average.

But if he was injured on the job and covered by workers’ compensation, the hospital would have been paid $171 in 2003 and $159 last year.

Now, multiply Joe Lunchbucket’s bill by the hundreds of thousands paid each year by the bureau and discover why critics say the agency is shelling out millions too much for hospital care.

In 2004, the bureau paid hospitals $270 million for treating injured workers.

If the bureau had paid hospitals at the same rate as Medicare, the tab last year would have been about $161 million. If the rate was the same as for private insurers, the bureau would have paid hospitals about $207 million.

And how could the state have let this happen? Gosh, I can't imagine:

Since 1990, top hospital officials and board members have given more than $600,000 to state candidates, a Dispatch analysis shows. About a third of the total was poured into campaigns for governor, who oversees the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation. More than $100,000 went to Gov. Bob Taft, while almost that amount was given to Ohio Supreme Court candidates.

Separately, the Ohio Hospital Association’s political-action committee, Friends of Ohio Hospitals, said it contributed $132,330 to candidates for Congress and state government in 2004 — the biggest year ever for political donations. That money, mostly provided by member hospitals and health systems, went to "officials who understand the needs of Ohio hospitals and support OHA’s advocacy agenda."

A steering committee of top hospital executives establishes "guidelines" for contributions: $1,000 to join the Pacesetters Club, $500 to become part of the Chairman’s Circle, and so on down to a $25 membership in the Buckeye Club. The panel wants to raise $134,000 this year for campaign contributions.

The steering committee also suggests contribution amounts depending on the importance of the politician: $750 to $2,500 for "chairs of key committees," $0 to $2,500 for House and Senate leaders, $2,000 to the maximum $5,000 for majority Republican caucuses, all the way down to $0 to $150 for legislators who are neither in leadership nor on key committees.

Meanwhile, Gov. Bob Taft is demanding a "full explanation." Now word on whether he's planning on returning his $100,000 contribution from hospital officials.

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Tim Keller, a New York Emergency Medical Technician was one of the first rescue workers to arrive at the World Trade Center on 9/11 and he didn’t leave until after midnight. He was present for the collapse of both Twin Towers and worked to salvage survivors from the wreckage.

Tim Keller, age 41, was also the first EMS worker to die from prolonged health problems related to 9/11.

For several days after his work at Ground Zero, Mr. Keller coughed up chunks of material he breathed in on the site, said Marianne Pizzitola, pension coordinator for Uniformed EMTs and Paramedics Local 2507.

"You wouldn’t believe how much sooty, dark stuff would come out of him," she said. "He’d cough up actual gravel. It was awful. His lungs were completely destroyed by the toxins he inhaled."

The nonsmoking EMT quickly developed a persistent, nagging throat irritation. Soon it progressed into full-blown coughing fits that colleagues described as completely debilitating. He didn’t retire from the Fire Department until November 2004, but had deteriorated rapidly after 9/11, said Ms. Pizzitola.

"He’d show up for work because he couldn’t afford not to," she said. "He’d be hacking up a lung, all day. He couldn’t walk 100 feet without turning blue. They had him on oxygen, steroids, four or five different pulmonary meds. At night he had to be hooked up to a machine because he’d stop breathing otherwise. But he stayed on the job as long as he could to feed his family."

By the time of his death Mr. Keller's disability benefits of $2,000 a month hadn’t kicked in, he was unable to get Social Security and was also denied benefits from the Sept. 11 victims’ fund. Meanwhile, President Bush is taking back $125 million that was provided to New York to help 9/11 survivors. The day Mr. Keller died a group of his colleagues traveled to Washington to ask members of Congress to restore $125 million in Federal aid to the city.

Labels: 9/11 World Trade Center Workers

David Sirota says that everyone, not just janitors (see below) should care if we have a strong labor movement.

Clearly, the alliance between Big Business and the Republican Party has been, in part, responsible for demonizing unions and thus driving down union membership and reducing union rights. They ultimately want a country that has no unions at all, and they claim that would be good for America.

Not hearing the counter argument to this out of the anti-union corporate media, most Americans probably believe that wouldn't affect them, because most Americans aren't in a union. But as we see, nothing could be further from the truth. If we hadn't had a strong union movement in America's history, we wouldn't have a weekend, we'd have a 7 day work week; we wouldn't have a minimum wage, we'd have slave wages (which we are approaching fast because Congress refuses to raise the minimum wage); and we wouldn't have laws preventing child labor, we'd have kids working in sweatshops.

Senator Susan Collilns, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs held a hearing today on Chemical Facility Security: What Is the Appropriate Federal Role?

Testifying at the Hearing was Glen Erwin who is on the staff of the United Steelworkers. Erwin's union had conducted a survey of facilities and found that:

• only four out of five high-risk facilities had conducted a reassessment of worksite security since September 11.
• only three in four sites reported that the company at their site had improved the systems to guard and secure the facilities
• If the patterns in these data were to hold more broadly among the population of RMP sites, approximately 3,000 sites would still be without reassessment of worksite security and a similar number would have failed to act to improve security.

Erwin also told of visiting a facility that was allowing short-term contract workers on the site without searching their vehicles or knowing what they were bringing with them. His observation is chilling for anyone living near such a facility:

This same facility had a storage tank containing 800,000 pounds of hydrofluoric acid. A release of this much hydrofluoric acid would create an enormous catastrophe. A lethal vapor cloud of hydrofluoric acid would extend for miles downwind and reach into one of the most heavily populated metropolitan areas in the country. As we drove past the tank, I watched approximately 50 people working in the area using heavy equipment less than 50 feet from the exposed liquid line leading to the hydrofluoric acid tank.

My tour guide explained that the site was engaged in a “turn-around” and that these people were temporary contract workers. A “turn-around” is the term that describes the periodic shutdown of processing units for major maintenance. I asked if he knew any of these people. He replied, “No, they are just here for three to four weeks.”

As we drove, we discussed what the result would be if by accident, or on purpose, the bulldozer was driven into the liquid line of this tank. His reply was that thousands maybe tens of thousands would be killed.

Erwing also made recommendations for making plants safer. In addition to restricting access to refineries and chemical plants and increasing security around particularly dangerous substances, he recommended making the processes inherently safety through substitutoin. Using the example of Washington D.C.'s Blue Plains wastewater treatment plant that replaced highly hazardous chlorine with sodium hypochlorite only weeks after 9/11, Erwin explained that everyone wasn't getting on board:

In one of our steel plants, the site employed a process using chlorine to treat certain waste streams. The contractor doing the work found it convenient to have as many as fourteen chlorine tanks cars on the site at one time. This quantity of chlorine could have put a major metropolitan area at risk. There was never a need for more than one tank car of chorine at a time. The union fought successfully first to reduce the amount of chlorine stored and later in persuading the company to use a different and safer process that eliminated the use of chlorine all together.

Earlier I spoke about a plant with large volumes of hydrofluoric acid. Hydrofluoric acid is used as a catalyst in a process called alkylation that chemically joins refining compounds. Alkylation can be carried out with the much more dangerous hydrofluoric acid or with the less dangerous sulfuric acid. Some facilities have become inherently safer by replacing hydrofluoric acid with sulfuric acid. Others have not.

Erwin also criticized companies for not working with their unions to improve security:

In our survey4 (p. 39), 90% of respondents stated their facility had not worked with the local union, or hourly workers about plans or actions to prevent or respond to a possible terrorist attack. The people who know the most about these facilities are the full-time workers who run and maintain them. We are astounded that in the vast majority of cases these people have not been included in addressing chemical plant security and safety issues related to a possible terrorist attack.

If workers are neither informed nor involved before an incident happens, how can there possibly be effective preventative systems in place? How could workers possibly contribute their vast knowledge, experience and skills to prevention, preparedness or response? We firmly believe that the lack of union or worker involvement in preventing terrorist attacks means that the systems are broken and in desperate need of repair.

Finally Erwin made the case for federal chemical plant security regulations that would mandate high-level security measures—fences, guards, etc. but with its main focus on requiring inherently safer processes and minimizing the storage of highly hazardous chemicals. Even though many plants had made an effort to increase security,

We ask, is some improvement in some areas by some companies enough? With what is at stake, we all know the answer is an emphatic no. Workers and members of our communities should not be placed at risk because some companies either have other priorities or choose to ignore the possibility of an attack. The phrase, “this will never happen to us,” should be erased from our vocabulary.

Responsible companies should not be placed at an economic disadvantage because they allocate resources to address the threats we face.

The American Chemical Council also testified at the hearing. Faced with more and more states passing their own chemical security legislation, the ACC has come out in favor of national chemical security legislation, although it relies on guns, guards and gates, rather than inherently safer processes. Inherent safety is a great idea, they say, but leave it to them, not to government regulations. The problem with inherent safety, according to the ACC is risks can be shifted or substituted, rather than reduced overall, trading one risk for another:

For example, advocates of inherent safety frequently speak of reducing onsite inventories, or reducing or eliminating storage, of hazardous materials. By reducing inventories, though, a facility may increase the number of truck shipments through the plant’s neighborhood. Similarly, replacing a low temperature, low pressure process that uses a toxic chemical with a process that uses a less toxic chemical, but operates at higher temperatures and pressure, increases the potential hazard to its workers.

In other words, it's far too complicated for mere mortals (or politicians or bureacrats) to legislate; trust us. We'll do the best we can.

In the final analysis, ACC firmly believes that judgments about inherent safety are fundamentally process safety decisions that must ultimately be left to the process safety professionals. We will remain concerned about legislation that would enable government officials focused on security to second-guess process safety decisions.

The ACC also made no mention of working with their unions or front line employees. The Department of Homeland Security, rather than the Environmental Protection Agency would be the ACC's preferred enforcer.

The Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturers Association (SOCMA) was not as willing to accept federal legislation and regulations as the ACC. SOCMA is mostly made up of smaller companies that perform "batch" operations, rather than large chemical processes. A typical SOCMA plant may mix a batch of chemicals one week and a completely different batch the next. A refinery or pesticide plant, on the other hand, is generally much larger and runs pretty much the same continuous process 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Because SOCMA members may use different chemicals every week, it would be too hard for a terrorist to plan an attack. In other words the big ACC guys are more dangerous than us smaller SOCMA guys, and "one size fits all" regulations won't work, regulate them, not us.

At most, SOCMA recommends only that the Department of Homeland Security require facilities to:

• Perform a risk screen based on potential consequences of an attack and attractiveness as a target
  
• If found to be at risk, perform a detailed vulnerability analysis
  
• Develop plans to enhance security, according to the risks and vulnerabilities that have been identified
• Develop a site security plan that contains the plans for enhancements and includes standard operating procedures and policies pertaining to security

I have added the emphasis. Note the focus on "plans" and the absence of "action." Oh, and all of these plans remain with the company, to be released to DHS only upon request. In other words, there's no approval process.

Other witnesses included Gerald Poje, formerly of the Chemical Safety Board, Carol L. Andress, Environmental Defense, and Bob Slaughter, President , National Petrochemical and Refiners Association.

You can also watch the hearing here. I haven't had time. If you do, and want to report on the Q&A for Confined Space, you know where to find me.

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Labels: Chemical Plant Security

How many times have you had conversations with the obnoxious brother-in-law or naive acquaintance the included the sentence "Oh, unions were needed a long time ago, but not these days." Well, show them today's NY Times.

We have laws in this country, right? Laws that force employers to pay overtime.

From the age of 14, Isaias Garcia cleaned office buildings, waxing floors and scrubbing bathrooms, as long as 16 hours a day.

For the first 40 hours a week, he says, he was paid under the name Ramon Caballero, and for the next 40 hours as Iziqueil Gonzalez. The cleaning company's managers used these names of former employees, he says, to avoid paying him time-and-a-half.

This is the situation for workers who clean our buildings at the beginning of the 21st century.

Mr. Garcia is part of a large and largely unnoticed group of workers - the nation's 2.3 million janitors - employed in an industry in which violations of wage laws and other laws are all too common, say workers, immigrants' advocates and even cleaning company executives.

Janitors are denied overtime pay, classified improperly as independent contractors, locked in the stores overnight and forced to work their first two weeks unpaid, based on dozens of interviews and numerous lawsuits and government enforcement actions. In some cities, immigrant workers are induced to buy franchises for $10,000 with promises of striking it rich, though earnings often fall short of the promises and franchises are sometimes simply stripped away.

They get away with it because they hire undocumented immigrants who are easily intimidated and often not knowledgable about their legal rights.

Happily, the Service Employees International Union is organizing janitors in the major cities of this country, but there's a long way to go.

Although many janitors in New York, Los Angeles and other cities earn $10, $12, even $16 an hour in unionized jobs in big office towers, hundreds of thousands of janitors work in restaurants, supermarkets and shopping malls for a fraction of that pay. Some of the nation's biggest companies have agreed to multimillion-dollar settlements in recent months after complaints about janitorial practices.

SEIU has brought many of these lawsuits in an effort to improve janitors' pay and working conditions, and to pressure the government to step up enforcement of labor laws.

That union asserts that more government enforcement is needed, but enforcement is problematic. Janitors often work late at night, with a few workers here and there, and government officials are sometimes reluctant to pursue wage violations involving illegal immigrants. Immigration officials and labor officials at the federal and state levels say they are seeking to crack down on violations, but there are fewer wage-and-hour investigators than there were five years ago.

The House of Representatives passed all four of Charlie Norwood's OSHA roll-back bills this evening. The Confined Space-inspired tsunami of calls, faxes and e-mails aparently weren't enough -- this time. We'll try again next time.

All the bills passed with comfortable margins, with the support of a few Democratic Representatives. I've never worked on Capitol Hill, so I'm never quite sure exactly what makes thise guys tick. I mean, I can understand if you're in a close district facing a tight election, but what's with Al Wynn or Nydia Velasquez? What's with Harold Ford?

It's hard to say what happens now. These same bills were passed last year in the House, but never taken up in the Senate. Mike Enzi , chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee, which is repsonsible for OSHA, has his own version of OSHA deform that also never became law. He has indicated that he may be open to considering the House bills this year.

Anyway, good work We'll undoubtedly have another chance soon to strike fear into the heart of Congress.

Here's the list of Dems who can be taken off of your Christmas list. If you're in their district, call and let them know you're unhappy:

H.R. 739,Occupational Safety and Health Small Business Day in Court Act (256-164): Baird (WA), Bean (IL), Bishop (GA), Boren (OK), Boyd (FL), Case (HI), Cooper, Costa (CA), Cramer (AL), Cuellar (TX), Davis (FL), Davis (TN), Edwards (TX), Ford (TN), Gonzalez (TX), Gordon (TN), Harman (CA), Herseth (SD), Lipinski (IL), Marshall (GA), Matheson (UT), McIntyre (NC), Mollohan (WV), Rahall (WV), Salazar (CO), Skelton (MO), Tanner (TN), Taylor (MS), Udall (CO), Velazquez (NY), Wynn (MD).

H.R. 740 Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission Efficiency Act (234-185): Boren (OK), Boyd (FL), Case (HI), Cramer (AL), Cuellar (TX), Gordon (TN), Matheson (UT), Taylor (MS)

H.R. 741 Occupational Safety and Health Independent Review of OSHA Citations Act (226-197): Boren (OK), Boyd (FL), Case (HI), Cramer (AL), Cuellar (TX), Davis (TN), Marshall (GA), Matheson (UT), Taylor (MS)

H.R. 742 Occupational Safety and Health Small Employer Access to Justice Act (235-187): Bishop (GA), Boren (OK), Boyd (FL), Case (HA), Cooper (TN), Costa (CA), Cramer (AL), Cuellar (TX), Davis (TN), Edwards (TX), Ford (TN), Gonzalez (TX), Matheson (UT), Tanner (TN) NY), Taylor (MS), Velazquez (NY), Wynn (MD).

Appalling.

We have a very well-known and deadly problem in this country: Immigrant workers -- especially undocumented immigrant workers -- get injured and killed on the job at a much higher rate than native-born workers.

Part of the problem is lack of training; they're not aware of many of the hazards and they don't know about OSHA standards. But even when they know the work is dangerous and know that they can call OSHA, they're generally reluctant to complain. Partly it's fear of getting fired. But it's also because in their country of origin, there is often a great (and justified) mistrust of government officials.

For undocumented workers it's even worse. They're afraid OSHA inspectors will turn them in to immigration authorities, even though OSHA and immigrant worker support groups have gone to great lengths to assure immigrant workers that they have nothing to fear from calling OSHA.

Apparently all for naught.

Last week federal immigration officials took into custody dozens of undocumented workers from Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador and Ukraine at the Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in Goldsboro, North Carolina. How did they lure them into the trap? None of your business, says the federal Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). "We're not going to discuss how we do our business," Sue Brown, an immigration and customs spokeswoman in Atlanta, said last Thursday.

However, Allen McNeely, head of the state Labor Department's Occupational Safety and Health division, said the workers were lured into the arrest by a flier announcing a mandatory Occupational Safety and Health Administration meeting.

McNeely said one of the contractors who employed the immigrants faxed him a copy of the flier. It is printed in English and Spanish. It tells all contract workers to attend an OSHA briefing at the base theater and promises free coffee and doughnuts.

McNeely said that neither his division nor the federal OSHA was involved in the arrests. He said the trick has eroded trust between the Labor Department and the workers it is trying to keep safe.

In recent years, the Labor Department has made an effort to reach out to the state's thousands of immigrant workers, especially those in construction, because they are among the most likely to be killed or injured at work.

"We are dealing with a population of workers who need to know about safety," McNeely said. "Now they're going to identify us as entrappers."

The ICE, which made the raid, was carved out of the old Immigration and Naturalization service and is part of the Department of Homeland Security. The ICE's mission, according to their webpage is "To prevent acts of terrorism by targeting the people, money, and materials that support terrorist and criminal activities."

The feds were completely unapologetic:

"Federal immigration officials say they have the right to round up illegal immigrants in any manner they see fit -- even if it means impersonating Occupational Safety and Health Administration officials."

On the WRAL-TV show "Headline Saturday," U.S. Attorney Frank Whitney and Assistant U.S. Attorney James Candelmo said they couldn't comment on how those particular immigrants were taken into custody. But they said it's important to find ways to round up groups of suspects without causing chaos. That sometimes requires undercover tactics, they said.

"We have to protect the ability of law enforcement to use undercover operations," said Whitney.

But at what price?

UPDATE: ICE statement on the arrests here.


Related Story:

• Immigrant Workers: Chew 'em Up, Spit 'em Out & Kill 'em, But Don't Pay Their Comp!, March 21, 2005
• Immigrant Worker Fatalities: The Facts, July 14, 2004
• What is OSHA Doing About Immigrant Worker Safety?, April 13, 2004
  
  .

As Congress heads into its final session before its long Summer break, this is what American workers are facing every day when they go to work:

• More than 5,500 workers die in accidents every year in American workplaces, and tens of thousands more die each year from occupational diseases.
  
• Small businesses routinely try to cut corners by not using trench boxes or safe scaffolds and fall protection, and workers die as a result.
  
• Giant oil companies that can't even get their alarms or monitoring devices to work blame their employees for an explosion that kills 15 and injures hundreds.
  
• OSHA can only get to a miniscule fraction of American workplaces each year. At its current staffing and inspection levels, it would take federal OSHA 108 years to inspect each workplace under its jurisdiction just once.
• Even when it cites an employer for killing or seriously injuring a worker, the fines are generally insigificant even in situations that they knew were deadly. The penalty for harassing a burro on federal land is one year in jail. In fact, killing fish and crabs draw larger penalties than killing workers.
• 8.5 million state and local government employees still have no legal right to a safe workplace.
  
• Most of the chemical standards that OSHA is enforcing were determined in teh 1950's and 1960's.
• Meanwhile, the agency has all but stopped issuing standards to protect workers against numerous preventable hazards that kill and injure hundreds and thousands every year.

...and on and on.

Sounds like some room for improvement.

So what is to be done? Increase OSHA's budget? Pass legislation raising the fines OSHA is allowed to levy and making it easier to go after criminal prosecutions and jail time for employers who wilfully kill workers? Maybe throw a little money at the National Academy of Sciences to figure out how to develop protective, modern chemical standards?

How are the Republicans in the House of Representatives addressing the problems of workplace safety in this country? What problems? To the Republican leadership and the business interests that fund them the only problem facing American workplaces is harassment of small businesses by that big bully, OSHA.

According to Workforce Protections Subcommittee Chairman Charlie Norwood (R-GA), chief sponsor of the bills, "Small businesses can’t afford compliance managers and full-time safety personnel that big businesses use to keep over-zealous OSHA agents at bay." In other words, apparently they should be given a "get out of jail (or paying penalties) free" card, regardless of the dangerous conditions their employees are forced to work in. What does Norwood have in mind?

On Tuesday, July 12, instead of helping workers by addressing some of the problems listed above, the Republican leadership in the House of Representatives is planning to pass four bills (H.R. 739, H.R. 740, H.R 741, and H.R.742) that will further weaken worker protections. In the words Congressman Major Owens (D-NY) and George Miller (D-CA), "Taken together, these one-sided bills rollback safety and health protections for millions of American workers."

H.R. 742 Occupational Safety and Health Small Employer Access to Justice Act is probably the most offensive bill being voted on Tuesday is- This bill requires taxpayers to pay the legal costs of small employers (defined as employers with 100 or fewer employees and up to $7 million net worth) who prevail in any administrative or enforcement case brought by OSHA or any challenge to an OSHA standard, regardless of whether the action was substantially justified.

So what's the problem? Isn't it fair for Ma and Pa Inc. to get their lawyers paid for when big bad OSHA comes and arbitrarily cites them for something they didn't do?

No. First, OSHA, like most other government agencies. is already required to pay back litigation costs where litigation costs where the government position was not substantially justified. This bill would single OSHA out of all other government agencies in that even if an employer prevailed on a technicality, taxpayers would be forced to foot the bill. Under this bill employers will also be able to recover partial attorneys fees if they partially prevail in an OSHA proceeding.

As the AFL-CIO points out:

This bill would allow even the worst employers -- ones with repeated and egregious violations -- to recover fees if they prevailed on a particular violation. Even employers like Eric Ho, who exposed his employees to asbestos and made them work at night behind locked gates without providing them any sort of respirators or training -- and who was criminally convicted for Clean Air Act violations -- would be able to recover attorneys’ fees. This is because the OSHA Review Commission dismissed two of Ho’s corporations as defendants and dismissed 10 of 11 willful violations of OSHA’s respirator and training standards. Secretary of Labor v. Ho, Nos. 98-1645 & 98-1646 (OSHRC, Sept. 29, 2003).

But it only affects business with fewer than 100 employees? How bad can that be?

Bad. Businesses with 100 or fewer employees make up 97.7 percent of all private sector establishments and the have a higher rate of fatal occupational injury than do establishments with 100 or more workers.

Furthermore, OSHA is already seriously underfunded, yet this bill would further drain its resources:

As estimated by the Congressional Budget Office, this bill would cost $7 million in FY 2005 and $44 million total for FY 2005-2009, which must come out of OSHA’s budget. This would require Congress to appropriate additional money to OSHA’s budget to cover the cost of the bill or to cut OSHA’s enforcement budget or reduce compliance assistance to small business.

Moving right along...

H.R. 739,Occupational Safety and Health Small Business Day in Court Act gives employers a little extra time in case they accidentally forget to appeal OSHA citations by the 15 day deadline if they can show "mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect" as the reason. (Surprise?!) I can just see how well this would work for my kids if their teachers said they didn't have to hand in assignments on time if they could show that there had been a mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect.

I can (and already did) imagine the dog-ate-my-homework excuses those wild and crazy employers will come up with to excuse themselves from getting their appeals in on time.

The whole point of the 15 day deadline is to move appeals along as quickly as possible. Few people know that if an employer appeals an OSHA citation, he doesn't have to fix the problem until the appeal is concluded. In addition, the OSHA Review board already reviews delinquent appeals on a case by case basis. Finally, workers aren't given any extension of their deadline to appeal OSHA's abatement schedule. Why are employers the only ones allowed to use mistakes, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect as excuses?

H.R. 741 Occupational Safety and Health Independent Review of OSHA Citations Act would would undermine the Secretary of Labor’s authority to interpret and enforce the law and radically change the implementation and enforcement of the OSHAct. The bill would give the OSHA Review Commission, rather than the Secretary of Labor, deference in interpreting OSHA standards. The legislative history of the OSHAct clearly gives the Secretary the authority and responsibility to implement and enforce the law and interpret the standards. The Labor Department and OSHA adopt standards and enforce the law, and therefore have a much much broader and deeper understanding of OSHA’s rules than the Review Commission.

And after the Commission is given more power....

H.R. 740 Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission Efficiency Act would effectively pack the OSHA Review Commission with more Republican appointees. It would expand the Board from three to five members and require that they all have legal training. Expanding the membership would allegedly help the commission retain a quorum, although it's hard to see how. Right now, two members are needed for a quorum, whereas after this reform three would be needed. If the Administration find it difficult getting two members to stay on the Commission, why would getting three be any easier? And it's just a coincidence that this "reform" is coming when the Republicans are in contorl of Congress and the White House.

And why should only lawyers be allowed to interpret OSHA law? I personally know a lot of workers -- health and safety reps -- who have a much better understanding of the law than most attorneys. (And I guess I just answered my own question.)

What Can You Do?

Call, fax or e-mail your Congressman or woman and tell them to oppose ALL of these bills (H.R. 739, H.R. 740, H.R 741, and H.R.742). We need to strengthen OSHA, not weaken it.

Every House member should be called. Even if they're solidly pro-labor or solidly anti-labor they all need to hear that American workers are concerned about weakening OSHA.

The following Representatives need special attention. The same bills were voted on last year and the following Democrats voted wrong on at least one of them: Bishop (GA), Boyd (FL), Cardin (MD), Case (HI), Cooper (TN), Cramer (AL), Davis (FL), Davis (TN), Edwards (TX), Gonzalez (TX), Gordon (TN), Harman (CA), Matheson (UT), Marshall (GA), McIntyre (NC), Rahall (WV), Skelton (MO) , Spratt (SC), Tanner (TN), Taylor (MS), and Wynn (MD).

Urge them to vote against ALL of these bills on Tuesday.

The following Republicans voted correctly on at least one of the bills: Boehlert (NY), King (NY), LaTourette (OH), LoBiondo (NJ), McHugh (NY), Saxton (NJ), Shays (CT), Smith (NJ) Sensenbrenner (WI), and Sweeney (NY).

Congratulate them for supporting workers last year, and encourage them to oppose all of the bills this time around.

If you don't know who your Congressman is or how to contact him or her, just scroll down the right-hand column until you come to a picture of Abraham Lincoln. Fill in your zip code and you're in business.

And don't worry, the American people are with us. A recent Wall St. Journal-NBC News poll showed that 84% of those polled think that Congress should be more involved with "Rules in the workplace that deal with health and safety issues," a level of support that exceeded any of the other options listed. Let's show them what happens when Confined Space readers swing into action.

Labels: Charlie Norwood, Congress

Sometimes you run across a news article that just makes you sit up and say "Huh?"

And then it makes you think that all journalists who cover local issues should be required to take a short workplace safety course.

Here we have a news article about a trench collapse that happily didn't kill the worker.

Immediately after Tito Flores was rescued Wednesday afternoon from the 15-foot-deep trench, the investigation began. How did the Bay City sewer worker become buried for more than five hours?

An internal and state investigation aims to answer that question.

"We're reviewing standard operating procedures with regards to sewer dig-ups and also evaluating training techniques -- whether we need to look at confined-space training," said Bill Kaiser.

Confined space training? Trenching and excavation training might be more appropriate in this case.

The state agency MIOSHA that investigates construction accidents has strict guidelines on supporting a trench deeper than 5 feet before any worker can go down inside.

The trench must be supported by trained personnel, or the sides must be dug out at angles to prevent a cave-in. The work can be done above ground.

Now, that would be interesting. I just hope those trained personnel are pretty darn strong.

Bay City Mayor Bob Katt is concerned about worker safety as more of them head down to work in deep trenches.

"I don't think we could've controlled this particular accident, but I think we can control future exposures to workers by making sure they have proper training and are not put in harm's way," he said.

Uh, Bob. Maybe you could have controlled this particular incident if you had made sure that they were complying with the law, that the trench was protected and that the workers were trained before they went down into the trench this time.

As part of its investigation, MIOSHA is also looking into whether the sewer workers got too comfortable working in trenches and possibly didn't follow proper procedure.

Oy. Those dumb fucking workers again.

First, workers certainly can get "too comfortable" doing all kinds of unsafe things. That's why OSHA standards require training. I've never heard of anyone getting "too comfortable" in a work situation after they've been made fully aware that conditions are so dangerous that they could easily be crushed to death or buried alive in a matter of seconds.

Second, workers' failure to follow proper procedures is usually the end-result of failures in management systems, not the root cause of the incident. Failure to follow proper procedures is what managemetn want you to think causes accidents because that lets them off the hook. But that's almost never the case.

What were the procedures weren't being followed? Going down in an unprotected trench? Was anyone supervising the crew, making sure no one went down in an unprotected trench? And why was the trench unprotected? Did anyone read OSHA's trenching and excavation standard which requires a "competent person" to inspect the trench for "evidence of a situation that could result in possible cave-ins." It is a basic principle of heath and safety law that the employer is responsible for the safety of the workplace. That's why they call them "managers."

What's troubling about this article is not just that journalists often don't understand anything about workplace safety hazards and OSHA regulations, but that they don't understand that most workpace injuries and fatalities are caused by unsafe conditions (not unsafe workers)and that we have laws that are supposed to force employers to eliminate or control those unsafe conditions. The problem with not being knowledgable is that when people say dumb things to them, there are no intelligent follow-up questions. (Of course, as anyone who's watched a presidential news conference knows, the inability to ask intelligent followup questions is not just limited to local reporters.)

But what's most troubling is that newspaper articles such as this serve as more than just "news." Workers who go down into trenches are more likely to read this article than to read an OSHA standard. If done well (like this and this), articles about trench collapses can serve an educational purpose. This one doesn't.

.

Labels: Trench Hazards

Despite the recent outreach efforts by OSHA and worker safety groups to teen workers, it's summertime, and the dying is easy.


Dredging company that employed worker who was killed has 10 violations

St. Augustine, FL -- Ten "serious" safety citations were issued in 2002 against an Illinois dredging company, whose 19-year-old worker died Wednesday morning after being run over by a bulldozer at the city's beach renourishment site.

Kyle M. Toon, a college intern from Tennessee, was pronounced dead at the scene, said Tom Clements, media relations officer for the St. Augustine Police Department.

Toon and the bulldozer operator "were staking out the beach as part of the renourishment project," Clements said. "The last report I had from the investigation was there was some kind of miscommunication between the two, and he got caught in the path of the dozer.

"By the time a witness could get the driver's attention to back up, it was too late."


MIOSHA to look into man's death
19-year-old died when lawnmower toppled

PETOSKEY, MI - The Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the recent death of a greenskeeper at the Bay Harbor Golf Club.

Justin Conklin, 19, of Boyne City, died June 13 when he and the riding lawnmower he was operating fell off an elevated tee box and down a steep incline on the club's Quarry course.

Conklin was pinned under the mower and found dead nearly four hours later by a fellow greenskeeper.


Construction Worker Drowns

JULINGTON CREEK, FL -- A 19-year-old Duval County man was found dead in a retention pond near a construction site off Racetrack Road on Wednesday. St. Johns County Deputies were called to the scene off East Kelsie Lane Wednesday afternoon. Witnesses say that the victim, whose name is being withheld until his family is notified, and two other men were on a lunch break from a construction site. After lunch the victim and one of the other men jumped in the pond to cool off and began to swim across. One of the men made it to the other side, however, the victim was unable to get out and was last seen going under the water. The witnesses attempted to save the victim, but were unable to pull him out. The Sheriff's Office Dive Team responded and located the victim's body shortly after 3:00 p.m.


Car wash employee loses control of Rolls, kills fellow worker

Brooklyn, New York -- An 18-year-old car-wash employee was killed Saturday when another employee, who does not have a driver's license, lost control of a car and pinned him, police said.

The accident happened at 1 p.m. at the Utica Car Wash at Utica and Maple avenues.

Germain Rodriguez Manguia, 18, was drying the back of a 2002 Ford Explorer when another employee, Alton Gilling, 47, pulled a 1980 Rolls-Royce out of the car wash and hit Manguia, police said.


Temporary worker killed on job

DANVILLE, IL – A Danville man was killed early Wednesday morning in a machine operation accident at ThyssenKrupp Gerlach Machining Division.

Lindon M. Campbell, 19, was operating a crankshaft lathe when he became tangled in the machine, according to a statement released by the Vermilion County coroner's office.


Construction Worker Killed

Leesburg, VA -- A construction worker died Wednesday, June 22, after he fell from the second story of a home under construction near Leesburg, according to the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office. Jose Omar Robles Melgar, 18, of Alexandria, was working on the single-family home in the 20580 block of Myers Place when witnesses say around 2:50 p.m. he fell approximately 20 feet and struck his head. Melgar was airlifted to Inova Fairfax Hospital where he would later die as a result of his injuries. The accident is under investigation by the Sheriff's Criminal Investigations Division.

Corporate giant Tyson Foods, with a 2004 profit of $403 million was fined a whopping $60,000 for the 1999 deaths of two workers at its animal feed plant in Robards, Ky.

Investigators initially recommended fines and penalties of $139,500 for conditions involving the fatal accident at Tyson's River Valley Animal Foods plant.

Labor Commissioner Phil Anderson said he believes the settlement amount was appropriate and will lead to improved safety at the Tyson plant.

"I don't believe we caved," said Anderson. "We wanted to get it out of the way and get it settled because it was an ongoing drain of our time and effort."

Curiously, the Kentucky Department of Labor described the penalty as "the largest occupational safety and health settlement in the state's history," because several other cases against Tyson were thrown into the mix, bringing the total to $184,515.

James Allen Dame fell into a vat of decomposing chicken parts while trying to retrieve a broken scoop. Co-worker Mike Hallum was lowered in to rescue him. Both men were overcome by methane gas and died. The company killed three other workers that same year, according to the United Food and Commercial Workers Union:

On October 8, 1999, Charles Shepherd died from head trauma after a fall in the chiller room in the Berlin, Maryland Tyson plant. There were two fatalities at the company's Harrisonburg, Virginia poultry plant and two Tyson chicken catchers were killed during the summer, both from electrocution in chicken houses.

***

In February, 2000, Tyson's Henderson, Kentucky complex was slapped by Kentucky OSHA with a record-breaking $269,000 in fines from citations for 73 serious health and safety violations.

For all of that, Tyson made the Corporate Crime Reporter's list of the nation's ten worst corporations in 1999 and the company earned a place as one of Sierra Club's "Ten Least Wanted" in 2002.

The stepson of James Allen Dame, one of the workers who died, said he was unhappy with the state settlement.

"I don't think they paid enough," said Jared Durbin, 18.

***

Bruce Finley, a retired union organizer for Local 227 of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union who organized workers at the Tyson plant, said the settlement "seemed like a slap on the wrist and not a penalty that would modify a corporation's behavior."

Tyson is the largest poultry processing company in the U.S. with 50,000 employees at 59 plants.

In addition to the company's $403 million profit in 2004,

John Tyson, chairman and CEO, was paid $1 million, with a $5.4 million bonus and $545,297 in other compensation, including a $2,000 holiday department-store gift card, $9,765 in medical reimbursement and $125,341 attributable to use of the company plane.

Labels: confined space hazards, Meatpacking

Well, not yet, anyway. But pay attention.

Amidst all of the discussion about the impact of a new Supreme Court justice on abortion and other "cultural/values/religious/moral" issues, a few bloggers and journalists have also been looking at the implications for this administration's real friends, corporate America.

Political analyist David Sirota points out that

the media regularly misses the real story about how Big Money runs the show in Washington, D.C. Reporters seem to prefer the fake storyline of "conservative" vs. "liberal" as opposed to the real storyline of "Big Money" vs. "Ordinary Americans." That's what this fight is ultimately going to be about, and Corporate America is going to thrust itself into the middle of this, ramming millions of dollars into the process to make sure they get the climax they want - a Justice they can be in bed with whenever they desire, and that will perform whatever dirty little favors Big Business says. Our side had better be ready to expose their scheme - and counter it with our own fight.

I have already written about some of the theoretical/ideological underpinnings of the "constitution in exile" movement which argues that the most important rights are economic rights, particularly the right to property, and anything that take away those rights -- such as environmental or workplace safety laws -- are, or should be, unconstitutional. As Jeffrey Rosen wrote in the NY Times last April, the implications of this movement are enormous and need to be remembered in the current struggles over Bush's court nominees:

Cass Sunstein, a law professor at the University of of Chicago, will soon publish a book on the Constitution in Exile movement called "Fundamentally Wrong." As Sunstein, who describes himself as a moderate, recently explained to me, success, as the movement defines it, would mean that "many decisions of the Federal Communications Commission, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and possibly the National Labor Relations Board would be unconstitutional. It would mean that the Social Security Act would not only be under political but also constitutional stress. Many of the Constitution in Exile people think there can't be independent regulatory commissions, so the Security and Exchange Commission and maybe even the Federal Reserve would be in trouble. Some applications of the Endangered Species Act and Clean Water Act would be struck down as beyond Congress's commerce power." In what Sunstein described as the "extreme nightmare scenario," the right of individuals to freedom of contract would be so vigorously interpreted that minimum-wage and maximum-hour laws would also be jeopardized.

Rosen pointed out in an earlier article that although the Rehnquist court has struck down 33 federal laws since 1995, the highest annual average ever, the moderates (Justices Sandra Day O’Connor and Anthony Kennedy) have kept the court from repealing any major environmental or workplace safety laws. And there are plenty of lower court Republican-appointed “candidates” for the Supreme Court whose previous actions show that they would be ready and willing to declare the Occupational Safety and Health Act or various environmental laws unconstitutional.

So much for theory. What about the simple fact that Bush has a tendency to reward his friends -- who also happen to be his corporate supporters? Blogger and labor economics professor Nathan Newman puts it bluntly:

Forget the Ten Commandments: corporate America knows that case after case decided by the Supreme Court are about bread-and-butter economic issues.

Check out the National Association of Manufacturers Supreme Court review for this last term. A whole mess of cases you probably didn't even hear mentioned in the media but of great interest to corporate America.

Or see this list of cases of interest to the National Federation of Independent Businesses.

We need to emphasize that Bush will be picking a Justice to please these interests, not just the religious right.

NAM itself agrees, as VP Pat Cleary writes in the NAM Blog:

Over 80% of a federal judge's civil caseload is consumed with issues we care about: contracts, torts and employment litigation. We want justices who make decisions based on what a contract says, not on what they think it should say, and based on what the law says, not on what they think it should say.

Business has a lot riding on this third branch of government. They can undo all the good we've accomplished in the legislative branch. We need to pay attention. Here's just a sampling of upcoming cases affecting manufacturers.

The interesting thing here is that when it comes to Supreme Court appointments, the administration's religious "values" friends are not necessarily on the same wavelength as the administration's corporate friends

As the Wall St. Journal pointed out last week,

The emerging corporate agenda is different from, and at times contradicts, that of their religious-conservative allies. The Christian right, represented by groups such as the Family Research Council in Washington, has been lobbying the Bush administration to appoint a Supreme Court justice who opposes abortion and gay marriage and favors school prayer and public religious displays. Top business priorities include more protection for intellectual-property rights, more flexibility in clean-air emissions standards, restriction of jury awards and a lenient interpretation of the Sarbanes-Oxley law that imposes new accountability and disclosure requirements on businesses.

***

What business wants from the high court sometimes undercuts basic conservative principles. One example has to do with federal authority and states rights. Corporations increasingly have sought protection from unfavorable state laws and court rulings by arguing that federal law "pre-empts," or sets aside, that of the states. This argument could be used to rein in ambitious state attorneys general, such as New York's Eliot Spitzer, who has tried to apply more stringent standards for corporations than those sought by the Securities and Exchange Commission or the Environmental Protection Agency.

Religious conservatives, by contrast, tend to embrace the more traditional conservative position favoring states rights. So they encourage states and municipalities to stretch or go beyond high court precedent on abortion, prayer in public or religious displays.

Bloomberg news adds more detail:

Both Scalia and Thomas read the U.S. Constitution as conferring only those rights contemplated by its authors. They say the Constitution doesn't protect abortion and gay rights --and likewise doesn't bar excessive damage awards.

O'Connor, by contrast, took a less doctrinal view of the Constitution, letting her pro-business leanings take over.

"Social conservatives admire Justices Scalia and Thomas, but Justices O'Connor and Kennedy have been much better for business interests," says Walter Dellinger, a Washington lawyer and Duke University law professor who was the Clinton administration's top Supreme Court lawyer. "Pragmatism works well for business. Ideology often does not."

Scalia and Thomas also take a "strict interpretation" approach toward federal statutes, hewing to the words of the law and leaving it to Congress to address any adverse consequences. Using that school of reasoning, Scalia and Thomas voted to allow job-discrimination suits that O'Connor would have forbidden.

In addition, Scalia and Thomas at times voted to permit state-court product-liability lawsuits when O'Connor would have imposed a single, national standard limiting suits.

***

Like Scalia and Thomas, several prospective nominees being pushed by social conservatives are only lukewarm in their support for business. That list includes Emilio Garza, a San Antonio-based judge on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, who in 1997 indicated he would overturn the constitutional protection for abortion.

In 2002 the law journal Judicature found Garza to be the least conservative of six potential nominees on economic and labor-regulation issues, siding with business only 54 percent of the time. Another favorite of hard-line conservatives, 4th Circuit Judge Michael Luttig of Alexandria, Virginia, was just behind, ruling for business 59 percent of the time.

By contrast, the candidate who may have the clearest pro- business sympathies is also the one facing the most vocal opposition from social conservatives: Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

What this all adds up to is an unprecedented involvement of business money and influence in the process of picking the next Supreme Court justices. The Journal reports that NAM's President John Engler is setting up an endorsement process:

A new committee of executives will vet any White House nominee based on his or her business rulings.

The NAM committee's findings will be distributed to Capitol Hill and to the arsenal of advocates employed by the association's more than 220 trade-association members. They will also go to 14,000 corporations, including Toyota Motor Corp., Emerson and Caterpillar Inc. Those member companies and groups, in turn, have the ability to activate roughly 17 million employees and executives to exert local pressure on wavering senators. Big employers increasingly have tried to mobilize their workers on other political issues.

The LA Times notes that the Chamber of Commerce has been in this game for a while:

It endorsed Thomas, Scalia, Ruth Bader Ginsberg and Stephen G. Breyer but did not see the need to campaign for those nominees.

This year, however, the organization is likely to be in campaign mode. At both the Chamber and National Assn. of Manufacturers offices, officials said the decision would be based on a candidate's overall fitness for the job. However, a candidate's past position on issues such as labor law, punitive damages, tort reform and regulation also would be reviewed.

Let's make sure we keep our eyes on the ball, and lets make sure our Senators and the media pay attention to the real issues as well.

Well, we can all breathe a big sigh of relief. It seems that the Texas City BP Amoco explosion that killed 15 workers and injured 170 won't hurt the giant energy company's bottom line -- even with the tens of millions of dollars of settlements already paid out to the families of dead workers.:

Energy giant BP said in its annual financial report that it does not expect settlements paid to victims of the Texas City refinery explosion to substantially affect its bottom line for next year.

The 500-page report, which details the London-based company's $285 billion in revenue and $17 billion in profit for 2004, includes just one paragraph about the March 23 blast.

Of course everyone isn't happy, including the hundreds who suffered serious injuries such as broken backs and lost limbs, and their lawyer. According to Rob Ammons, a Houston lawyer who represents more than 100 the BP plaintiffs:

"It appears they are taking their moral standards from the balance sheet, which has become the soul of this corporation," Ammons said.

"What concerns me the most is that out of a 500-page report of the company's standing, only one paragraph mentions this tragedy that took these lives," he said.

"BP says this is only going to affect them for one quarter. But the victims and the neighbors and the taxpayers in this community have to live with this damage for the rest of their lives."

Ammons said that he would not be surprised if future reports disclose that BP has had to set aside up to $1 billion to cover its losses.

Also on the "not amused" list is the United Steelworkers who represent the plant's employees, including several who were fired when BP claimed that the explosion was the fault of "deeply disturbing" mistakes by the workers. Despite BP's casting of blame on its employees, the US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board revealed last week that several alarms and other equipment had failed on the day of the explosion. The Steelworkers are demanding that BP rehire the workers it fired:

After learning that several key pieces of process instrumentation malfunctioned prior to the March 23 explosion at the BP refinery here, the United Steelworkers (USW) is demanding that BP apologize and put back to work with back pay the operators it blamed for causing the explosion. "BP continues to hold onto the stubborn belief that this tragic incident wouldn't have occurred if the operators and their supervisors had followed procedures," said USW President Leo W. Gerard. "How could they perform their jobs adequately if the equipment they were depending on wasn't functioning properly?"

***

"The Chemical Safety Board's findings support what we've been saying all along: that mechanical failures and an improperly designed system had more to do with the cause of the explosion than human error alone," said Region 6 Director Gary Beevers. "BP needs to apologize to the employees it fired and bring them back to work. They've been punished enough."

Labels: BP, Chemical Safety Board

According to my rough count, we have 8 deaths from falls, 5 from electrocutions, and three each from confined space suffocations and trench collapses. Just another couple of weeks in the American workplace

Worker, 22, dies checking on ride

SEASIDE PARK, NJ — A 22-year-old employee of Funtown Pier was killed Saturday night — apparently while working on a ride — and the federal worker-safety agency is investigating, police said.

Charles J. Carpenter, 22, of the Lanoka Harbor section of Lacey was found unconscious late Saturday night in the service area of the Arctic Circle ride, Seaside Park police Patrolman Stephen Shadiack said.

"He was attempting to research a problem on the ride, and it appears he touched one of the motors on the ride," after which he collapsed, said Lt. Robert Urie of the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office.


Car wash employee loses control of Rolls, kills fellow worker

Brooklyn, New York -- An 18-year-old car-wash employee was killed Saturday when another employee, who does not have a driver's license, lost control of a car and pinned him, police said.

The accident happened at 1 p.m. at the Utica Car Wash at Utica and Maple avenues.

Germain Rodriguez Manguia, 18, was drying the back of a 2002 Ford Explorer when another employee, Alton Gilling, 47, pulled a 1980 Rolls-Royce out of the car wash and hit Manguia, police said.

Gilling then tried to reverse the car, and Manguia got tangled up underneath and was pinned face down against the sidewalk. He was dead at the scene, police said. "I heard a big boom," said Kendra Jordan, 19, who ran from next door to the scene. "His bone was sticking out of his right leg."


Big rig hits truck, kills one

RIVERSIDE, CA - A 55-year-old landscaping worker was killed Friday afternoon in a five-vehicle collision on Highway 60 at Market Street when his pickup was rammed by a big rig, causing traffic to back up about seven miles to Pedley, police said.

A CHP officer surveys the scene of a five-vehicle accident on the eastbound Highway 60 above Market Street in Riverside. Traffic was backed up for seven miles to Pedley.

Killed was Jose M. Gonzalez, who worked for J.P. Landscape Maintenance. His identity was confirmed by his employer, John Piscatella, and by a CHP news release Friday evening.


Construction Worker Electrocuted At Local Site

DETROIT, MI -- A construction worker was electrocuted at a site on Detroit's east side on Friday afternoon.

Antonio Sanchez was one of two workers building a wall of cinder blocks as part of a construction project to add classrooms for a charter school at Dwyer and Miller streets, Local 4 reported.

Police said Sanchez was attempting to lower a 20-foot steel rod onto the blocks when the pole touched a power line and he was electrocuted.

People at the scene tried to warn Sanchez that he was getting close to the wires, but it was too late, the station reported.


Three die in CareFlight helicopter crash near Mancos

MANCOS, CO — Three people were killed in the crash of a Tri-State CareFlight helicopter about 2 p.m. Thursday en route from Mercy Regional Medical Center in Durango to an industrial accident in Montezuma County.

The distinctive red-and-white painted helicopter familiar to Durango residents for its daily flights to and from the hospital crashed in a skunk cabbage meadow ringed with aspens about seven miles into the San Juan National Forest near Mancos.

Montezuma County Coroner Charlie Rosenbaugh said two emergency medical technicians and the pilot were killed. No patients were aboard.

Rosenbaugh said the Tri-State CareFlight helicopter was preparing to land at the site of a logging accident when it crashed.


Store worker shot, killed in Riviera

RIVIERA BEACH, FL — A convenience store worker was shot and killed during an armed robbery in Riviera Beach on Thursday.

Imran Chagani, 36, of North Palm Beach was found dead at about 12:15 p.m. in the Stop Save Shop & Go, 3343 Broadway, Riviera Beach police said.

Thursday's murder is the second killing during daylight hours at a Riviera Beach convenience store in two months. A clerk was killed during an armed robbery at H&M Discount Beverage Market, 1361 Ave. E, at about 2 p.m. on April 30.


Farm worker drowns

Syracuse, NY -- A Guatemalan worker is dead after drowning in a pond on a farm in Cayuga County.

It happened at the Willet Dairy on State Route 34 in East Genoa.

A woman told the Cayuga County Sheriff's department that Eric Lopez dove into the pond at about 6:30 last night, but didn't return to the surface.


Construction Worker Electrocuted At School

ALEXANDRIA, Ind. -- A construction worker somehow touched a high-voltage line and was fatally shocked while working at Alexandria Middle School, police said.

Thomas L. Morrow, 47, of Alexandria, was working in an area above the ceiling of a restroom hallway at the school Wednesday afternoon when he was killed.

Morrow had begun to rewire a fixture when he accidentally came in contact with a 220-voltage wire at the school about 40 miles northeast of Indianapolis.

Construction workers could not find the circuit breaker box to turn off the power, police said. The power was turned off by a school maintenance worker three to four minutes after police officers and firefighters arrived at the scene.


Worker Dies In Forklift Accident

DES MOINES, Iowa -- A man is dead after a forklift accident at a Marion County company.

Pella emergency crews were called to Harvey Products Inc. just after 10 a.m. Wednesday.

The Marion County Sheriff's Office said that 43-year-old Rob Wiley was found pinned beneath a forklift.


One worker dies, another hurt while repairing septic tank valve

COLUMBIA, SC - One man died and another was critically injured late Wednesday morning while working on a septic tank outside a home on Lake Murray in western Lexington County.

Duane Howell, 29, of Swansea, died after being trapped in the 200-gallon tank with no oxygen. Authorities suspect he inhaled high levels of methane gas.

Verno Huggins, 58, of Gaston, attempted to save Howell but had to be rescued by volunteer firefighters from the narrow shaft leading into the tank.

Huggins was revived once he was pulled to the surface and rushed to Lexington Medical Center.

A third worker, Jimmy Lykes, 59, summoned rescue workers.

The three-man crew worked for the Lucas Septic Co. of Gaston. Bobby Lucas, owner of the company, declined to comment.

Howell was trying to repair a float valve on a septic tank at 170 Bob Sharpe Point when he was overcome by methane gas and a lack of oxygen, Sheriff James Metts said.

When Huggins entered the shaft in an attempt to save Howell, he, too, was overcome by the fumes, Metts said.

Second man dies after construction accident in Reedsburg

REEDSBURG, Wis. - A second man has died after being exposed to toxic gases at a construction site in Sauk County.

Todd Labansky, 44, of Reedsburg, died Monday night at the University of Wisconsin Hospital in Madison, Sauk County Coroner Betty Hinze said.

Labansky and La Valle Village President Duane Nobs were working in a manhole at about 11 a.m. Friday where a subdivision is being built. Nobs, 56, died Sunday at the hospital.

They worked for B & L Excavating of La Valle.

Both men died from exposure to toxic gases, Hinze said.

Man Dies When Ditch Collapses

GROVE CITY, Ohio -- One man died and another man was injured Thursday morning when a ditch they were working in collapsed, NBC 4 reported.

One man died at the scene. The other was transported to Grant Medical Center. He was listed in critical condition.

The names of the victims have not been released.


Construction Worker Killed

Leesburg, VA -- A construction worker died Wednesday, June 22, after he fell from the second story of a home under construction near Leesburg, according to the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office. Jose Omar Robles Melgar, 18, of Alexandria, was working on the single-family home in the 20580 block of Myers Place when witnesses say around 2:50 p.m. he fell approximately 20 feet and struck his head. Melgar was airlifted to Inova Fairfax Hospital where he would later die as a result of his injuries. The accident is under investigation by the Sheriff's Criminal Investigations Division.


Man fatally injured in fall

Harford, CT -- According to police, Richard Gregoire, 57, of Southington, died from injuries he received in the fall shortly after arriving at Hartford Hospital by Life Star helicopter.

"The house is framed without a roof or walls and it appears he either tripped or fell into a 4-foot by 4-foot hole in the floor and landed in what will be the basement of the house," Lt. William Tyler said.


Brothers say victim needed more training

Roanoke, VA -- Donald Hemstock thinks a $5 pair of canvas work gloves could have saved his brother's life.

He thinks Chris Hemstock would be alive today if he had received proper supervision and training and been adequately outfitted in safety gear. He feels certain his brother would have joined Saturday's first birthday celebration for Chris Hemstock's son, Daniel, if Roanoke Electric Steel Corp. had shut down a 480-volt "hot rail" powering an overhead crane that was the focus of Chris' routine maintenance.

Chris Hemstock's death by electrocution remains under investigation. It has not been officially confirmed that the "hot rail" played a role but Donald Hemstock believes it did. On Wednesday, Sam Miller, Roanoke Electric Steel's director of human resources and safety director, did not disagree.


Temporary worker killed on job

DANVILLE, IL – A Danville man was killed early Wednesday morning in a machine operation accident at ThyssenKrupp Gerlach Machining Division.

Lindon M. Campbell, 19, was operating a crankshaft lathe when he became tangled in the machine, according to a statement released by the Vermilion County coroner's office.


Truck boom collapses, kills two in 60-foot fall

Winona, MN -- Two men fell 60 feet when a boom on a lift-truck collapsed while the men repaired a barn silo Monday night on a farm in rural Mondovi. Both men died as a result of the fall.

Buffalo County Sheriff's Deputy Mike Schmidtknecht said emergency responders found the men dead at the scene after the sheriff's department received a 911 call at 7:33 p.m.

The victims were identified as Bernard A. Walsky, 50, of Galesville, Wis., and Mark A. Helgeson, 32, of Independence, Wis.

The accident happened on a farm in the town of Canton, where a boom truck with attached lift-bucket was extended for working on the outside of a silo.

Schmidtknecht said investigators determined that the boom truck's extended basket malfunctioned.

"It appeared that the two males had the boom extended and (were) working on the outside of the silo when the boom collapsed," Schmidtknecht said.


BNSF employee dies after train strikes him

HEREFORD, TX - A Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway employee died Friday morning after a company train struck him near Hereford.

Robert G. Chavez, 47, of Clovis, N.M., was pronounced dead at a railroad crossing about a mile east of Hereford, according to a Texas Department of Public Safety report.

Chavez was a BSNF trackman responsible for maintaining the company's right of way, said Joe Faust, a spokesman for the company. Chavez had worked for BSNF for 21 years, Faust said.

Chavez's death marks the second railroad death in the Texas Panhandle in the last six months. Gene Blackburn Harrison, 42, a contractor for BSNF, died Jan. 5 after a train hit him near Farm-to-Market Road 2373 and U.S. Highway 60 in Carson County.

Tree service worker dies after touching power line

Tumwater, WA -- A tree service worker was killed this morning in Tumwater after a branch he was cutting touched a power line.

The incident happened shortly after 9 a.m. near the intersection of 9th Ave. W and Ferry Street. The man was working about 40 feet up in a tree at a private residence.

Rescue crews responded immediately, but were unable to go to the man’s aid until the power was cut. Crews removed the man from the tree shortly after 10 a.m.


Road worker's death ruled accident

Akron, OH -- An autopsy of a Cuyahoga Falls construction worker killed Saturday on Interstate 76 determined the death was accidental, authorities announced Monday.

The Summit County Medical Examiner's Office ruled Thomas J. Huscroft, 48, of the 300 block of Scala Drive in Cuyahoga Falls, died of multiple blunt-force injuries.

Huscroft was standing in a marked construction zone on the bridge over the Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway, just east of County Road 18 in Brimfield Township in Portage County.


Federal officials investigating fatal mine accident

SEATTLE, WA — Federal officials are investigating a fatal accident earlier this month at Cadman's Sky River gravel mine in Monroe.

Eric Bennett, 33, of Sultan, a mine worker, died June 18 at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle from head injuries he'd suffered on the job the previous day.

The Mine Safety and Health Administration, a branch of the U.S. Labor Department, is conducting the investigation.



St. Louis, MO -- A construction worker fell to his death from a scaffold while working on a smokestack in the Central West End on Tuesday afternoon, St. Louis police said.

Authorities said Michael Townsend, 31, of Poplar Bluff, Mo., was working on the roof at the Washington University School of Medicine near Taylor and Scott avenues just before 3:30 p.m. when he fell. Police said Townsend was standing on a scaffold inside the smokestack when the platform somehow broke away, sending him about 250 feet down.

Gerard Chimney, the company Townsend worked for, had no comment about the accident Tuesday night.


Man Killed In Trench Collapse

SHELTON, CT — A 37-year-old man from Brazil was buried alive and suffocated after a trench wall collapsed on him Saturday as he helped dig a house foundation, offi-cials said. Police said the man’s four co-workers frantically tried to dig him out by hand for 20 minutes before calling police, but he had suffocated by the time they partially unearthed him. Officials at the scene said the 11-foot-deep trench was essentially a death trap, since its walls were not shored up, as required by most building regulations. "The vibration caused the trench to cave in," said Shelton Assistant Fire Chief Mike Ullrich. "It hap-pened too quick, too fast to do anything about it." The man, whose identity was not released, was the cousin of Marcio Lira, owner of Edwardo Osello Ma-sonry. The victim, visiting from Brazil, was married, police said, but it could not be determined if he had children.

They dug a trench 11 feet deep and 2½ feet wide, but didn’t shore up the sides of the trench as required by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, officials said.


Dairy worker dies when run over by truck

Denver, CO -- A worker at a dairy plant in Denver died Monday morning when he was run over by a truck in a job-related accident. The man, identified by police as Donald L. Wilson, 44, was killed about 6:30 a.m. at Robinson Dairy, 2401 W. Sixth Ave. Wilson had crawled under a dairy truck to repair a broken drain while the truck was being loaded, said John White, a Denver Police Department spokesman. After the truck was loaded, a driver pulled it away from a dock at the plant, located near Interstate 25 and the South Platte River.


Authorities Identify Trench Collapse Victim

HARBOR CITY, Calif. -- Authorities Wednesday identified a worker who died in the collapse of a trench in which he and two relatives were working beneath a mobile home in Harbor City. Jorge Ordonez, 31, of Gardena died at the scene of the accident, which occurred at about 11 a.m. Tuesday at 1501 Palos Verdes Drive North, said Craig Harvey of the coroner's office.

The other workers also trapped in the trench were freed by Los Angeles Fire Department firefighters. The men -- two brothers and an uncle -- were employed by A-1 Plumbing and Heating in Harbor Gateway, The Daily Breeze reported. The three were working to replace a sewer line in the mobile home park when they became trapped when the walls collapsed in the trench, which was about three feet wide and up to 10 feet deep, the LAFD reported.
Firefighters said the trench was not properly shored up. Cal-OSHA will investigate the trench collapse, said Jim Wells of the LAFD.


Construction Worker Drowns

JULINGTON CREEK, FL -- A 19-year-old Duval County man was found dead in a retention pond near a construction site off Racetrack Road on Wednesday. St. Johns County Deputies were called to the scene off East Kelsie Lane Wednesday afternoon. Witnesses say that the victim, whose name is being withheld until his family is notified, and two other men were on a lunch break from a construction site. After lunch the victim and one of the other men jumped in the pond to cool off and began to swim across. One of the men made it to the other side, however, the victim was unable to get out and was last seen going under the water. The witnesses attempted to save the victim, but were unable to pull him out. The Sheriff's Office Dive Team responded and located the victim's body shortly after 3:00 p.m.


19-year-old died when lawnmower toppled

PETOSKEY, MI - The Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the recent death of a greenskeeper at the Bay Harbor Golf Club.

Justin Conklin, 19, of Boyne City, died June 13 when he and the riding lawnmower he was operating fell off an elevated tee box and down a steep incline on the club's Quarry course.

Conklin was pinned under the mower and found dead nearly four hours later by a fellow greenskeeper.

More here.


P.G. police officer shot, dies after surgery

Greenbelt, MD -- A Prince George's County police officer died Tuesday afternoon, hours after a traffic stop outside a Laurel apartment complex escalated into a shootout that left the alleged gunman wounded. Cpl. Steven Gaughan, 41, of Greenbelt was wearing body armor but not a uniform when he was shot in the arm and abdomen, police said. The 15-year veteran died after surgery at Prince George's Hospital Center. "This is one of the hardest things for a police chief to deal with," said Prince George's Police Chief Melvin C. High. "Corporal Gaughan was just like my own son."


Two shot, one killed at restaurant

Riverdale, GA -- One employee was killed and another critically wounded Thursday in a shooting at a restaurant in Riverdale, south of Atlanta, police said. Riverdale Assistant Police Chief Samuel Patterson said the victim who was killed was shot in the back of the head and the other was shot multiple times at the Salt and Pepper Fish House along Ga. 138, Assistant Police Chief Samuel Patterson said.


Construction Worker Killed On The Job

Nashville, TN -- The man was killed in the construction zone at Interstate 40 near White Bridge Road on Saturday evening. According to police, a construction worker whose name has not been released, was working along I-40 west bound when he was run-over by one of the construction vehicles. Crew workers say their co-worker was killed after being blindsided from behind by a striping truck that was going at a 5 mile per hour speed. The accident occurred in one of the interstate lanes already blocked by crews. “One of the contract workers inadvertently got behind one of the vehicles in the blind spot, what we think to be a blind spot at an extremely slow speed. The driver could not see the worker because he was in a blind spot of the mirror and he rolled over the construction worker,” said Metro Police Sergeant, Ryan Casada.

Globe settles suit over death at Alabama plant

Beverly, GA -- The death of a Waterford man last week at Globe Metallurgical Inc. near Beverly was not the first fatal accident at one of the company’s facilities, which has come under scrutiny for safety practices in recent years.

Just days before Christopher Bennett, 23, of Buchannon Road, was killed at the Beverly plant, Globe officials entered into a settlement agreement for safety violations that led to the death of an Alabama man who was killed last June while working at the company’s Selma, Ala., plant.

At least eight people have died at one of Globe’s two plants since 1983, including four locally.

Bennett was fatally injured June 23 at the Beverly plant while cleaning out a tap hole on a furnace. Molten metal reportedly blew back and caught the man’s clothing on fire, according to a report completed by the Washington County Sheriff’s Office.

The fire left burns covering 90 percent of Bennett’s body. He died early the next morning at a Columbus hospital.


Worker dies in fall

Barrington, IL -- A 44-year-old construction worker from Oak Forest died Thursday after falling from an aerial lift behind Barrington High School.

William McKoin was pronounced dead at 2:02 p.m. at Advocate Luther General Hospital in Park Ridge, a spokesman from the Cook County medical examiner's office said.

"It appears that no means of restraining him into the basket was utilized," said John Maronic, OSHA assistant area director. "They're supposed to have a harness on there in case they should get flung out so that they don't fall to the ground."


Bulldozer accident kills Perry man

Jackson County, KS -- A Perry man employed as a heavy equipment mechanic for Hamm Co. was crushed under a bulldozer at a work site near Delia and died Saturday.

Jackson County sheriff's Deputy Larry Collins said Charles S. Summerville was at a construction work site on 158 Road in Jackson County at 2:18 p.m. when he died. Collins said Summerville was changing the track on the side of a bulldozer when the track fell and crushed him.

It was Summerville's 40th birthday.


Electric worker falls to his death in Jefferson Co.

JEFFERSON COUNTY, TN -- An electric lineman in Jefferson County fell nearly 70 feet to his death Monday.

The sheriff's department says David Gray was working in a bucket truck Monday afternoon on Brotherton Road at Sam Martin, near Dandridge, when it got caught in trees.

Investigators say Gray was moving the bucket when its elbow got caught. That caused a sling-shot motion, throwing Gray from the bucket.

He worked for Dillard Smith Power Company.

Man Killed While Unloading Propane Tanks

LOUDON, N.H. -- A worker died Monday morning after he was crushed when unloading propane tanks at a Loudon business.

Police said that Robert Romig Jr., 64, of Bowerston, Ohio, was killed instantly when a 2,000-pound pallet of empty propane tanks landed on top of him. The accident happened at a facility owned by Eastern Propane, but Romig was not employed by the company.

"The pallet of tanks fell on top of him, and he didn't have time to jump out of the way," Police Chief Robert Fiske said.

Police said Romig was delivering a truckload of tanks for Baker Highway Express Inc., a small trucking company based in Dover, Ohio.


Blast kills one, rocks small town

ARCADE, GA - A cigarette or static electricity may be to blame for a fatal explosion at an oil facility in this south Jackson County city Sunday night, authorities said Monday, but state officials considered the incident to be an accident.

Scott Dwayne Brown, 42, was thrown about 15 feet from the top of an oil tanker as he was loading some type of oil Sunday night around 10:15 p.m. at Joe Sikes Oil Service Inc. on Athens Highway, authorities said. Brown's wife witnessed the explosion.

"He never knew what hit him," Arcade Police Chief Dennis Bell said. A second man who was standing on top of a storage tank, helping Brown load the truck, survived the explosion and subsequent blasts.

Man dies when truck ‘bucket’

CHAPEL HILL, NC — A 31-year-old Person County man died Wednesday when the tree-trimming bucket he was in fell to the ground, according to law enforcement officials in Chapel Hill.

Kevin James Dunevant of 309 Charlie Jay Rd. died at the scene of the accident on Severin St. in Chapel Hill shortly after 9:30 a.m. Wednesday.

Dunevant, who was employed with Brad's Tree Service of Person County, reportedly fell approximately 30 feet to the ground when a boom holding the bucket up malfunctioned.


Police identify worker

Fredericksburg, VA -- Police have identified the man killed in a Friday afternoon construction accident on Lafayette Boulevard. David W. Kruckenberg, 65, of Stafford County was killed when a large concrete sewer pipe fell on him while it was being lowered into a ditch, said Gary Sullivan, spokesperson for the Fredericksburg Police Department. Kruckenberg, who owned one of the companies doing the utilities work, was the only person in the 17-foot-deep ditch at the time. Three other workers were injured in the rush to free Kruckenberg from the heavy pipe, which essentially broke in half as it was being lifted off Kruckenberg, Sullivan said.


With help from Kelly Heilert

Labels: Weekly Toll

Our nation's officials don't have to get out the map to locate terrorist threats. Like Dorothy, they can find what they're looking for right in their own back yards.

The NY Times writes yet another editorial about how the Bush administration is ignoring the threat of chemical terrorisim at home -- in this case the possibility of blowing a rail bridge close to the Capitol while a rail tanker containing chlorine travels overhead.

The bridge is highly vulnerable to an explosion from below, and if deadly chemicals were released on it, they would endanger every member of Congress and as many as 250,000 other federal employees.

This vulnerability could be easily eliminated by a federal law barring the transportation of hazardous materials through Washington and other locations at high risk of a terrorist attack. But the railroads have fought such legislation, which would increase their costs. If the Bush administration and Congress are serious about homeland security, they will get a chemical transportation law passed at once.

Not likely. The Bush administration is violently allergic to regulation and is joining the railroads in opposing a DC law prohibiting hazardous cargo from being transported through the city while Congress worries about true threats to national security like flag-burning.

When it comes to defending the nation from terrorism, the president and the Republican leadership in Congress have been unwilling to make large corporations, many of them big campaign donors, shoulder their share of the burden. Washington's residents and employees should not have to risk their lives to save CSX the cost of rerouting shipments of ultrahazardous materials.

Indeed.

I'm "promoting" this from the comments because it's important and I'm not sure if everyone (anyone) actually reads the comments. (Do you? Hello? Anyone out there?).

This is a response by NYCOSH Public Affairs Director Jonathan Bennet to last week's post about the origins of the news articles and legislative hearings about W.R. Grace's contamination of its former plant in Hamilton, New Jersey.

Just to follow up on the issue of a simple tip to a journalist making a huge difference: More journalists need to pick up on the story. W.R. Grace had at least 30 major vermiculite expansion plants located from Massachusetts to Hawaii, just like the one in Hamilton, NJ. There is a major expose waiting to be written about every one of them.

If you click on the ATSDR link in the Confined Space story, you go to the page that lists the 30 locations. That's all the reporters from the Trenton Times started with, and the result has been a small upheaval in NJ government.

If anyone thinks that they shouldn't investigate the site near to them because it's already been done by the Trenton Times, all I can say is this. Are you going to refrain from reporting on a serial killer because it's already been done in Omaha? Are you going to refrain from reporting on a plane crash because it's already been done in Chicago?

I would bet dollars to doughnuts that the people who worked in those plants and the members of their families who were exposed to take-home asbestos have contracted asbestos-related disease at rates much higher than normal (unless the plants were such hell holes that no one would work in one for more than a month or so). Whether people who lived in the vicinity of the plants are also at risk depends on the location of each plant. If it was close to either residential or commercial real estate, you'll probably find excess illness among those who lived or worked near the plant.

And EPA has a list of more than 700 locations that received shipments of Grace vermiculite. Some one needs to figure out which ones received enough of it to put workers and neighbors at risk.

Jonathan Bennett

Amen

Labels: Asbestos