Well, things are getting curiouser and curiouser in the United States Congress. Last week the Senate unanimously passed a mine safety bill. Unanimous? Mine Safety legislation? Who would have thought that would ever be possible?

And now Republicans in the House, who have spent the past several months resisting mine safety hearings and not introducing legislation, apparently hoping this whole mine safety kerfuffle would just fade away, are now falling all over each other demanding that that a bill be passed now, NOW rather than hold it up even a few days for a few "extreme" improvements that an "irresponsible" Democratic Congressman wants to make. And the United Mineworkers are joining in the chorus to get the bill passed as quickly as possible and on the President's desk.

But Congressman George Miller (D-CA), apparently not wanting to waste a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to pass really good mine safety legislation, has called for three major improvements in the Senate bill. In a letter to Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman Buck McKeon (R-CA), Miller called for the House to amend the Senate bill to:

• mandate no less than a two-day supply of oxygen for trapped miners; (The Senate bill doesn’t provide a minimum number of hours or days of air supply that must be provided in these circumstances)


• mandate, within 15 months, communications and tracking devices to find and communicate with trapped miners;(The Senate bill delays implementation of the devices for three years, despite the fact that countries around the world already provide their miners with devices) and


• require the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration to regularly inspect miners’ individual oxygen devices, known as self-contained self-rescuers.(The Senate bill would not require MSHA to conduct regular field tests to ensure they are reliable.)

Miller has been doggedly pursuing the mine safety issue since the Sago disaster. Last January, he issued a report accusing the Bush administration of putting "mine workers’ lives at greater risk by putting the of mining company executives ahead of the enforcement of critical workplace health and safety rules." In February, Miller put together a "forum" of mine safety experts and families of mining disasters -- when Republicans were still refusing to even hold a hearing. When Committee Chairman Charlie Norwood (R-GA) was finally embarrassed into holding a hearing in early March, he shut it down early after only 90 minutes, despite Miller's angry objections.

Miller has taken a quite a bit of flack over the past few days for his effort to improve the Senate bill. McKeon, who has yet introduced any mine safety legislation, is suddenly in a major rush, claiming that Miller

would be irresponsible to halt solid, widely-supported legislation that is one step away from arriving on President Bush's desk as Congress moves to recess for the Memorial Day holiday.

Republican West Virginia Congresswoman Shelly Moore Caputo called Miller's amendments "totally unreasonable," and even West Virginia Democratic Senator Jay Rockefeller, upset that the bill was being stalled, stated that "Rep. Miller's opposition to this carefully created, bipartisan legislation is nothing short of an American tragedy." The United Mineworkers, saying that they "appreciate Congressman Miller and all he has done and continues to do on behalf of America’s coal miners" and admitting that the Senate bill did not include everything they wanted, still urged Miller to drop his objections to move the House bill along as quickly as possible.

And to top it all off, Congressman Charlie Norwood (R-GA), who plans to add a drug testing requirement to the House bill responded that

Miller has continuously criticized Republicans for "delaying" mine safety legislation, in spite of Enzi and Norwood's diligent oversight work through multiple House and Senate hearings held since the Sago tragedy. Now that bipartisan legislation is ready for passage into law, Miller is opposing a fast-track approach while insisting on provisions that are unworkable, extreme, and not supported by mine operators or union leaders.

But Miller was standing his ground, releasing a letter from the families of three of the miners killed in the Sago disaster and former state and federal mine safety official Tony Oppegard supporting Miller's improvements. According to Oppegard, "It would be better to wait 10 days for the right bill than to act now on an incomplete one."

Miller's arguments received further support today with the release of a report by a West Virginia Mine Safety Technology Task Force that called for underground refuge chambers that can supply 48 hours of breathable air for trapped miners and that mine companies finalize plans, within 15 months, to install communications and tracking devices for finding and communicating with trapped miners.

According to Miller:

The task force included representatives from the coal mining industry and from the United Mine Workers union, so it has tremendous credibility. It shows that industry itself agrees that my proposals on breathable air and communications and tracking equipment are reasonable, practical, and achievable. The task force recommendations should be incorporated as minimum requirements for federal legislation.

***

The task force came up with the 48-hour minimum after reviewing accidents that occurred between 1940 and 1980 in which miners were trapped and finding that, in most of those cases, miners remained trapped for 20 to 30 hours. (At Sago, only one of the 12 miners who died was killed in the initial explosion. The others died during a 40 hour wait for rescue.)

The West Virginia Mine Safety Technology Task Force was created by West Virginia state law earlier this year and was made up of six representatives – three from labor and three from the industry.

Miller also announced that his third amendment, requiring MSHA to regularly inspect miners' self-contained self-rescuers, received support from former MSHA head J. Davitt McAteer, who is leading the investigation into the cause of the Sago mine disaster:

"We need to ask miners to go in, on a random basis, to don the devices and walk out with them so we get a real useful sampling of how they do work,” McAteer told the Associated Press. Miller proposed this amendment in light of reports – including one from the sole survivor of the Sago tragedy – that self-rescuers had failed in emergencies.

“It’s not whether they work in the lab, it’s whether they work in the mine, where they’re needed,” McAteer said.

Stay tuned. More to come.

Labels: Charlie Norwood, Coal Mining

Congresswoman Lois Capps (D-CA) and Congressman Steven LaTourette (R-OH), co-chairs of the Congressional Nursing Caucus, along with 70 other Congressional represenatives sent a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt, and Labor Secretary Elaine Chao "expressing serious concern about the lack of adequate planning and preparation for protecting public health workers in the event of a pandemic flu outbreak. "

Their primary concern the continued confusion over whether surgical masks are being recommended to protect nurses:

Specifically, the HHS Pandemic Influenza Plan released in November 2005 recommends that health care workers and emergency responders wear surgical masks for personal respiratory protection. However, surgical masks are not designed to protect the wearer from contaminants, but rather to prevent the wearer from spreading contaminants when sneezing or coughing. Surgical masks will not protect wearers from exposure to respirable airborne droplets that contain pandemic flu virus. In addition, surgical masks do not provide a seal against a wearer’s face to prevent leakage of contaminated air into the breathing zone as respirators do.

The bi-partisan group points out that the use of surgical masks would violate OSHA standards which require workers to receive respirators, certified by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, and mandate that the workers be trained and fit-tested.

They also point out that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Interim Recommendations for Infection Control in Health Care Facilities Caring for Patients with Known or Suspected Avian Influenza also calls for the use of a fit-tested respirator, at least as protective as a NIOSH-approved N-95 disposable respirator.

“A surgical mask is going to do squat to protect nurses and emergency responders, and it is well documented that respirators that fit are needed,” LaTourette said. “We are asking these federal leaders to follow recommendations to safeguard nurses and other health care workers.”

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) and several other labor organizations petitioned the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) last January for an emergency temporary standard to protect health care workers against pandemic flu.

"Hurricane Katrina exposed the devastation and misery that is created when our government is unprepared for and does not adequately respond to a major disaster," said AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee "This administration has proposed a pandemic flu plan that would leave health workers, first responders and all Americans woefully unprotected."

“As a Nurse, I am particularly concerned by the lack of adequate planning and preparation to address the serious threat of a pandemic flu,” said Capps. “We depend on Nurses and other health care workers to care for us when we face a critical emergency whether it is a terrorist attack like 9-11 or health threat like the avian flu. We shouldn’t fail these health care professionals and first responders by providing them with unsafe masks that don’t adequately protect them from exposure to airborne hazards.

Head on over to Firedoglake, a great blog run by Jane Hamsher, who has appointed me their official labor blogger. I'm up every Tuesday at 9:00 (EST).

Today's contribution:Union Organizing In the 21st Century: Card Check and Roach Motels

I wrote a toungue-in-cheek article last week (Poor Enron Execs. It's Not Like They Killed Anyone) about the convicted Enron execs Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling could end up spending the rest of their lives in jail even though they didn't kill anyone, unlike workplace killers in this (and other) countries who kill and get away with only a modest fine.

Turns out I was wrong. Two commenters from across the ocean, Alex Harrowell of the Yorkshire Ranter blog and Rory O'Neill, editor of Hazards, wrote to remind me that Enron actually did kill three workers in Great Britain in 2001. Hazards editor Rory O'Neill was even kind enough to send the link:

Inquest into Enron deaths

The families of the three men killed in the Enron explosion have heard for the first time details of the routine maintenance work that ended in tragedy (Risks 14). Operator technicians Darren Higgins, 28, and Andrew Sherwood, 36, died from horrific burns at the scene of the blast at Teesside Power Station in August 2001 an inquest was told. Engineering and maintenance manager Paul Surtees, 40, died in hospital the following morning. The inquest closed this week, having reached a verdict of 'accidental death.' Detective Sergeant Ian White, of Langbaurgh CID, said he had found no evidence of corporate manslaughter and the investigation had been handed over to the HSE. Ian Waugh, HSE head of operations for the North, said: 'Until the inquest was over we couldn't finish our investigations. We have got to consider what we already know and what we have heard before we can consider whether any legal proceedings are appropriate.' The company had been prosecuted on two previous occasions for serious safety breaches. In 2001 the plant was given the RoSPA gold award for safety.

The point I was making, however, remains the same. Lay and Skilling are on their way to jail for financial crimes. They were never touched by the deaths of Darren Higgins, Andrew Sherwood or Paul Surtees.

So, Alex and Rory -- a tip of the old Confined Space hat to you for keeping us honest.

This is upsetting on so many different levels.

First, there's employers' refusal to comply with safe practices and federal regulations when demolishing asbestos containing building in the hurricane damaged gulf states:

Workers descend on the area with heavy equipment like backhoes and debris trucks. They tear the buildings apart and load debris, creating clouds of pulverized construction materials they breathe in and that scatters with the wind throughout the neighborhood.

Public health, according to the employees, was further compromised by open-air debris trucks hauling and scattering along the roads potentially asbestos-containing refuse to landfills meant only for safe construction and demolition waste.

The contractors who came forward said workers are not wearing the proper equipment on structures that may contain asbestos. They said workers should be wearing face masks and full body suits.

Other workers said regular dust masks were not good enough for buildings that may contain asbestos and contractors should be handing out dual cartridge respirators to employees.

They said the disposable face masks commonly used on sites were as useful at blocking asbestos fibers as wearing no protection at all.

Victoria Cintra, a spokeswoman for Mississippi Immigrants Rights Alliance, said she also knows of widespread violations and the immigrant laborers her group represents are being put at unacceptably high risk.

"These violations are terrible," Cintra said. "People are going into houses and removing God knows what and they are doing it at best with Latex gloves. (The companies and regulators) have no regard for the future that the immigrant community will be going through in 15 or 20 years."

And the federal agencies that are supposed to be overseeing the safety of the operations are not doing their jobs.

According to spokesmen with both Mississippi's Department of Environmental Quality and the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, neither agency is sending enforcement officers to make sure that employers are complying with asbestos regulations.

"Specifically, in regards to asbestos, we do not have OSHA compliance officers south of I-10 with that as an assignment, no," said Jesse Baynes, OSHA assistant area director in Jackson.

"We are not in an enforcement mode south of I-10 unless there is an investigation of a fatality or a complaint. It is still an area under a federally declared disaster."

Baynes said OSHA had received asbestos complaints but none with locations of ongoing violations that they needed to investigate.

"We have heard that employers are not always reaching standards but not with the specificity that we can go out and check to see whether they really are or not," Baynes said.

Both agencies maintain that complying with asbestos regulations is the responsibility of the companies doing the work and not that of the government. They say they will enforce the laws when a company is caught shirking its duties under regulation.

"Everything we do involves (companies) self-reporting," said Dwight Wylie, with DEQ's air division. "They file stuff with us. We don't check."

Hello?

"We are not in an enforcement mode south of I-10....It is still an area under a federally declared disaster." Which employers can get away with blatent violations of health and safety laws?

"Complying with asbestos regulations is the responsibility of the companies doing the work and not that of the government." So is driving safely, but that doesn't stop me from getting a ticket.

"Everything we do involves (companies) self-reporting," said Dwight Wylie, with DEQ's air division. "They file stuff with us. We don't check." Um, are we still in the United States. Last I checked, we were supposed to actually enforce the law, not wait for the evildoers to turn themselves in.

Anyone from federal EPA, OSHA or Congress home? Hello?

And then there's this little loophole:

"Debris on the ground is not subject to regulation," Wylie said.

Work site supervisors said the law defines a structure with two walls and a roof as a structural demolition project while a house that has been flattened is debris.

That distinction has opened up a de facto incentive to call structures debris and get it into unspecialized landfills as quickly as possible.

The employees who came forward said they knew of incidents in which structures with easily identifiable asbestos siding that were standing were destroyed and were treated as debris.

The employees said the companies doing that were in the business of hauling debris and anything that slowed them down meant less profit.

Labels: Asbestos, Katrina

The record high price of coal is encouraging mine companies to drive miners to work overtime, according to this AP article. And resulting fatigue may be a contributing factor in the 31 coal mining deaths this year.

With coal prices at record highs, mining companies have been pushing to increase production, adding overnight and weekend shifts and generating more overtime hours for miners who have some of the most physically grueling jobs in the country.

Industry groups and mine regulatory agencies are wondering if fatigue could be a common factor in the sharp increase in coal mining deaths this year.

***

"It is something that needs to be looked at," said Bill Caylor, president of the Kentucky Coal Association. "If we're cranking out more production with the same number of employees, miners may be working six or seven days a week, instead of five, and potentially not getting enough rest."

Companies went in search of experienced miners about three years ago when prices for Appalachian coal skyrocketed. The region's coal is now selling for as much as $64 a ton on the spot market, a threefold increase in three years.

Mining is hard, dangerous work, and some miners are working significant amounts of overtime. Carlos Cracraft, a labor market analyst in the Kentucky Department for Workforce Development said that:

The miners, who earn an average $18.35 an hour, are working an average of 49.5 hours a week in Kentucky. That, he said, suggests that while some may have a typical 40-hour work week, others may be on the job for 60 hours or more.

The work is far from easy, said James Jarrett, 43, of DeBord in eastern Kentucky.

"I would say this is about one of the toughest jobs in the country," he said. "Ain't nobody else ever been where we've been, with a mountain over top of them. About every mine is working six days a week. I may get 60 to 70 hours a week, or I may go home in 48."

Still, most miners are glad to get the overtime pay, Jarrett said.

Joe Main, a mine safety consultant and former safety director for the United Mine Workers of America, said industry representatives and regulators should look at overtime when considering ways to improve safety.

Coal operators are so focused on the bottom line that they're using overtime instead of hiring additional workers, Main said.

Last October, the Appalachian News Express released a memo from Massey Energy president Don Blankenship that told all of the company's deep mine superintendents to focus only on coal production:

If any of you have been asked by your group presidents, your supervisors, engineers or anyone else to do anything other than run coal (i.e. - build overcasts, do construction jobs, or whatever) you need to ignore them and run coal. This memo is necessary only because we seem not to understand that the coal pays the bills.

A week later Massey sent out another memo saying "nevermind," safety is really the first priority. Really.

Labels: Coal Mining

A partial listing of workers killed over the past couple of weeks. Sometimes it seems like they came in groups. Six workers were killed in convenience store killings, eight from falls, five migrant workers were killed in van accidents and seven coal miners died.


Construction Worker Dies On Mosaic Site

A construction worker was killed Friday after he was trapped in a bulldozer that sank under water on Mosaic Co. property in Southwest Polk County, the Polk Sheriff's Office reported.

John Frymire, 58, of Bartow, was inside the bulldozer, filling in dirt in a phosphate pit when the bulldozer sank under water in the pit, said sheriff's spokeswoman Carrie Rodgers. Frymire was trapped inside, Rodgers said.

Frymire was working for the Lakeland-based McDonald Construction Corporation, which specializes in excavation and phosphate mining.

Man dies when tractor overturns

LODI, CA - A man died Saturday when the tractor he was driving overturned into a ditch filled with water west of Lodi, authorities said.

The unidentified man was pronounced dead at the scene on Glasscock Road just north of Highway 12, Woodbridge Rural Fire District officials said.


Worker killed in hit-and-run in Modesto

Modesto, CA -- A man tying to tie down gear on a work trailer died Friday afternoon when he was hit by a sport utility vehicle, whose driver then fled, Modesto police said.

Co-workers identified the victim as 52-year-old Jeff McKinney of Manteca. He was taken to Doctors Medical Center in Modesto, where he was pronounced dead.

McKinney was part of an eight-man work crew that had just finished cleaning a home in the 600 block of Fourth Street, said Jerry King, a member of the cleaning crew.


Truck driver killed walking across exit along Interstate 580

DUBLIN, CA — A truck driver was struck and killed while walking across the Fallon Road exit along westbound Interstate 580 early Tuesday morning, the California Highway Patrol reported.

Pedro Aldaco, 31, of Porterville parked his big rig on the shoulder of the off-ramp shortly before 3:30 a.m. and walked into the roadway, officials said. He was struck and killed by a 2006 GMC Silverado traveling at about 50 mph.

Aldaco died from multiple blunt force injuries, according to the Alameda County Coroner's Office.


STORE MANAGER SHOT, KILLED; MANAGER DIDN'T RESIST ROBBER, CUSTOMER SAYS

Muhammad "Mo" Barsar tried to make a living for 14 years as a convenience store manager. It was hard getting clerks to work the late shift, so the 51-year-old spent many nights behind the register of Circle K on the corner of Military Trail and Purdy Lane in suburban West Palm Beach.

He was there shortly after 2 a.m. Tuesday when a man in a ski mask demanded money.

The robber got the cash register drawer, but pulled the trigger of his handgun anyway. He shot Barsar at close range. The native of Faisalabad, Pakistan, who was raising his 15-year-old daughter in a Boynton Beach mobile home, died at the scene.


Man slain at Hwy. 101 bridge site identified

Oxnard, California --A welding inspector found stabbed to death near an underpass of the Santa Clara River Bridge was identified Thursday as Steven Knapp, 54, of Apple Valley.

When co-workers arrived for work around 6 a.m. Wednesday, they found Knapp lying on the ground by several large bridge pillars near the intersection of Wagon Wheel and Ventura roads. Knapp's 1996 red Toyota 4Runner SUV, which he often slept in at the job site, was missing, Oxnard Police Department Sgt. Jim Seitz said Thursday.


Farmer, 41, killed after being caught in auger

DEFIANCE, OH — A 41-year-old man was killed yesterday when he was pinned in a piece of farm equipment at his family's farm in Adams Township northeast of here, authorities said. David Wiemken was pronounced dead at the scene, Defiance County Sheriff David Westrick said. He and his brother were working in a grain silo on the farm in the 30000 block of Adams Ridge Road about 2:30 p.m. when he became entangled in the auger, the sheriff said.


Harrisburg convenience store clerk killed in holdup

HARRISBURG Pa. -- A man shot and killed a Harrisburg convenience store clerk during a holdup early Thursday, city officials said.

Hitender Thakur, 23, died after he was shot in the chest during the 1:15 a.m. robbery at City Gas and Diesel Mini Mart, Mayor Stephen R. Reed said in a news release. Police were called to the scene after a customer walked in a few minutes later and found Thakur's body, Reed said.

Video from the store's surveillance cameras showed the gunman pointing a handgun at Thakur through an open window, which the victim tried to slam shut before he was shot, Reed said.


Legal secretary killed outside law firm; suspect also dead

Kansas City, MO - Someone shot a legal secretary to death as she arrived at work this morning in Kansas City. Police hoped security video from a nearby business would lead them to her killer. But a man whom police considered a suspect died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound later in the morning in Kansas City, Kan., police said. The woman, whom co-workers identified as Lisa Slaughter, was approaching the front door of the law offices at 410 West 89th St. when she was shot.



Father Of Slain Officer Speaks Out

Norfolk, VA -- Ronald Williams said his son died doing the job he loved. Sunday night, Norfolk Police Officer Seneca Darden was shot and killed by another officer. "I wish he wasn't in police work, but he loved it," said Ronald. "He loved his job. Ronald said his son wasn't just a good officer, but a good person with a loving heart. The 25-year-old officer left behind a wife and three-year-old daughter.


Havana men laid to rest, 24-year-olds died in well accident Friday

Havana, IL - The two Havana men killed in a well accident on Friday were laid to rest Tuesday. Funeral services for 24-year-olds Aaron Pettet and Jay Dye were held at the Hurley funeral home in Havana. The two men were working on a well when they were overcome by a strong substance when they collapsed and died on Friday. The EPA did air and water tests which didn't reveal anything. The Illinois Department of Public Health is monitoring the well water until its deemed safe to drink. OSHA is also investigating.


Clerk Killed During Store Robbery

San Antonio, TX -- Two suspects gun down a northwest side convenience store clerk, and it's all caught on surveillance video. Police say two men are wanted on capital murder charges after killing 33-year old Sundeep Singh early Wednesday morning.

Investigators say this isn't the first time that store was robbed. In the past year alone, it was hit twice. The second time, the clerk fought back his attackers, who took off on foot.


Family of man who fell seeks answers

Tarpon, Springs, FL - The mother of a Tarpon Springs man who fell to his death at a St. Petersburg construction site wonders how safe conditions were. The family of a 25-year-old Tarpon Springs man killed on a construction site this week is questioning whether working conditions were safe. Jarrad R. Sussman was not wearing a safety harness or protective gear when he fell 33 feet Tuesday afternoon through roof panels at the Valpak construction site in St. Petersburg.


Cargo worker found dead at LAX

Los Angeles, CA - Paramedics discovered man lying on loading machine's tracks with a chest bruise. Co-workers say they didn't see what happened. A freight handler was found dead Monday in a cargo facility at Los Angeles International Airport, possibly crushed to death by a heavy lifting machine. The 54-year-old Los Angeles man, whose identity was not released, had no obvious crushing injuries except for a bruise across his upper chest. But he was bleeding heavily from the nose and mouth when firefighters and paramedics arrived, and was declared dead soon after at Centinela Freeman Regional Medical Center in Inglewood.


Details Emerge in Shooting Death of Police Officer

Dearborn Heights, MI - The Dearborn Heights community is mourning the loss of a police officer that was shot and killed in the line of duty. Officer Jason Makowski came from a long line officers, and he knew what it meant to protect and serve. 31-year-old Officer Jason Makowski, an 11 year veteran, was among several area law enforcement officials responding to 911 calls about an out of control gunman Wednesday. When the wife of 61-year-old Jeffery Wolf returned home Wednesday night, her husband told her that someone was going to die, or someone was going to get shot.


Construction worker dies in fall from 2nd story on N.J. job

SPARKILL, NJ - Family and friends of a man killed in an accident on a construction job in River Vale, N.J., were mourning their loved one yesterday.

On Monday, 65-year-old Marco DeJesus Lemus Galdamez was working on a new home at 203 Hoiem Court, when he fell from the second story, according to reports.


Worker dies in fall off warehouse roof

INDIANAPOLIS, IN -- A demolition crew supervisor died after he fell off the roof of a warehouse near the site of the new Indianapolis Colts stadium.

Fifty-eight-year-old Chuck Parker of Brownsburg was working on the roof yesterday when he fell about 25 feet, the Marion County coroners office says. An attorney for the company Parker worked for says Parker was wearing a safety harness. He was pronounced dead at Wishard Memorial Hospital.

Parker worked for Environmental Assurance Company, which specializes in environmental demolition and asbestos removal.


Painter dies after fall from tower at Culkin

Jackson, MS - An Indiana man died after falling about 50 feetWednesday from a cell phone tower he was painting off Culkin Road. Jack Pellow, 48, of Dale, Ind., was pronounced dead at University Medical Center in Jackson at 2:56 p.m., said UMC spokesman Thyrie Bland. Exact cause of death has not been determined, said Warren County Coroner John Thomason. An autopsy, required by state law for on-the-job deaths, is set to be performed today or Friday by state pathologist Steven Hayne at Mississippi Mortuary Services in Pearl.


Crucen killed in industrial accident

Las Cruces, NM -- A 65-year-old Las Cruces man was killed Friday in an industrial accident in the 1000 block of West Amador Avenue, according to police. Gilbert Arellano, 65, was flown to Thomason Hospital in El Paso, where he later died.


Ironworker snagged, killed while working on elevator

Cambridge, MA - Rescuers had to climb at least 70 feet above Cambridge yesterday to retrieve the body of an ironworker who died while working on an elevator. The 47-year-old victim, whose name was withheld until family could be notified, was dead when fire rescue crews arrived at 500 Technology Square. The man was found wedged in the elevator's external mechanisms, Cambridge Deputy Fire Chief Edward Mahoney said. "He got caught and he was trapped up there," said Mahoney, who assisted in the delicate hours-long process. Occupational Safety and Health Administration and Cambridge Inspectional Services were on the scene last night along with police and fire officials.


Highway worker killed in accident south of St. Louis

FESTUS, Mo. - A highway worker was killed and two others injured when they were struck by a pickup truck on Interstate 55 in Jefferson County, south of St. Louis. The accident happened at 2:38 p.m. Wednesday near Festus. Jeffrey Staley, 40, of Caseyville, Ill., was killed when a southbound Dodge Ram pickup driven by Kent Saddler, 64, of Ste. Genevieve, crossed into the work zone and onto the shoulder, striking all three men, the Missouri State Highway Patrol said. Staley was knocked over a guardrail and fell 15 to 20 feet. Staley was an employee of Collins & Hermann Inc., of St. Louis, said Missouri Department of Transportation spokesman Chris Sutton. The men were replacing guardrails at the bridge.


Worker Found Dead At Wallingford Plant

WALLINGFORD, Conn. -- The man, who was in his 60s, was found dead by a co-worker at the Covanta Plant just after 6:30 a.m. The plant turns trash to energy and sells the power to Connecticut Light and Power. According to the company Web site, it generates about 11 megawatts of energy and serves about 200,000 people in the towns of Cheshire, Hamden, Meriden, North Haven, and Wallingford. An autopsy is planned.


Worker dies in Powell industrial accident

Powell, KY - Kentucky State Police are investigating an industrial accident that killed a man Tuesday evening when he was pinned by a front-end loader. The accident occurred at Natural Bridge Stone on Ky. 11 in Powell County, according to a state police statement. Benny J. Creech was on a front-end loader that was lifted up in the air while he changed a drum on a conveyor belt. The drum shifted, pinning Creech between the loader and the conveyor. The Powell County Coroner pronounced Creech dead at the scene at 7:30 p.m. State police continue to investigate.


Trucks collide, killing driver, injuring another

SC - A garbage truck driver was killed last week when a fast-moving cement truck struck his vehicle from behind while it was stopped in the southbound lane of U.S. 17. Edward Heath Jr., 38, of Ash, died at approximately 7 a.m., May 17, when his Waste Industries truck was hit as he was depositing residential garbage in the truck's hopper about half a mile south of the Highway 904 intersection, according to the North Carolina Highway Patrol. The North Carolina Highway Patrol determined that Heath was loading the truck at the front when it was struck in the rear by the oncoming cement mixer driven by Thomas David Hayes, 35, for Southern Equipment Co., of Myrtle Beach, S.C.


Worker killed in Metairie: Scaffolding touches overhead power line

New Orleans, LA -- A construction worker was electrocuted Friday morning in a Metairie back yard when the metal scaffolding he was holding made contact with an overhead power line carrying 8,000 volts of electricity, authorities said.

Ignaceio Quiroz, 25, no address available, lay on the ground, his foot still touching the energized scaffolding, for more than 30 minutes in the back yard of a home in the 4500 block of Carthage Street. Emergency medical personnel waited for Entergy crews to shut down the power line, according to an incident report from the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office. Quiroz was taken to the Charity Trauma Center in Elmwood, where he was pronounced dead at 8:55 a.m.


Industrial Accident Kills Woman in Auberry

Auberry, CA - There was a deadly accident Wednesday in the Fresno County foothills. A woman was killed when she was buried under ten tons of sand. It happened at Outback Materials in Auberry. The sheriff's department worked to dig her body out of the sand. It's still unclear how the accident happened. The coroner's office identified the victim as 49-year-old Jeniene Borchardt of Auberry.


Volunteer firefighter dies at scene of accident

Cambria, ny — A Cambria Volunteer Fire Co. firefighter died while working at the scene of a multiple victim motor vehicle accident Sunday.

Gerald A. Machajewski collapsed in the line of duty, Fire Coordinator James C. Volkosh reported. Machajewski was transported to Lockport Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead shortly after arrival.


Day laborer in River Vale dies in fall

RIVER VALE, NJ -- Police were investigating the accidental death Monday of a day laborer who fell from the second story of a house while he was carrying a door, authorities said. Lt. Michael McCann said the man was working on a new Hoiem Court house. About 8:20 a.m., after carrying the door to the second floor, he either tripped or was overcome by a medical condition and lost his balance -- plunging about 15 feet to the first floor. He died as paramedics were taking him to Pascack Valley Hospital in Westwood.


Idaho truck driver dies in Iowa crash

Appleton, WI -- An Idaho truck driver and a Wisconsin couple were killed in a fiery crash that shut down a stretch of Interstate 80 for several hours.

The Iowa State Patrol said Anthony Rizzo, 58, of Meridian, Idaho, and Wesley Frederick, 61, and his wife Jeanette, 61, both of Neenah, Wis., died in the accident on Saturday night on I-80, about 20 miles east of Des Moines.

Officials with the state patrol said Rizzo's semitrailer merged into a lane occupied by Frederick's Corvette. The semi collided with the car, and both vehicles crashed into the guardrail, plunged over an overpass and burst into flames, Trooper Kirk Lundgren said.


Convenience Store Clerk Killed in Overnight Robbery

Culebra, TX - A convenience store clerk is dead, after he was gunned down in an apparent robbery Tuesday night. Police say two men walked into the Road Runner Food Mart, on the 4500 block of Culebra, just before midnight. They allegedly shot the 33-year-old clerk in an attempt to rob the store. A second employee was stocking shelves in a back cooler when the robbery occurred. He told police he heard gunshots, then found his co-worker's body on the floor. Police have not made any arrests in this case, but hope the store's surveillance tape will help them to identify the suspects.


Highways worker killed

Charleston, WV -- A Division of Highways worker was killed Tuesday afternoon in McDowell County, when a co-worker accidentally backed a dump truck over him.

Killed in the accident was Luke Simplicio, 61, of Northfork. State Police say the work crew was cleaning some ditch lines on Route 52 in Landgraff.

A dump truck was backing up. Troopers say the worker walked behind the truck. The driver didn't see him and backed over him. Dowell County, when a co-worker accidentally backed a dump truck over him.


Farmer Drowns After Accident

Clay Township, OH - A well respected farmer in Clay Township is dead after a terrible farming accident, ONN affiliate WNWO reported. 62-year-old Paul Rothert went to drive his cabbage picker Monday night, but the machine was in reverse, and backed right into a pond. Rothert's son jumped in to save his father and then started CPR, but Rothert couldn't be revived. Clay Township Police Chief, Roger Shultze, was shaken when he arrived on the scene to realize the victim was his good friend. "Paul was a great guy. He would do anything to help a friend. The entire community is going to be very shocked and sadended by his death. This is a tragic day," Shultze said.


Mine worker dies; sixth fatality in 4 days

FRANKFORT, KY - Another fatality has occurred at an Eastern Kentucky mine. Steven T. Bryant, 23, of Louisa, was killed today went the water truck he was driving at a Breathitt County mountaintop coal mine went over an embankment and crashed, said Nikki Ploskonka, a spokeswoman for the state Environmental and Protection Cabinet. The accident occurred at 10:10 a.m. at Risner Branch No. 2 mine in Rousseau, she said. It is owned by Miller Brothers Coal LLC. Six men have died at a Kentucky coal mine in the last four days. Five miners died Saturday in a Harlan County underground mine. There have been 11 fatalities at Kentucky mines this year. Brett Krause, vice president of Miller Brothers, said federal and state authorities are investigating the accident and the company is "cooperating fully."


Teen dies after fall from roof;

JEDBURG, WV - A Guatemalan teenager who may have been working underage at a construction site has died after falling from a roof.

Josue Daniel Martinez Castillo, 17, was taken off a ventilator Thursday at Trident Medical Center, Berkeley County Coroner Glenn Rhoad said. Castillo had suffered head injuries Wednesday afternoon when he tumbled through a hole in the insulation of a building under construction and fell 25 feet to the concrete below.

Castillo was the second Hispanic construction worker to die in a fall in Berkeley County since April. A 32-year-old man from Columbia died April 25 when he fell two floors onto concrete at a Summerville construction site. He was working here legally, Rhoad said, and his death is still under investigation.

It is illegal to hire anyone younger than 18 to work construction, but Rhoad said a general manager of the contractor told him Castillo had an identification under another name and claimed to be 23. Castillo would have turned 18 on Friday.

The contractor, Frampton & Associates Inc., of Ladson, subcontracted with W&C Construction Inc., also of Ladson, Rhoad said. He was told that Castillo worked for the subcontractor but said he had not reached anyone from W&C Construction.


Sweeper driver dies after head-on with box truck

VANCOUVER, Wash. - On May 23 at approximately 8:15 a.m., troopers responded to an injury head-on collision on SR-502 at Northeast 22nd Avenue. Troopers who arrived at the scene saw the roadway blocked with debris from both of the trucks that were involved in the crash. Fire Department personnel were extinguishing a fire from the cab of a street sweeper truck, which had massive front-end damage. The sweeper truck was sitting sideways blocking the eastbound lane on SR-502. The other truck, a box-style delivery van with massive front-end damage, was lying on its left side in the westbound ditch.

According to a witness, the 1992 Ford F-700 Box Van truck being driven by Daniel A. Tindall, a 41-year-old resident of Kelso, was traveling westbound on SR-502 from Northeast 72nd Avenue and was having trouble keeping straight within the lane.

When the Ford got to Northeast 22nd Avenue, it crossed the center line by about four feet and collided head-on with a 1989 GMC Sweeper being driven by Mark A. Milgrove, a 48-year-old resident of Vancouver, who was traveling eastbound on SR-502.

Man killed in Port Fourchon accident

PORT FOURCHON La.--Authorities have been interviewing witnesses in an attempt to find out why a 26-year-old south Lafourche Parish man was crushed to death by a cement-filled box.

Nicholas Pitre of Cut Off, a forklift operator working at C-Port 2, reportedly walked into the path of a forklift Thursday morning.

When the operator tried to stop suddenly to avoid him, the box slid off the forks and struck Pitre, according to a report from the Greater Lafourche Port Commission.

Pitre was killed instantly, the report states.


Store clerk, 43, found dead; Hussein had wife, two children

Raleigh, NC -- When a customer arrived at the In & Out Mart on Creech Road about 8 a.m. Friday, he saw the white gate that covers the door unlocked and the door open. The man entered the store, didn't see anyone inside and left.

The same man returned about 10 a.m. and heard from bystanders that the clerk was not there. They worried that the store had been left unlocked.

The man went inside and began to search for Samuel Haj-Hussein, the 43-year-old store clerk. He found Hussein in an aisle -- dead from a gunshot wound. His 1992 blue Dodge Caravan was missing.


Driver of semi dies in a fiery I-75 crash

Gainesville, FL -- An unidentified man died Thursday afternoon after his tractor-trailer careened off Interstate 75 and crashed into trees before exploding into flames three miles north of Gainesville, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

The driver, who has not yet been identified, was pronounced dead at the scene shortly after the accident occurred in the northbound lanes of the interstate at about 2:30 p.m., troopers reported.

Troopers said the semi, which was pulling an empty steel grain trailer, weaved back and forth across all lanes before it ran off the west grassy shoulder and crashed into a wooded area in the center median.

As they were driving behind the semi, Tony and Suzanne Hall of Kansas City, Mo., said they thought the driver had suffered a heart attack or fallen asleep after they saw the semi drifting back and forth across the lanes.


Suspect sought in fatal car collision; Driver of van full of farmworkers fled the scene after the crash.

Fresno, CA -- California Highway Patrol officers Wednesday were still looking for the man who ran away after a van he was driving collided with a pickup truck near Selma, killing three in the van and injuring eight other people.

According to the CHP, the van was southbound on Highway 43 when it went out of control, veered across the center line and was struck on the right rear side by a 2000 Ford F-150 pickup. The van was carrying farmworkers from Fresno to a peach orchard east of Laton.

Six of seven passengers were ejected, and three were pronounced dead at the scene.


Migrant worker van crashes, 2 dead

DECATUR, Ind. -- A van carrying migrant workers collided with a truck, killing two passengers and injuring nine, police said.

The van failed to yield at a stop sign Tuesday to the tractor-trailer, police said. Emergency officials pronounced Wilmer Saenz-Morales, 36, and Inez Gomez, 43, of Fort Wayne, dead at the scene. The nine injured remained hospitalized today, said Indiana State Police Trooper Robert Brophy.

The driver of the van, who was not seriously injured, told police the passengers were migrant workers from Honduras, state police Sgt. Rod Russell said. The van had Ohio license plates.


Water Authority Worker Killed In Truck Crash

BAY SHORE, N.Y. -- A worker for the Suffolk County Water Authority was killed Tuesday when his truck crashed into a garage in Bay Shore, Suffolk County police said.

Keith Zeh, 40, of Bellport, may have had a medical emergency while driving that caused him to lose control of his truck, which is owned by the water authority, police said. The truck sideswiped a tree at 9:15 a.m. on Brentwood Road and then hit a garage, police said.


Miner killed at ICG mine in West Virginia

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A miner was killed Wednesday in an equipment accident underground at an International Coal Group mine in Harrison County, the state Office of Miners’ Health Safety and Training said.

The state was notified about 2:40 p.m. of the accident at the Sycamore II mine near Jarvisville, said administrator Terry Farley. The mine is owned by ICG’s Wolf Run Mining Co.

The victim’s name was not immediately released. The company did not have an immediate comment.


One killed by electrocution

TIFTON Ga. -- Lightning is being blamed for one death and accidental electrocution for another in south Georgia. Jessica Rae Ellis Hosmer, 46, of Tifton was electrocuted early Saturday in Metcal.

Hosmer worked for a Nashville logging company, said Thomas County Coroner Sam Brown. The owner of the company was operating a log-loading boom," Brown said.

Hosmer was apparently standing on the ground when the boom struck a high-power Thomasville Utilities wire. The current traveled from the wire through the boom and trailer to the ground. The current entered Hosmer's body through her feet. Brown said Hosmer's death was probably instantaneous.


Harness official: Driver's death was 'freak accident'

HARRINGTON, NJ — The administrator for the Delaware Harness Racing Commission said today he could not see anything that could have been done differently that would have prevented the death of Hal Belote Monday night at Harrington Raceway. Belote, 51, of Williamstown, N.J., was killed when his horse stumbled and fell during the first race. Two horses were behind him and could not avoid hitting Belote. Paramedics discovered man lying on loading machine's tracks with a chestbruise. Co-workers say they didn't see


Second Fairfax Officer Dies

Chantilly, VA -- The Fairfax police officer who was shot five times in the rampage at the Sully District Station nine days ago has died of his wounds, a spokeswoman at Fairfax Inova Hospital confirmed this morning.

Master Police Officer Michael E. Garbarino, 53, was pronounced dead this morning at 2:45 a.m., hospital spokeswoman Karen Ferguson said.

He was the second person killed by 18-year-old Michael W. Kennedy, the Centreville teenager who stormed the Chantilly station, dressed in full camouflage, and opened fire with several high-powered weapons.

Kennedy also killed Det. Vicky O. Armel, 40, whose funeral Saturday drew thousands of grieving law enforcement officers from up and down the East Coast.


Employee Charged With Fatally Stabbing CEO

CHICAGO, IL -- An employee who received a bad performance review was charged with fatally stabbing the president of a construction company, authorities said.

Gary Poter, president and CEO of Poter Construction and Development, was stabbed Tuesday with a kitchen knife at his office, police said.

Tom Tuduj, an appraiser and bidder for the company who received a bad review Monday, was charged with first-degree murder, police Cmdr. Dean Andrews said.


Garbage truck driver killed in crash: Cement truck smashed into vehicle

BRUNSWICK COUNTY, N.C. -- A Waste Industries trash truck driver was killed instantly early Wednesday when a fully-loaded cement truck plowed into the rear of his vehicle as it was stopped in the right lane of U.S. 17 just south of N.C. 904.

First Sgt. J.O. Holmes of the N.C. State Highway Patrol said there was no indication at the scene that the cement truck tried to slow down before it hit the trash truck at about 7 a.m.

The driver of the garbage truck, 38-year-old Edward Heath Jr. of Ash Little River Road, was emptying a container into the hopper at the front of his truck when the collision occurred, Holmes said


Tree trimmer dies after power line strikes him

TITTABAWASSEE TOWNSHIP Mich.--A tree trimmer died after a power line in a tree being cut by another trimmer snapped and struck him, police said.

Jacob Harris, 22, of St. Louis, Mich., was clearing trees for Consumers Energy on Wednesday in Saginaw County's Tittabawassee Township when he came into contact with a 4,800-volt line, The Saginaw News reported.

Harris worked for the Davey Tree Expert Co., based in Kent, Ohio. He was pronounced dead at Covenant Medical Center in Saginaw.

"This is a tragedy for the entire Davey Tree Expert Co. family," company spokeswoman Sandra Burns said in released statement. "We have dispatched a team of employees to meet with the family and our local employees."


Captain Feared Dead in S.C. Boat Accident

GEORGETOWN, S.C. -- Five boaters were rescued Thursday from a charter fishing vessel that capsized off the South Carolina coast the night before, and another was plucked from the water, officials said.

But the search continued for the 75-year-old captain, who apparently died while helping one of the survivors. Robert Clarke had stayed with Mike Robinson, who was later found clinging to a life jacket, after both became separated from the catamaran when a wave washed them off the already overturned hull, said Coast Guard Capt. John Cameron.

Clarke "yelled back to his mate to take care of the five on the boat and that he would stay with Mr. Robinson who was having trouble swimming back to the vessel," Cameron said. At some point in the night, Robinson told officials, Clarke had "some sort of cardiac event," Cameron said.
Beeville officer dies of injuries from S.A. robbery

San Antonio, TX - Gregory Stewart, the Beeville police officer who was shot during a robbery in San Antonio last week, was pronounced dead at 9:29 a.m. Monday, University Health System officials said Monday. He was 32. Stewart was shot at 2:16 a.m. May 7 as he and a friend were walking from a nightclub in the 4800 block of Fredericksburg Road.


Highway worker killed, woman dragged in separate accidents

San Antonio, TX -- Two unrelated accidents occurred in succession Thursday afternoon on the West Side, one killing a 32-year-old construction worker as he was cleaning a highway and the other leaving a 65-year-old Wisconsin woman in critical condition, police said.

The victims' identities have not been released, pending notification of their next of kin.

Around 2:30 p.m., a 26-year-old woman was heading west on U.S. 90 by Callaghan Road when she veered off the road and hit the construction worker, who smashed through her windshield and died, a detective said.


An explosion rocked a Riceland Foods plant in Stuttgart on Tuesday, killing one person.

STUTTGART, Ark.- Two workers were repairing an empty tank used to process soybean oil when the explosion occurred about 8:30 a.m., according to company spokesman Bill Reed. One of the workers was killed, Reed said. His name was not released, pending notification of his family.


Three dead in workplace shooting

HARRISONBURG -- An employee of the American Home Patient medical supplies retail store here fatally shot two fellow workers and then turned the gun on himself around 8 a.m. today, police said. Police Department identified the gunman as Brewer Hoover Jr., 65, of Harrisonburg, and his victims as Gary Gibson, 54, of Harrisonburg, and Bonnie Gump, 54, of Grottoes.


Denver fire lieutenant dies of injuries suffered in blaze

DENVER, CO - A veteran Denver firefighter who suffered a heart attack while fighting a house fire a week ago died Sunday morning.

Lt. Rich Montoya was only 15 shifts from retirement when he was injured May 14, fire department spokesman Lt. Phil Champagne said.He had 30 years with the department.

Montoya was trying to get his crew out of a pitch-black bedroom when he became trapped under a mattress.


2 crop-dusters collide, 1 pilot killed

Little Rock, AR -- Two crop-dusters collided above a field near DeWitt late Thursday morning, killing one pilot and injuring the other, Arkansas County Sheriff Allen Cheek said.

One plane was believed to be spreading fertilizer on a field about two miles south of the DeWitt airport at 11:30 a.m. when the other plane collided with it, sending both tumbling from the sky, Cheek said as he drove from the scene Thursday evening. The two fragmented yellow planes landed about 300 yards apart in different fields.

"It was worse than any automobile crash I'd ever seen," Cheek said. "There were pieces [of planes] scattered everywhere." The sheriff's office did not release the identity of the deceased pilot.


House painter electrocuted in Southeast

SOUTHEAST, NY — The death of a house painter who was electrocuted when his aluminum ladder touched a power line has authorities reminding residents to take precautions when working near utility lines. Astrit Polozani, 20, of Ridgefield, Conn., was pronounced dead at Danbury (Conn.) Hospital after the accident, which happened around 2:30 p.m. Thursday, according to Brewster state police.


Latest Mine Accident Leaves 5 Dead in Ky.

Harlan County, KY - An explosion in an eastern Kentucky coal mine killed five miners Saturday, Gov. Ernie Fletcher said. A sixth miner was able to walk away from the blast and out of the mine on his own. The blast at the Darby Mine No. 1 in Harlan County occurred between midnight and 1 a.m. EDT while a maintenance shift was on duty, said Amy Louviere, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration. It was the latest in a string of mine accidents to hit U.S. coal country this year. The five dead miners were found by rescue workers, the governor said. The rescue teams initially found three dead workers and later found two more, he said. Fletcher said he had contacted the families of the killed workers. "They want answers - how, why, what caused it - that will help them deal with it a little more," he said. Authorities identified the victims as Amon Brock, 51; Jimmy Lee; Roy Middleton, 35; George William Petra and Paris Thomas Jr. The ages of Lee, Petra and Thomas were not immediately available.


Disney worker dies in collision

LAKE BUENA VISTA, FL -- One Disney employee died and another suffered serious injuries when their cars collided on a Walt Disney World road Thursday. The survivor is suspected of driving under the influence of alcohol, the Florida Highway Patrol said. Phillip Stitzer, 24 of Orlando lost control of his westbound vehicle about 12:30 a.m. on Vista Drive and struck Kuang Wu's westbound vehicle, the FHP said.

Baltimore Officer Dies In Collision With Fellow Cop

Baltimore, MD - An eleven year veteran of the Baltimore police department has died in the line of duty. The incident took place near the intersection of Parksley and Stafford street shortly after 2:20 on May 19, 2006. According to a local Associated Press report, Anthony Byrd, 31, was broad sided by a fellow officer's car on his return to the Southwestern District police station. The impact knocked his car into a utility pole, leading to death from impact at nearby Saint Agnes hospital minutes later. The report adds that nobody knows yet whether either officer was using emergency lights or a siren.


2 dead in Houston job shooting; suspect on run

Houston, TX - Capital murder charges were filed today in the fatal shooting of two workers at a southeast Houston manufacturing plant. Witnesses say that Miguel Soria, 25, entered Texas Steel Conversion at around 7:30 p.m. Friday night, where he confronted two co-workers before drawing a handgun and firing multiple shots. Mario Rico, 28, and Jorge Rangel, 27, both suffered multiple gunshot wounds and later died at area hospitals.


Snover man killed as a result of work accident

SANILAC COUNTY, MI — According to a press release from the Sanilac County Sheriff's Office, Aaron Brown, 21, of Snover died on Thursday after being transported to McKenzie Memorial Hospital as a result of an accident while working at Tri-County Equipment. According to the release, deputies from the sheriff's office were dispatched to the hospital at approximately 9:45 a.m. on Thursday in regards to Brown's accidental death. The investigation by the Sanilac County Sheriff's Office revealed that Brown was working on maintaining a brush hog after hours at Tri-County Equipment when he was pinned between the brush hog and the creeper he was on.


Farmer dies in tractor accident

AL - A man known by neighbors for giving away home-grown produce died tragically Wednesday, when his tractor overturnedwhile he was working in his garden. According to Coroner Gary Murphree, W. Earnest Griffin, 91, of County Road 1413, was found dead at his home by his daughter Janice Haynes early Monday afternoon.


Road worker dies after being struck by pickup truck

PITTSFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. — A 34-year-old road construction worker died after being hit by a pickup truck in a construction zone on westbound Interstate 94 in Washtenaw County, police said. Steven Wayne Leelean, of Harrison, was cleaning up debris about 11 p.m. Friday when he apparently stepped out of the closed left lane underneath the northbound U.S. 23 overpass and into traffic, said Michigan State Police Sgt. Tony Cuevas.


Bouncer killed trying to break up knife fight

Miami, FL - A popular employee of the Mansion nightclub died of knife wounds when he attempted to stop a fight in the street. A popular South Beach bouncer was stabbed to death just before dawn on Saturday as he tried to break up a knife fight that erupted outside Mansion on Washington Avenue. The bouncer, identified only as John by a club spokeswoman, had been a staple of the South Beach scene for a decade. The fight broke out about 15 minutes after John's 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. shift ended. ''Tragically, he died as a result of his heroic action,'' said Vanessa Menkes of Mansion. "John stopped to help end a fight.'' Two other men involved in the fight were stabbed. One was stabbed in the neck and was listed in critical condition at Ryder Trauma Center, said Bobby Hernandez, a Miami Beach police spokesman. The other was treated for a severed finger at Mount Sinai Medical Center.


Construction Worker Dies in Fall from Bridge Near Angola

Angola, IN-A construction worker fell to his death from a bridge under construction over Interstate 69 near Angola. Fifty-two-year-old James Spears of Roanoke fellWednesday about 25 feet from the bridge onto a lane of the highway that was blocked to traffic. Spears was working on metal I-beams being used to upgrade the overpass at County Road 400N near Pokagon State Park, about 40 miles north of Fort Wayne.


Man killed in industrial plant accident

Lawrenceville, GA -- A 45-year-old Athens man was killed Friday in an industrial accident at a Lawrenceville plant cited last year for workplace violations.

When firefighters arrived at Valentine Enterprises Inc. on Collins Hill Road just after 11 a.m., they found the body of Jerry Hill inside a large industrial mixer, authorities said.

It was not known if Hill worked for Valentine or for a company maintaining the 150,000-square-foot plant’s equipment.

Labels: Weekly Toll

This is Part III of a series on OSHA recordkeeping by guest-bloggers ERM. Part I appeared here, and Part II appeared here.

In Part I, we explained how accurate injury and illness data are just as fundamental to making the rational decisions needed to protect workers as honest accounting is to preventing future Enrons.

In Part II we used the AK Steel case to show how OSHA may have something in common with the companies it regulates: a vested institutional interest in not carefully auditing OSHA 300 logs and allowing injuries and illnesses to stay off the books. Rigorous enforcement of the recordkeeping regulation might lead to an increase in reported injuries and illnesses, leading some to question whether OSHA is succeeding in its mission. Moreover, big fines for mere “bookkeeping mistakes,” could arouse political opposition from those who don’t understand the importance of accurate OSHA logs.

This piece uses another specific example -- the California Bay Bridge project -- to illustrate that when injuries and illnesses are not recorded real workers get hurt and sick, and to stress the need for a separate institution to audit OSHA.

The strange case of Cal-OSHA’s failure to investigate worker complaints that Kiewit/FCI/Manson (KFM) concealed worker injuries and illnesses in its Bay Bridge project offers disturbing evidence of this institutional conflict of interest. In defending its failures, Cal-OSHA implicated federal OSHA, which approved and encouraged the partnership with KFM that now seems to be a big part of the reason why Cal-OSHA was complicit in the company’s efforts to conceal safety and health problems. Worst of all, Cal-OSHA’s effort to explain away its inaction on the Bay Bridge complaints, reveals the state plan’s indifference to accurate injury and illness recordkeeping.

Background

Before laying out the timeline of events, it is important to understand the context of the partnership agreement between Cal-OSHA and KFM, the general contractors who are rebuilding the Oakland Bay Bridge. Federal OSHA has been promoting voluntary partnerships for years, in an effort to induce companies to make safety improvements. OSHA lacks the resources to enforce everywhere, the reasoning goes, so the more it can encourage companies to comply voluntarily, the better for everyone. Being kinder and gentler to business is also in line with the political program of the Republican administration.

Although states with their own OSHA plans, like California, are supposedly independent of federal OSHA, the national office does provide funding to the states and can influence policies. Moreover, Cal-OSHA has been losing inspectors for years, so it had reason to try to husband its scarce inspection resources by entering into partnership agreements, especially when it comes to large projects.

Finally, KFM had compiled an exemplary safety and health record - on paper – with a history of injury and illness rates below the industry average. This track record helped the company win the Bay Bridge contract and the partnership agreement with Cal-OSHA.

Timeline

Published reports reveal the following:

1. An April 7, 2005 article in The Oakland Tribune indicated that in October of 2004 a worker complained of excessive manganese and other toxic welding fumes at the Bay Bridge project. According to the same article, Cal-OSHA defended the Bay Bridge project’s great safety record.


2. The same newspaper reported in an editorial that 20 workers had said KFM uses fear, cash rewards, and punishments to conceal safety and health problems and minimize problems.


3. Len Walsh, acting chief of Cal-OSHA, in an April 13, 2005 letter to the editor of the Oakland Tribune, defended KFM’s safety record and denied having received worker complaints about safety violations.


4. One month later, on May 20, dozens of workers sue KFM over exposure to manganese fumes and other toxins. A recent lawsuit in Illinois had established for the first time a link between exposure to welding fumes and Parkinson’s Disease.


5. Thanks to the publicity generated by the Oakland Tribune about workers complaining of injuries and illnesses, that KFM is hiding them, and that Cal-OSHA is doing nothing about it, in June 2005, California state auditors decided they would investigate worker safety issues on the Bay Bridge project.


6. In February of 2006 the state auditors issued a damning report of their findings. “California’s worker-safety watchdog failed to properly monitor and act upon injury reports and safety complaints on the $1.7 billion replacement of the Bay Bridge eastern span.”


• For example, Keith Bates has a stack of records documenting how he was hurt on the site, but it took Cal-OSHA more than a year to acknowledge the injury and inform the job’s contractor the injury should be on its annual injury reports.


• In its response to the auditor’s report, Cal-OSHA finally “acknowledges that errors were made in responding to two of the complaints” at the project. One raised a safety issue and the other raised an issue of inadequate protection from manganese exposure after it was believed that problems with protection from manganese exposure had been resolved. “These complaints should have been responded to with an enforcement site inspection.


• By way of explanation, Cal-OSHA stated that the partnership with KFM is a pilot program, begun with the participation and approval of federal OSHA. Despite evidence to the contrary, the agency also states: “It was clear KFM was not hiding hazards and equally clear that they were willing to abate hazards promptly when they were discovered.”

The facts speak for themselves: Cal-OSHA does not care about enforcing its rules requiring accurate OSHA 300 logs. Just as KFM hid injuries and illnesses, Cal-OSHA ignored worker complaints. Cal-OSHA showed it cared more about having a successful partnership than investigating worker complaints and ensuring accurate OSHA logs.

But in case there is any doubt, the agency itself clearly admits this, in the most damning comment of all those made about the state auditor’s report:

Identifying those instances where Form 300 logs have not recorded all recordable injuries may not be viewed as having a direct relationship to prevention of the most significant accidents that occur at high-hazard worksites like large-scale construction projects.

The California Bay Bridge episode is therefore a perfect example of how at least one state plan and federal OSHA have a vested interest in not requiring the accurate recording of injuries and illnesses. It also illustrates the need for a separate institution to audit OSHA. And finally, it illustrates that when injuries and illnesses are not recorded, it’s not a case of a meaningless bookkeeping error. Real workers get hurt and sick.

One piece of good news: having an independent institution audit Cal-OSHA has worked. Cal-OSHA is finally investigating the underreporting of injuries on the Bay Bridge project and a report is due June 2. The word is that this enforcement action could be a big one.

Does anybody think this would have happened without the state auditor’s investigation? Nor would the auditors have gotten involved without the result of the tireless reporting of the Oakland Tribune.

The conclusion is simple, clear, and logical. If we really want to protect workers and if we really want to know what’s going on in the nation’s workplaces, we not only need OSHA to investigate company records, we need auditors to investigate OSHA.

Unless and until that happens, don’t believe it when OSHA brags about what a great job it’s doing cutting injuries and illnesses.


Related Stories

OSHA Recordkeeping Series by ERM

Part I: Learning From Enron: Why Accurate OSHA Recordkeeping Matters, May 15, 2006
Part II: At AK Steel, as at Enron, the Numbers Don’t Add Up, May 23, 2006


Confined Space Bay Bridge Stories

Cal-OSHA Blasted By Auditor for Bay Bridge Illnesses and Underreporting. Understaffing Blamed, February 9, 2006
More KFM Flu: Neglected Workers and a Suffering Safety Agency, April 19, 2005
Behavioral Safety Out of Control and The KFM Flu, April 12, 2005

Labels: Behavioral Safety, Recordkeeping

I don't even know where to start with this one.

An immigrant worker was killed seriously injured last in Middletown, Connecticut Monday after falling off a roof. He had no fall protection, even though OSHA requires guard rails and harnesses when working more than six feet off the ground.

Now it gets weird. First, "the man's co-workers, also described as Hispanic males, tried to provide first aid." Thirty minutes after he fell, neighbors called 911.

Do we think the thirty minute delay in calling an ambulance had anything to do with the Hispanic co-workers' fear of being snatched up by immigration authorities?

Nah, that would never happen. Or?

Some of the males working at the site ran when police arrived.

"Three of the individuals ran into the woods to avoid detection," said [Middletown Police Department spokeswoman, Lt. Peggy] Liseo.

Liseo said federal immigration authorities were called when the workers did not produce identification.

The federal authorities, who could not be reached for comment, took the men into custody.

Exposing your boob on national television: $550,000

Being convicted of conspiracy, securities fraud, wire fraud, making false statements, losing $60 billion of your investor's money and your employees's jobs and pensions: Spend the rest of your life in prison.

Killing workers after willfully violating safety standards: Priceless (and blameless)

(Update here.)

Shocked, shocked that the pesticide and chemical industries are directing EPA rulemaking.

Environmental Protection Agency scientists are accusing EPA managers of exerting political pressure to allow the continued use of harmful pesticides, and that decisions are being made only with the approval of the regulated industries. In a letter to EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson, union leaders wrote:

Our colleagues in the Pesticide Program feel besieged by political pressure exerted by Agency officials perceived to be too closely aligned with the pesticide industry and former EPA officials now representing the pesticide and agricultural community; and by the USDA through their Office of Pest Management Policy. Equally alarming is the belief among managers in the Pesticide and Toxics Programs that regulatory decisions should only be made after reaching full consensus with the regulated pesticide and chemicals industry.

Three unions representing 9,000 scientists, risk managers and other specialists (the American Federation of Government Employees, National Treasury Employees Union and Engineers and Scientists of California)object to the imminent approval of 20 organophosphate and carbamate pesticides.

According to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, which released the letter:

Organophosphates, derived from World War II-era nerve agents, are banned in England, Sweden and Denmark. In the 1990’s the National Academies of Science criticized EPA’s regulation of these pesticides. The Clinton administration began moves to ban the agents but the Bush administration changed course. In the past few months, the Bush administration approach has been faulted by both EPA’s own Scientific Advisory Panel and its Office of Inspector General.

The letter notes that the EPA's Scientific Advisory Panel (SAP)

has expressed concern that the Pesticide Program’s current approaches may not be sufficiently conservative, may underestimate the risks to infants and children, and do not adequately identify individuals that may be inherently sensitive to neurotoxicants.

The letter also cites an EPA Inspector General report that states that

EPA’s risk assessments cannot state with confidence the degree to which any exposure of a fetus, infant or child to a pesticide will or will not adversely affect their neurological development.

The letter makes three requests:

• That decisions be based on the "Precautionary Principle" where data is inadequate. (The Precautionary Principle calls for government intervention before harm occurs.)


• That the agency retain a "10-fold safety factor" where there are no studies on the effect of the pesticides on the brain development of fetus's and infants.


• That maximum protections - engineering controls for handlers and longer re-entry intervals for postapplication labor- be put into place for agricultural uses of these pesticides; where this is not feasible, cancel these registrations, as EPA promised before.

The Wall St. Journal calls the letter "unprecedented and a professional rebuke to Mr. Johnson, himself a scientist and former assistant administrator in charge of the agency's program to test the harmful effects of pesticides." The Journal reports that,

EPA spokeswoman Jennifer Wood said the agency "has been reviewing all pesticides in question and applying new, stricter standards as required under the Food Quality Protection Act, with a specific focus on their effects on children's health." The agency had no specific response to the union leaders' assertions. Spokesmen for groups representing the pesticide industry didn't immediately return phone calls.

Bob Herbert has a column in the NY Times today where he discuss a recent book by economist Louis Uchitell, The Disposable American: Layoffs and Their Consequences. Uchitelle argues corporate leaders have overdone it with layoffs:

Mr. Uchitelle's thesis is that corporate layoffs have been carried much too far, that they have gone beyond a legitimate and necessary response to a changing economy.

"What started as a necessary response to the intrusion of foreign manufacturers into the American marketplace got out of hand," he writes. "By the late 1990's, getting rid of workers had become normal practice, ingrained behavior, just as job security had been 25 years earlier."

In many cases, a thousand workers were fired when 500 might have been sufficient, or 10,000 were let go when 5,000 would have been enough. We pay a price for these excesses. The losses that accrue to companies and communities when many years of improving skills and valuable experience are casually and unnecessarily tossed on a scrap heap are incalculable.

Look at that last highlighted sentence again. Now, think about how employers justify their arguments that we don't really need OSHA to be an enforcement agency that cites and fines companies.

No, no, no:

Aside from being like families, employees are our most important resource. If they get injured or killed, we have lost an enormous investment in their skills and experience and must then find and train new workers. That's quite enough incentive to encourage us to provide a safe workplace. (So we don't need no stinkin' regulations or fines.)

So employees who are trash (despite their skills and experience) when the bottom line calls for it, suddenly become their most valuable resource when it comes to avoiding regulations and enforcement.

Anyway, just thinking....

This brings the total to 34 for the year.

Miner killed at ICG mine in West Virginia

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A miner was killed Wednesday in an equipment accident underground at an International Coal Group mine in Harrison County, the state Office of Miners’ Health Safety and Training said.

The state was notified about 2:40 p.m. of the accident at the Sycamore II mine near Jarvisville, said administrator Terry Farley. The mine is owned by ICG’s Wolf Run Mining Co.

Wednesday’s fatality brings the number of coal mining deaths this year to 19 in West Virginia and 33 nationwide. Thirteen of the state’s fatalities have been at ICG operations.

The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration has cited the Sycamore mine 49 times since January. The violations range from having the proper guards on machinery to controlling coal dust. The company has been assessed $4,494 in federal penalties since 2005 and has paid $1,520.

ICG (International Coal Group) is the same company that owned the Sago mine, where 12 miners were killed in January.

And then there was this, yesterday:

Mine worker dies; sixth fatality in 4 days

FRANKFORT - Another fatality has occurred at an Eastern Kentucky mine.

Steven T. Bryant, 23, of Louisa, was killed today went the water truck he was driving at a Breathitt County mountaintop coal mine went over an embankment and crashed, said Nikki Ploskonka, a spokeswoman for the state Environmental and Protection Cabinet.

Labels: Coal Mining

What does it take for the US Senate to come together to unanimously pass legislation that will protect workers? Nothing less than the death of 31 coal miners over the past four and a half months.

Four days after an eastern Kentucky coal mine explosion killed five miners, the Senate on Wednesday unanimously passed bipartisan mine safety legislation.

The House could pass the Senate version without changes or incorporate the measure into its own bill.

The Senate bill gives the federal government the power to:

• close mines that violate safety orders
  
• boost penalties to a maximum of $250,000
  
• and require additional oxygen supplies for miners underground.
  

"This has been a tough few years in coal country, in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and in Kentucky - as everyone knows we just lost five miners last weekend," said Senate Majority Whip Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who helped push the bill through and is one of its sponsors.

That would be the same Mitch McConnell who is married to Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, the person ultimately responsible (in addition to her boss, the President) for the decline in our workplace safety agencies over the past five years. Even the Bush administration supported the bill. McConnell's still one beer short of a sixpack, however. While announcing his support for the bill, McConnell also urged the Senate to confirm the manefestly unqualified Richard Stickler to head the Mine Safety and Health Administration. Stickler's nomination is still being held up by West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd.

The Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response (MINER) Act of 2006 (S 2803) was introduced last week by Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and Mike Enzi, (R-Wy). The bill now moves on to the House of Representatives where Congressman Charlie Norwood (R-GA) who heads the committee responsible for mine safety, announced that he would introduce a similar bill, but with "a handful of additional provisions."

And what might those "additional provisions" be? Well, in addition to three items that give MSHA subpoena power and call for additional research, Norwood's bill calls for the drug testing of every miner within 90 days.

Labels: Charlie Norwood, Coal Mining, Richard Stickler

Seems that George Bush's Mine Safety and Health Administration didn't need no stinkin' regulations or enforcement because they were on a mission from God.

I wrote earlier this week about the shady behavior of John Correll, the Bush administration's nominee to head the Office of Surface Mining while he was Deputy Assistant Secretary at MSHA. One of his many problems at MSHA was his connection to not-for-bid contracts that went to longtime friends and associates Gerry Silver and Ben Sheppard. Sheppard obtained a series of contracts worth about $190,000.

And who is Ben W. Sheppard?

Ben W. Sheppard & Associates, LLC are a Christian organization that has unlocked the secrets to achieving continuous improvement. Their behavioral based unique processes have produced results that to date, are unequalled by their competition.

Now that's quite a combination: a faith based organization combined with behavior-based programs (as well as bad grammar).

But Correll apparently isn't the only faith-base safety practitioner at MSHA. Kathy Snyder at Mine Safety Watch noticed a rather strange phrase in an MSHA press release -- strange for a government document, at least in the old days when there was still a separation between church and state in this country.

“We continue to pray for the family and friends of the five miners who lost their lives this past weekend," said acting assistant secretary of MSHA David Dye in making the announcement.

Not "our hearts go out to," the families, not "our sympathies," not "we are profoundly sorry for their loss."

I'm going to step way out of line here, recognizing that the separation- of- church- and-state thing is a silly outworn notion that no public official takes seriously any more. But in my opinion, such a quote in this situation amounts to a tasteless advertisement for the piety of the speaker and -- amazingly -- a whole federal agency.

The place to tell someone you are praying for him or her is in a personal communication, not a press release.

Amen.

Snyder notes that shortly after she wrote her piece, the phrase was dropped from the press release on MSHA's website.

(Thanks to the kind reader who tipped me to the Sheppard information and photo.)

Labels: Behavioral Safety, John Correll

Randal McCloy, the lone survivor of the Sago disaster reported that at least four of the breathing devices used by his crew did not work. The lone survivor of the Kentucky incident last week reported the same thing.

MSHA, however, says they're wrong, the devices worked fine.

That didn't sit well with Randy McCloy's wife:

Report after report has shown the rescuers did not work like they are supposed to. At Sago, of the miners who escaped the mines that day, a quarter of their respirators did not work. Why? My husband remembers four of the rescuers of his fellow miners failing as they were trapped. Why? In Kentucky, the lone survivor wore his rescuer but told his family that it worked only for a few minutes. Why? At Sago, investigators said that not all of the available oxygen was used. Why?

Yet in all cases, MSHA and various company officials continue to say the rescuers were tested and had operated properly. This doesn't add up.

There is a problem. We need more answers than 'we tested them and they worked'.

We can't continue to send miners into the mines with a false promise that these rescuers are going to work when they need them the most."

As an anonymous Confined Space commenter wrote last week:

Part of the "Blame the Miner" campaign to take the heat off [Acting Assistant Secretary] Dye and his cronies. So, all you miners, we are telling you that these devices worked, whether or not you think so just because you were there. You can believe the truth or you can go on believing your lying eyes.

Labels: Coal Mining, Sago

Reason has prevailed in Texas City.

I reported last night that the College of the Mainland Fondation, in Texas City, Texas had decided to select BP as its "Mainland Corporate Hero," even though the company had killed 15 workers and injured 170 in an explosion last year. The union at the college protested the award.

Well, sometimes protests work:

BP may be a valued benefactor to Texas City's College of the Mainland, but the school's board said Monday that it could not support a decision to designate the oil giant its "Corporate Hero" for the year.

The unanimous vote by the trustees came in response to strong protest by the school's employees' union, which said the operator of the refinery where 15 people were killed last year wasn't worthy of such praise.

At its monthly meeting Monday, the board directed its chairman, the school's president and the president of the college's fundraising arm, which made the "hero" designation, to choose another title to honor BP at a gala this summer.

Hmmm. "Another title to honor BP?"

That gives me an idea. How about a Confined Space contest for the best title to honor BP? The winner gets a mention in Confined Space, a free copy of Worker Safety Under Siege, and I promise to forward the winning entry to the College of the Mainland.

Use the comment link below. On your mark, get set, go!

Labels: BP

In what may be the waning months of a prematurely lame-duck Republican administration, the orders seem to have gone out from corporate headquarters: Identify any agencies that are doing a good job, or have the potential to do a good job (especially those that might benefit workers) -- and kill them.

The Department of Energy has revealed a plan to eliminate its office for environment, safety and health. The office was created 20 years ago to respond to radioactive contamination of workers as a result of cold war weapons production. Most of the office's current worker safety and health functions would be transferred to an office dealing with security. The current department is headed by an Assistant Secretary, a political appointee, whereas the security agency is headed by a career DOE employee.

The "official" reasoning seems a bit bizarre:

The department says the reorganization will combine some related functions that are currently separated, like safety and security.

***

Deputy Energy Secretary Clay Sell said, "We are trying to strengthen the way we do environment, safety and health policy."

For example, Mr. Sell said, the department had decided to install a Gatling gun to defend the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, Calif. "I can guarantee you that's also a safety issue," Mr. Sell said.

Under the current structure, he said, "policy and oversight and enforcement organizations have kind of been splintered."

A Gatling gun?

The DOE Office of Environment, Safety and Health is basically OSHA for the roughly 130,000 people who work for the department and its contractors. The contractors are doing highly hazardous work dismantling cleaning up the millions of gallons of radioactive and toxic liquid waste left over from the making of nuclear bombs at weapons plants across the country. In 2002, Congress passed a law giving the Office the authority to enforce health and safety standards against private contractors that have been hired by DOE to clean up the plants. The office also oversees health studies and medical screening programs for workers and surrounding communities exposed to ionizing radiation and other hazardous materials used in DOE operations. The office also conducts environmental impact statements related to agency activities.

Last year, it collected a civil penalty from CH2M Hill, the Hanford contractor, for four violations, including one in which workers were contaminated with radioactive material and another in which a worker received a higher radiation dose than necessary.

A contractor at Pantex, the Texas plant where weapons are assembled and disassembled, mishandled the disassembly of a nuclear weapon when a crack was found in a component. The civil penalty was $124,000. Another contractor paid $55,000 for retaliating against an employee who had raised safety concerns.

OK, those are the facts. So what's going on here?

Basically, what we have here is a continuing war against workers being waged by DOE and its contractors. And workers are losing.

First, the contractors at the nuclear facilities don't want to be bothered with all of these costly and burdensome health and safety rules and penalties. It's a drag to have to shut down an operation to fix machinery, make sure workers have been properly trained, have appropriate personal protective equipment and are working in a safe environment.

While the reorganization doesn't eliminate workers' legal protections, downgrading the agency head from one of seven DOE Assistant Secretaries to a career position weakens the agency's clout. Combining worker safety and health in an security office also does not bode well for workers. If there's a fight over whether funding will be dedicated to site security (gatling guns, gates and guards) or worker safety and health, guess who's going to win? Some observers also fear that this reorganization will be the beginning of the end for DOE's much praised workplace disease screening program.

DOE's Office of Environment Safety and Health has a proud history. During the Clinton administration, under the leadership of Assistant Secretaries Tara O'Toole and David Michaels, the office:

• Led an investigation into the Atomic Energy Commission's Human Radiation Experiments, leading to historic apology by President Clinton and groundbreaking work report on ethics of medical experimentation.


• Originated the idea for Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 (EEOICPA) which has given out $1.6 billion in benefits to former Cold War nuclear "veterans."


• Issued a workplace Beryllium standard ten times lower than OSHA's


• Conducted unprecedented investigations into legacy of worker exposures at uranium enrichment plants.

Update: A reader who's lived through many of these developments jogged my memory about the union contribution to these accomplishments.

The original idea for EEOICPA out of the Oil Chemical and Atomic Workers union particularly Tony Mazzocchi before he died, and the AFL-CIO's Industrial Union and Metal Trades Departments. The program is currently being defended largely by the unions and the Government Accountability Project. And The uranium enrichment plant investigations were also a result of years of hard work by OCAW, the IUD, the MTD and a crucial study by Physicians for Social Responsibility.

I'm not adding this information just to give credit to labor unions for most of the major advances in worker protection made by government agencies (although they certainly deserve it). I'm also adding this information to point out that in previous administration (even previous Republican administrations, to a certain extent) government agencies -- and even political appointees -- were willing to provide access to workers, their unions and other public interest allies to talk to them about the workplace health and safety issues that workers face and how government action can effectively address those problems. They worked closely with union representatives to develop programs that would improve working conditions. It's never an easy or totally successful process -- even in Democratic administrations -- but at least labor (and the workers they represent) have been at the table.

Today, instead of information coming up from workplaces, through unions, to government officials, we now have orders transmitted down from the White House (or their corporate sponsors) to the agency heads. And working people are the losers.

Some Senators are not happy with the new plan:

Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., the top Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said the change could lessen the emphasis placed on those issues within the Energy Department.

"The functions that the office is set up to do could be given less priority if there's not an assistant secretary with responsibility for those functions," Bingaman said.

Even former Bush I officials are upset at the plan:

Paul L. Ziemer, whom President George Bush named in 1990 as the first head of the office, said in a telephone interview that the contractors who actually performed most of the work at the department had a tendency to put production milestones and schedules ahead of safety or environmental protection and that "the temptation to put those things in a secondary place is much greater if you don't have an independent organization with some level of clout performing oversight."

The war on workers is being waged by DOE Secretary Samuel Bodman. In a story written when Bodman was nominated, the Seattle Times reported:

Bush asked Samuel Bodman, 66, to advance a second-term energy agenda that includes ramping up domestic-energy development to help wean the nation from foreign oil and to push the president's energy plan, which went nowhere the past four years. One controversial proposal: Open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling.

Bodman could face criticism because of his previous stewardship of a Boston chemical firm, Cabot, which often ran afoul of federal and state environmental laws.

***

During Bodman's tenure at Cabot, the government twice fined the company — for $100,000 and $75,000, respectively — for failing to report hazardous spills and not complying with federal cleanup orders.

The Energy Daily (paid subscription), which first reported the plan, writes that

The timing of the plan to abolish the ES&H office appears problematic given that the new worker health and safety regulations give the ES&H office new responsibilities for evaluating contractor safety plans and deciding when it is appropriate to grant waivers sought by individual contractors.

Problematic? I'd say suspicious.

Particularly troubling is a plan by DOE's nuclear facilities to subtitute enforcement of standards with a plan to simply penalize contractors responsible through if workers are hurt, or to provide bonuses for superious safety performance. What that means in the workplace is punishing workers for reporting injuries or unsafe conditions.

This is only Bodman's latest attack on workers. Last month, DOE announced

it would no longer reimburse contractors for the cost of their employees’ defined-benefit plans—plans that pay a guaranteed benefit at retirement. Instead, Bush’s Energy Department will pay only contractors’ cost of 401(k)-type programs. Traditional pension plans provide greater retirement benefits to workers.

While the department said the changes only apply to new contracts, it will encourage existing contractors to dump their traditional pensions in favor of 401(k)-type plans. Why is the Bush administration forcing private employers that do work for the government to dump their traditional pension plans? According to the nonprofit Economic Policy Institute:

Part of the story is patronage. The same investment companies that would have benefited from Social Security privatization will earn big fees handling the individual accounts of employees who would otherwise belong to pension plans. The other part is ideology. Bush dislikes collective solutions and would rather see every worker fending for
himself.

Meanwhile, while Bodman attacks the most vulnerable, DOE can't seem to do its main job: cleaning up the old nuclear facilities.

A House of Representatives committee recently called for"serious management reforms" at Hanford's plant and approved a lower budget than requested.

The plant's estimated cost has nearly doubled to $11 billion in a little over a year, and it's not expected to be treating high-level radioactive waste until six or seven years past a legal deadline of 2011. The Waste Treatment Plant is being built to turn radioactive waste left from the past production of plutonium for the nation's nuclear weapons program into a stable glass form.

***

The plant's estimated cost has nearly doubled to $11 billion in a little over a year, and it's not expected to be treating high-level radioactive waste until six or seven years past a legal deadline of 2011. The Waste Treatment Plant is being built to turn radioactive waste left from the past production of plutonium for the nation's nuclear weapons program into a stable glass form.

A recent CBS 60 Minutes piece related how the DOE unerestimated by 40 percent how strong the building (filled with radioactive liquid) must be to withstand an earthquake, yet allowed the contractor, Bechtel, to go ahead and build the plant anyway. Meanwhile, construction has now been stopped while engineers figure out how to rebuild the plant to meet earthquake specifications.

Clearly, given the mess at Hanford, DOE's priorities are where they belong: cutting back on worker safety and health protections, and weakening pension benefits.


Related Articles

• Nuclear Veterans: "A Gross Breach Of Faith" February 26, 2006
• DOE Will Fine Contractors For Health & Safety Violations, February 6, 2006
• Hanford Workers Awarded $4.8 Million in Whistleblower Safety Case, September 3, 2005
• "I don't look to ever get anything but grief", October 3, 2004
• Radiation Exposures and Close Calls at Hanford, August 5, 2004
• NIOSH: Hanford Employees Vaporized, July 17, 2004
• DOE Investigation of Hanford Coverup: Exoneration or Whitewash? June 7, 2004
• DOE To Hanford Clean-up Workers: “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.” April 12, 2004
• Resignations at DOE Follow Revelation of Failed Nuclear Worker Program, April 4, 2004
• More Hanford Problems: DOE, Contractors Can't Get Injury/Illness Story Straight, March 28, 2004
• NPR Story on Worker Safety and Health Problems at Hanford, Marcy 13, 2004
• Training, Safe Operating Procedures? Nah, Just Get The Job Done, February 26, 2004
• Scandal at Hanford: And Workers Pay The Price, February 26, 2004
• Silica Cover-Up at DOE Facility in Nevada, February 23, 2004
• DOE's Really Stupid Workplace Safety Policy, February 23, 2004
  DOE Backtracks on Contractor Safety Policy, February 24, 2004
• Workers At Risk (Still, Yet, Again) at Federal Nuclear Reservation, February 20, 2004
• Department of Energy Decides When It Comes To Safety, Contractors Know Best, February 1, 2004
• DOE to Sick Workers: Chill, October 19, 2003
• Hanford HazWaste Workers Worry About Their Health -- For Good Reason, August 14, 2003

Following is the second part of an article on OSHA recordkeeping by guest bloggers "ERM." The first part appeared here on May 15.

AK Steel has a great safety record – at least on paper. Across the company the OSHA total recordable rate was 0.19 in 2005, the rate per 100 employees of the number of times per year an employee received treatment beyond basic first aid for an occupational injury or illness.

Things look even better at the company’s Middletown works: company spokesman Alan McCoy says the first quarter of 2006 was the best in history, according to an April 12 report in the Dayton Business Journal. The OSHA recordable rate of 0.13 was 42 times better than the steel industry average for all of 2005.

Maybe this safety record is just too good to be true, however. Two days later the Cincinnati Enquirer reported on an explosion that injured three workers at AK Steel’s plant. Worse, OSHA was having trouble investigating the blast because witnesses to the blast are working 12-hour shifts. Worse still, from a safety perspective, is that these are salaried employees and temporary replacement workers performing jobs that used to be done by the 2700 hourly workers who have been locked out since Feb. 28 when their contract expired.

Given these hazards, the explosion should have been a wake-up call.

Less than one month later, on May 4, Curtis Johnson died after being struck by a large coal cart, The Columbus Dispatch reported.

Twelve hour shifts plus temporary replacement workers equals one dead worker at AK Steel, but no effect on their injury/illness rates!

Of course, you might argue that the good rates are from the good times, before the lockout. Maybe. But first, remember how low those injury rates were and that for at least one month in the first quarter of this year the plant had brand new replacement workers.

Second, companies with superb safety records that are legitimate, have a deeply rooted safety culture. Organizations that value safety over production simply don’t ask replacement workers to work 12-hour shifts in a hazardous steel plant. This is just one example of how OSHA’s new math works, of how it is that every year injuries and illnesses go down, while fatalities and even fatality rates go up. Can both figures be correct? If not, which one do you believe?

If you are having trouble making up your mind, consider the AFL-CIO’s 15th annual “Death on the Job” report.

If you are still having trouble making up your mind, consider this recent study, as reported on April 12 by Occupational Hazards’ Josh Cable.

A NIOSH-funded study conducted by researchers from Michigan State University concludes that the current national system for calculating workplace injuries and illnesses "markedly underestimates the magnitude of these conditions."
The study, which is detailed in the April edition of the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, analyzes Michigan workplace injury and illness data in five different databases, including the Bureau of Labor Statistics, for the years 1999, 2000 and 2001. From that analysis, the researchers conclude that the number of work-related injuries and illnesses in Michigan is three times greater than BLS estimates.

The findings lead the researchers to believe that BLS significantly underestimates U.S. workplace injuries and illnesses. The researchers conclude that BLS needs to overhaul its current system "to address the undercount." (Emphasis added.)

Now, guess from where BLS gets its injury and illness data? OSHA! Remember, fatality figures can’t be gamed so easily and are collected separately – that is not only from OSHA.

If OSHA wants us to take its data seriously, it’s about time the agency started to take its own data seriously. That means enforcing the recordkeeping the standard.

OSHA will tell you it does audit injury and illness logs, but the problem is, declining injury and illness records are not just good for companies and their managers. Declining rates are good for OSHA too. It makes it look like the agency is doing a swell job. It just might be that OSHA is too close to the data to do a good job of auditing. Maybe OSHA needs to audited….After all, when was the last time you heard OSHA admit to a mistake?

Does this remind you of something? Enron cooked its books, of course. And those records were audited too, weren’t they? That’s right, but at least Arthur Anderson is now out of business.

Whereas every year, OSHA has the effrontery to congratulate itself on how injury and illnesses declined yet again. Last year, though, they were silent about one thing: fatality rates. That’s because for the first time in over a decade the fatality rate went up.

Washington Post business columnist Cindy Skrzycki covers the growing scandal at OSHA where Assistant Secretary Ed Foulke showed a bunch of photos showing workers doing some of the dumbest things you've ever seen, contrasting them with a bunch of cute "even-kids-know-better" drawings. (OK, maybe it's more of a flap than a scandal.) The story was first covered in Confined Space earlier this month.

Skrzycki hits the "killing workers is not funny" angle:

In a year when families lost loved ones in multiple mining accidents and at a BP refinery in Ohio Texas, the labor community interpreted the remarks as a slam at workers, blaming them for stupid mistakes on the job. Overall, there were close to 6,000 fatalities in 2004, the latest year available, plus 4.3 million injuries and illnesses.

And then she goes to the source:

It wasn't long before the remarks were being discussed on a widely read blog that covers labor-management issues called Confined Space.

"OSHA Director Ed Foulke Blames Workplace Carnage on Dumb Employees," read the headline, written by Jordan Barab, a former OSHA and union official.

"It's a bad tone to set when you're dealing with people dying in the workplace," said Barab, whose blog includes a weekly toll of worker fatalities. "It's, 'Look at all these stupid workers. Even the kids aren't that stupid,' " he said. "The implication is workers do stupid things."

Or, as I said in my original piece, not only do the photos imply that workers do stupid things, but they miss the main point: "What do photos represent? Workers too dumb to live, or managers too cheap to purchase or rent lifts or cranes?"

Although the article goes on to quote the AFL-CIO's Bill Kojola and the Steelworkers Mike Wright, it misses quoting the real victims of Foulke's speech: the family members of those killed on the job. For example, after reading Foulke's speech, Tammy Miser, whose brother was killed in a dust explosion in 2004 wrote this:

My first thoughts when reading "Adults Do The Darnedest Things" was what my son would have went through if this project was presented to him. He has had a tough enough time dealing with his uncle's death, let along having to draw pictures or feel his uncle was to blame for his horrendous death.

Finally, of course, Skrzycki gives the other side it's say as well (one must be evenhanded, after all). Foulke responded that he wasn't trying to offend anyone (which isn't the point -- his (mis)understanding of why accidents happen is the point.)

The association that was co-sponsoring the event also chimes in

"You had to be there for the whole thing," said Diane Hurns, spokeswoman for the ASSE. "The focus was on the kids. I don't think there was an effort to embarrass workers."

Uh, right, "I guess you had to be there...." Now where have I heard that phrase before?

And if the focus was on the kids in this speech, what was Foulke's excuse for repeating essentially the same speech a week later to a group composed solely of grown-ups?

Because he doesn't get it.

I stand my my original statement. The speech

displayed a shockingly profound lack of understanding of some of the most fundamental principles of workplace safety, combined with an astonishing insensitivity to the tragic losses that thousands of American families face each year.

One more thing. Skrzcki goes to the origin of Foulke's understanding of workplace "accidents" -- his union-busting background (also first covered in Confined Space):

When he left the [Occupational Safety and Health Review]commission, Foulke joined Jackson Lewis LLP, a South Carolina law firm, as a partner. The firm is known as a tough union buster and is advertising on its Web site a $595 seminar on "How to Stay Union Free."

Labels: Ed Foulke

Money can buy lots of things, but apparently it can't buy you your virginity back.

In return for its generious donations to the Texas City College of the Mainland and the College of the Mainland Fondation, the Foundation has decided to select BP as its "Mainland Corporate Hero." BP is the first corporation to be recognized as an honoree at its gala.

But Larry Smith, who teaches at the college and is a founding member of its employee union doesnt' think that a company who has been admitted to the willful killing of 15 workers in an explosion last year is deserving of such an award. According to Smith

naming BP a “hero” so close to the 2005 explosion at its Texas City refinery is “really bad judgment and insensitive.”...."We think it is not good to recognize them at this point and certainly not to call them a hero,” said Smith.

The union doesn't think the fact that BP was found to be the nation's top polluter among refineries in 2004 helps matters.

Foundation president David Moss says the award has nothing to do with the company's environmental or safety record.

“BP has made some healthy donations to the foundation, and that is something the gala committee came up with to make its selection,” said Moss.

He said the bottom line is what the company had done for the students and what it had done for the college and the foundation.

***

Moss contends the honor is a matter of routine for the foundation. Until two years ago, it had a Hats Off gala recognizing one individual. Last year, that process changed to include several people and one corporate donor that are recognized as heroes.

OSHA fined BP $21.3 million for violations related to the explosion, including 170 "Egregious Willful Violations." and the Department of Justice is preparing a civil suit against the company. Last month, OSHA fined a BP refinery near Toledo, Ohio $2.4 million for unsafe operations.

I guess they don't make heros like they used to.

Labels: BP

Louisville Courier Journal editors don't really like the Bush administration's approach to job safety:

Holding industry's hand, which is what the Bush Administration's "compliance assistance" approach amounts to, is no substitute for tough enforcement of tough rules.

They are also understandably skeptical about how Senate leadership will address the bipartisan mine safety legislation introduced last week.

A bipartisan deal in the Senate prompted Kentucky's Mitch McConnell to say he is pleased that committee members have agreed on something to improve mine safety. He added, "I look forward to carefully reviewing their proposal to make sure it takes the appropriate steps to protect the thousands of Kentuckians working in our coal mines." (Emphasis added.)

There are two ways to read that last part. The question is, "appropriate" from whose perspective? The miners and their advocates? The coal industry and its naysayers? Or federal regulators and their overseers, the most important of whom is Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, who is Sen. McConnell's wife?

Any broad, aggressive bill will throw into sharp relief the inadequate job MSHA has done under Ms. Chao's stewardship.

The Courier Journal thinks a bill that protects families' interests, speeds up accident notification, fixes a broken mine rescue system and mandates shelters underground, tougher rules for sealing abandoned areas, action to prevent conveyor-belt fires, better communication and tracking systems, an adequate supply of self-contained self-rescue devices and stiff fines -- would be perfectly appropriate.

I'm not sure if anyone is reading this who matters, but after the deaths yesterday of five more coal miners, bringing this year's total to 31, it is clear to me that Richard Stickler's name should be withdrawn as Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety and Health.

I'm not saying that Richard Stickler is a bad person, or even that he doesn't care about the health and safety of mineworkers. In fact, let's assume that Richard Stickler is sincerely interested in improving the safety of American miners and has every intention of turning MSHA around. The fact is that he is clearly unsuited for this job, and I'm not basing this only on the fact that Stickler is yet another in a long line of Bush administration industry foxes that have been appointed to guard this country's henhouses.

The job of leading one of this country's workplace safety and health agencies is much more than just having good intentions and some safety experience in the industry. Moving the health and safety agenda forward requires fighting tough political battles on several fronts. The most obvious is the battle against those companies who seek to shortcut safety in order to maximize production, particularly when coal prices are at their highest level in 20 years.

It took this country over 200 years to figure out that leaving workplace safety in the hands of employers did not ensure safe working conditions. This lesson was ignored when George Bush came into office, but it's been painfully re-emphasized since January. Even with the best of intentions, the person who heads MSHA needs a healthy sense of skepticism, a clear sense of right and wrong and strong character in order to deal with what former mine safety official Tony Oppegard calls "the greed or indifference of mine operators." Most of all he or she needs to be independent of the companies that MSHA regulates.

Issuing unpopular and costly regulations and enforcing the law against the good buddies with whom you've spent your entire career is not easy even for the strongest, most principled individuals. Richard Stickler has given us no reason to believe that he has the strength, independence or character to do the job.

But the struggle against unsafe employers is only one of the battles that an MSHA director will need to fight in Washington DC. Two other major obstacles are the United States Congress and the Bush Administration. Even if we assume that Stickler is sincere about improving MSHA's effectiveness, it's highly doubtful that he is strong enough or experienced enough to effectively fight the all-important inside political battles.

Our Congressional representatives -- particularly those in control at this point -- like to talk a good line, but, like employers, don't always follow up with needed resources. Five and a half months after Sago, bi-partisan mine safety legislation was introduced into the Senate just last week. And only the Democrats have introduced legislation in the House of Representatives. One might think that an Republican agency director would not have a problem with a Republican Congress. But in reality, that only makes the job harder for someone who is sincerely interested in change. Bucking your own party is never easy, but it's even harder in this case where your boss (Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao), who is responsible for running the agency into the ground for five years, is married to the Senate Majority Whip (Mitch McConnell). Neither Chao nor McConnell has ever shown any sincere interest in workplace safety.

The most difficult barrier for any agency head sincerely interested in change is, of course, his own administration which may be concerned -- in the short term -- with limiting political fallout from mine disasters, but has no interest or motivation to do much of anything that might disturb their industry patrons once the headlines disappear and the photos of grieving widows fade from people's memories.

There is nothing in Stickler's history or testimony at his confirmation hearing that shows him to be the man best qualified for this job. Most of his career was spent in industry where the mines he managed had injury rates that were double the national average, according to government data assembled by the United Mineworkers. And while serving as Pennsylvania’s director of the Bureau of Deep Mine Safety, his role in not preventing the Quecreek mine near-disaster has been told. The mine had flooded to to errors in mine maps. Following the flood, which resulted in the amazing rescue of trapped miners, a grand jury determined that the bureau, which had been headed by Stickler for 5 years at that point, should have noticed the mapping problems sooner.

Stickler made an equally unimpressive impression at his confirmation hearing. His appearance was less than dynamic, to put it mildly. Some observers quipped that they were tempted to check his pulse to see if he was alive. But it wasn't just his style that was lacking. As Charleston Gazette editors wrote in an editorial opposing Stickler's confirmation:

Despite widespread belief that more communication equipment and better safety enforcement might have saved at least 11 of those men [lost at Sago], Stickler told U.S. senators that current mine safety laws are “adequate.” A day later, two more miners died in separate incidents in Boone County.

What this says is that although Richard Stickler may be a very nice man who may be sincerely interested in making sure more coal miners don't get killed, what this country needs in order to make serious change in this agency is someone not only knowledgeable and concerned, but someone with the vision, personal strength, independence, dynamic personality and political sophistication to navigate the treacherous shoals of corporate interests, public opinion, the media, and the internal politics of Congress, Elaine Chao's Department of Labor, the Office of Management and Budget and the Dick Cheney's energy industry friendly White House.

I don't think there there's anyone in either party who sincerely thinks that Richard Stickler is even close to the kind of person that is needed to lead MSHA. I honestly don't even think -- in his heart of hearts -- that Richard Stickler thinks that Richard Stickler is that man.

The fact is that Richard Stickler was nominated to head the Mine Safety and Health Administration in long forgotten, bygone era -- back in the days when almost no one knew what MSHA was, or cared much about what the agency did. That era ended on January 2, 2006 -- three and a half months after Stickler's nomination -- when the Sago coal mine exploded.

Sticker may have been an appropriate -- or at least typical -- choice of this administration in that bygone era. But today we sit and watch as the death toll in our nation's coal mines rises to crisis levels -- 31 already this year, compared to 5 at this time last year, 11 at this point in 2004, 13 at this date in 2003 and 12 at this time in 2002. And the carnage and shows no sign of slowing down. At this rate, we're heading toward the highest number coal mine fatalities in 20 years -- a time when we had over 60% more coal miners than we have today.

It is clear that the time has come -- even for a business dominated Republican administration -- to realize that doing anything less than appointing an individual who can credibly lead the charge for an overhaul of this nation's mine safety system is nothing less than condemning more miners to preventable and needless death.

President Bush should withdraw Stickler's name. And if Richard Stickler really wants to make a contribution to the safety of America's miners, he should do the right thing himself.


More stories on recent mine disasters here.

Labels: Coal Mining, Foxes Guarding The Chickencoop, Richard Stickler

Preliminary autopsy results show that three of the five miners killed in yesterday's coal mine explosion in Kentucky may have survived the initial blast, but died of carbon monoxide poisoning as they tried to escape the mine. The three who suffocated were George William Petra, 49; and Paris Thomas Jr., 53. The other two miners (Amon Brock, 51, and Jimmy D. Lee, 33) died of blunt force trauma and heat injuries from the explosion at the Darby Mine No. 1.

Early evidence also indicates that coal dust may have caused the explosion. The main explosion may have been initiated by a smaller methane explosion, which kicked large amounts of highly explosive coal dust into the air, causing a much larger secondary explosion:

After visiting the Darby mine on Saturday, Gov. Ernie Fletcher had said the evidence suggested a methane leak ignited, but added that damage from the blast about 5,000 feet into the mine reached the surface.

“We had a fairly extensive explosion that blew out with such force that even the mine entry … had a tremendous amount of discharge to the point that debris punctured oil cans that were about probably, I’d say, 200 or 300 feet from the mine opening,” Fletcher said.

That kind of force most likely came from a coal-dust explosion, Tony Oppegard, former general counsel to Kentucky’s mine safety agency, said Sunday.

“Anytime you have an explosion that rips through a mine and travels 5,000 feet and is felt on the surface, that is almost assuredly a secondary coal dust explosion if not a primary dust explosion,” Oppegard said.

Even more troubling, according to Oppegard, is that MSHA had cited the mine 47 times since April 2001 "for not cleaning up coal dust and other combustible material, not properly maintaining or failing to properly apply crushed limestone -- known as rock dust -- to minimize the danger of coal dust explosions."

“Rock dust suppresses fire, supresses explosions,” he said. “There are many recorded cases, and the Sago Mine (in West Virginia, where 12 miners died Jan. 2) is an example, where a methane explosion was confined to the immediate area because the mine was well-rock-dusted.”

The MSHA records show that the Darby mine was fined once for $500 for not cleaning up coal dust or other combustible materials, but many of the other violations carried the minimum penalty of $55 or $60.

“These are not nit-picky violations,” Oppegard said. “Those are crucial to mine safety and it’s unfortunate that a lot of operators consider them to be nit-picky violations and unimportant.”

The Kentucky legislature passed a law requiring mines to store breathing devices underground and to set up lifelines to help miners find their way out, but it doesn't take effect until July.

One miner, Paul Ledford, survived the blast and was found unconscious near the mine's entrance. According to his brother,

There were problems with his brother's rescue breather that was supposed to provide him with an hour's worth of clean air.

"He said his didn't last five minutes," he said.

Yesterday's deaths brought to 31 the number of coal miners killed during 2006, a year that began with the Sago mine tragedy, where one miner was killed in an explosion and 11 others suffocated to death while awaiting rescue. Twenty-two coal miners were killed in all of 2005. Ten Kentucky miners have been killed this year, compared with 8 in all of 2005.

More stories on recent mine safety problems can be found here.

Labels: Coal Mining

I published a piece last week about the Bush administration's appointment of John Correll to head the Office of Surface Mining at the Department of Interior and how the press release boasted that he “has been responsible for management of all aspects” of administration's Mine Safety and Health Administration (as if that was supposed to be a positive recommendation.) I also mentioned that like many Bush administration officials who have jobs in watchdog agencies, he came out of the industry he was supposed to be regulating, in this case from management positions at Amax Mining and Peabody Coal Co (pdf).

But it turns out that incompetence and cronyism is the least of Correll's problems. A bit more research reveals also was deeply involved in improper contracting while at MSHA, and was instrumental in the firing of an MSHA whistleblower.

What does OSM do?

The OSM's primary objectives are to ensure that coal mining activities are conducted in a manner that protects citizens and the environment during mining, to ensure that the land is restored to beneficial use following mining, and to mitigate the effects of past mining by aggressively pursuing reclamation of abandoned coal mines.

And what recent experience does Correll have in protecting citizens and the environment during mining?

You may recall the case of Jack Spadaro, former superintendent of MSHA's National Mine Health and Safety Academy in Beckley, W.Va -- and whistleblower -- who was fired in retaliation for uncovering of the fact that Martin County Coal (owned by Massey Energy) knew about problems that eventually resulted in a massive toxic coal slurry spill -- "the worst environmental catastrophe in the history of the Eastern United States," according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Far more extensive in damage than the widely known 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill off the coast of Alaska, the Martin County Coal slurry spill dumped an estimated 306 million gallons of toxic sludge down 100 miles of waterways.

Spadaro was a member of the team investigating the spill and blew the whistle on the whitewashed investigation, accusing Bush administration political appointees of cutting the investigation short, playing down the coal company's responsibility and not holding federal regulators accountable for weak oversight. He also blew the whistle on former Assistant Secretary of Labor for MSHA, Dave Lauriski and MSHA's two deputies -- Correll and John Caylor -- for their connections to not-for-bid contracts that went to longtime friends and associates Gerry Silver and Ben Sheppard. Sheppard obtained a series of contracts worth about $190,000. Silver received more than $100,000 from MSHA. One of these contracts, totaling $200,000 for educational training, had been recorded at MSHA as just 180 small contracts for $1,025 each. (More details about that in this anonymous comment to the previous piece.) Lauriski resigned shortly after an Inspector General report confirmed the wrongdoing.

But you can't fire someone for whistleblowing, so Spadaro was accused of a number of minor violations of government rules, including providing free room and board at the mine safety academy to two disabled instructors in a mine rescue competition. He was also accused of making unauthorized cash advances on a government credit card when he needed money to entertain dignitaries and students at the academy, and failure to follow supervisory instructions and appropriate accident procedures. Spadaro had paid his credit card bills on time, but chalked up a whopping $22.60 in processing fees.

And who was given the responsibility to make the final decision on Spadaro's fate at MSHA? None other than John Correll. Spadaro was fired. Correll upheld 13 of the 15 allegations against Spadaro, saying he had "flouted government regulations and agency policies in a variety of issues." He was then reinstated, put on administrative leave, demoted and transferred. Finally,

Just two months shy of his 28th anniversary as a federal government employee--he resigned. A serious case of high blood pressure, lawyer's fees of over $20,000, and frustration with how long it was taking for his appeal to be decided by the Merit Systems Protection Board contributed to Spadaro's decision to throw in the towel. "I'm just very tired of fighting," he said. "I've been fighting this administration since early 2001. I want a little peace for a while."

According to Spadaro,

"I've been in federal government for 27 years, and this is the most lawless administration I have ever seen," he said. "They care nothing for the rights of their employees. They certainly care nothing about enforcing the laws they are charged with enforcing, and they run roughshod over anyone who might try to get them to obey the laws."

So, the man soon to be in charge of the safety of America's surface mining activities was responsible for the firing of an MSHA official who revealed the coverup of "the worst environmental catastrophe in the history of the Eastern United States."

The only word that comes to mind is: "typical."

Incidentally, Jack Spadaro recently won the 2006 Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Award for his personal achievement in defending the First Amendment.

Related Articles

• Croneyism Still Alive And Well In Bush Administration, May 18, 2006
• MSHA Whistleblower on CBS 60 Minutes, April 5, 2004
  
• One of the worst environmental disasters in U.S. history: Anatomy of a Coverup, December 17, 2003
• Better than a Political Novel, November 9, 2003

Labels: John Correll

The carnage underground continues.

Five coal miners were killed today in an explosion in Harlan County, Kentucky. One miner was able to escape unharmed.

The blast at the Darby Mine No. 1 in Harlan County occurred between midnight and 1 a.m. EDT while a maintenance shift was on duty, said Amy Louviere, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration. It was the latest in a string of mine accidents to hit U.S. coal country this year.

"We don't know the details of the cause," [Kentucky Governor Ernie] Fletcher told The Associated Press.

The five dead miners were found by rescue workers, the governor said. The rescue teams initially found three dead workers and later found two more, he said.

Miners killed in the explosion were: Amon Brock, Jimmy Lee, Roy Middleton, George William Petra and Paris Thomas Jr.. The mine is operated by Kentucky Darby LLC.

United Mine Workers President Cecil Roberts urged state and federal mine officials to "redouble their inspection and enforcement activities, starting now."

"This tragedy only compounds what has already been a horrific year in America's coal mines," Roberts said in a statement.

Today's deaths bring to 31 the number of coal miners killed during 2006, a year that began with the Sago mine tragedy, where one miner was killed in an explosion and 11 others suffocated to death while awaiting rescue. Twenty-two coal miners were killed in all of 2005. Ten Kentucky miners have been killed this year, compared with 8 in all of 2005.

Mine safety experts declared a crisis:

“I think it’s a crisis right now,” said Tony Oppegard, former general counsel to Kentucky’s mine safety agency. “When we have 31 coal miners killed in less than five months, that’s a crisis and it needs to be treated as a crisis and dealt with.”

“We need to stop this fiction that all coal operators are good guys and all you need to do is talk them and they’ll do the right thing, which is the cornerstone of the Bush administration philosophy,” Oppegard said. “We need to crack down on operators instead of trying to babysit them.”

In 2005 and 2005, the mine reported no injuries, according to MSHA, but had been fined over $8300 and paid almost half of that total. Most of the almost 80 citations were for less than $200 each, even though one-third were classified as "serious and substantial," the highest level of MSHA violation. The mine received an additional ten citatations earlier this month for which fines have not yet been assessed. Four of those are considered by MSHA to be serious and substantial, one of which was for "Accumulation of Combustible Materials."

Earlier this week, House Democrats, as well as Democrats and Republicans in the Senate introduced mine safety legislation in response to the high number of coal mining deaths this year. The state of Kentucky passed coalmine safety legislation earlier this year.

More information on mine safety problems this year can be found here.

Labels: Coal Mining

Chalk up yet another example to disprove Senator Enzi's theory that "The notion that employers care little about worker safety, or are prepared to sacrifice worker health in the pursuit of profit is a dangerous myth."

Tariq Alamgir and Nasir Bhatti, owners of Metla Contracting and Roofing, Inc., were indicted in federal court last week for failing to provide fall protection which led to the death of Mohamadou Jabbie,an immigrant worker who fell 60 feet from a scaffold in Bushwick, NY last June. What caused Jabbie's death took a little while to discover:

A co-worker initially told an OSHA investigator that Jabbie had been wearing a safety harness, but took it off just before the accident. Later, the co-worker admitted that wasn't true, and said that no one from Metla ever told them that safety equipment was required.

The co-worker also disclosed that when Alamgir arrived at the scene of the accident, he told the worker "to tell investigators that harnesses had been on site prior to the collapse," according to court papers.

Alamgir made the same claim to OSHA investigators when he was interviewed, and is additionally charged with making false statements

If convicted, the contractors each face up to six months in jail and $10,000 fines. OSHA has already fined the company $126,00, including a $70,000 willful citaion.

Under federal safety rules, workers potentially exposed to a fall of 6 feet or more must have some type of protection, such as guard rails, safety nets or harnesses.

So maybe if Alamgir ansd Bhatti had only known about these OSHA standards and taken advantage of compliance assistance offered by OSHA, they would have acted responsibly and done the right thing.

Think again:

Metla Construction, Inc.,...had been slapped with 20 safety violations in 2004-2005 by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration for failing to provide workers with fall protection at two work sites, but never settled the violations and ignored the penalties.

I'd say I was shocked and surprised if this was something that didn't happen almost every day.
Jail sounds just about right to me.

Labels: Criminal Prosecution

Beth Daley at the Project on Government Oversight's Pogo blog points out that the appointment of John Correll to direct the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement at the Department of Interior seems to indicate that "Being qualified and effective at your job apparently seems to be a quaint and outdated notion in the world of political appointments to our federal government."

His main qualification? Correll has “has been responsible for management of all aspects” of the Mine Safety and Health Administration.

And that is supposed to be a good thing?

Daley excerpts a speech by West Virginia Congressman Nick Rahall on Correll's appointment:

Mr. Correll has been part of the leadership at MSHA during a time when the policy floor fell out. Under his leadership the philosophy at MSHA changed from one of oversight and compliance to one of partnership and complicity.

Rulemakings were abandoned. Opportunities to improve coal miner safety were closeted away. And Mr. Correll and others within the Bush Labor Department advocated partnering with industry to address safety concerns, rather than to enforce the law.

In fact, in 1998, Mr. Correll testified before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce’s Subcommittee on Workforce Protection advocating fewer inspections, incentives over penalties, and cooperation over regulation.

While other Nations soared ahead in mine safety, incorporating new technologies to ensure and improve protections for their most precious mining resource -- their workers – this Nation, through a cultural shift at MSHA, remained in the dust. It has been a shameful record that I would loath to see carried over to OSM.

Oh, and before MSHA? Daley notes that he held management positions at Amax Mining and Peabody Coal Co (pdf).

I'm sure he'll do a hell of a job over at OSM.

Labels: John Correll

Don't know how I missed this. Luckily, I'm a blogger with friends who send me stuff.

Former mine safety official Tony Oppegard sent me this powerful NBC News story from last January about a miner who was killed in 2004 filming unsafe conditions in the mine in which he worked.

Twenty-five–year-old Edwin Pennington told his wife he’d had a close call the day before. “He was scared. He said he almost got hit by the rock and that it barely missed him,” said his wife, Tasha Pennington.

So Pennington went back with his camera, and he ended up taping the final minutes of his own life. His family sometimes watches the tape, even though they know how it ends.

“I’d give anything in this world if there was some way that you could pause it and tell them to get out,” says his brother Darren Pennington.

The miners, in a space only four feet tall, work to shore up the timbers that brace a part of the mine's roof. The videotape shows one of the timbers broken, and bits of rock dribbling down. One miner nervously tests the roof with his hammer, aware they are working directly underneath a giant seam in the rock. The miners even joke about death.

Soon after, a rock falls and the roof seems to be bulging. The miners try to scramble away, but eventually, Pennington is crushed under a slab of rock 200 feet long. The other miners escape.

The company knew of the hazard, but hadn't warned the miners. MSHA had fined the company numerous times, including a $3,600 fine for allowing miners to work under an unsupported roof.

“The company’s been going on about its business for the last year and a half basically without any consequences so far,” says Tony Oppegard, a former mine safety official.
Edwin’s father, Everett, is frustrated: “Nobody’s been held accountable for his death. It’s just as if it never happened.”

Bell County Coal refused to comment. The company is challenging $154,000 in fines for safety violations associated with Pennington’s death, calling them unsubstantiated and “excessive.”

Labels: Coal Mining

One of the benefits of having a bad travel day (see below) is that you get to catch up on some of the important things you haven't gotten around to.

And one of the things I've been meaning to do is review an important new publication on using workplace safety issues to organize called Tools of the Trade: A Health and Safety Handbook for Action, put together by the University of California at Berkeley's Labor Occupational Health Program.

This is a practical, "how to" resource guide for those who want to strengthen their unions and community groups while fighting to improve the health and safety of workers. How can unions and other worker advocates win this most basic of workers' rights -- the right to return home safely from a day's work? How can they engage the worker themselves in this process? How can they integrate health and safety advocacy into all aspects of their work?

I spend a lot of time writing about the politics of workplace health and safety, and far too little time writing about what needs to happen in the workplace where the rubber hits the road. And although I try to cover organizing campaigns and victories where health and safety has played an important role (like here and here), this publication discusses exactly what those workers had to do to win those battles. Tools of the Trade is more than just your regular health and safety manual full of good information about workplace hazards. It focuses on how to use the hazards that workers face every day to organize for change.

Some of the most frustrating and frequent questions I get are from workers who are facing hazards, but don't know what to do -- because their union leaders don’t know what to do or they're not union members or because OSHA's not helping or because their issues aren't covered by OSHA standards. I try to provide assistance, but this publication makes my life a lot easier. It's full of information, helpful hints and practical, useful tools like worksheets, questionnaires, tips for success and concrete step by step instructions on how to get information and train workers, not just about what's hurting them and making them sick, but how to mobilize their members to organize for change. The chapters cover issues like forming health and safety committees, organizing training, getting information, identifying problems, using OSHA, bargaining for health and safety and building community alliances.

Each chapter includes sections covering the advantages of each tool -- and the part I like best -- the challenges of using each tool -- in other words, what can go wrong. The publication is full of actual stories of how workers have used these tools to change their workplaces.

It also covers the broad scope of workplace safety, not just the traditional chemical, machine and ergonomic hazards, but "new" problems like workload and pace, lack of rest and recovery. And it doesn't shy away from the political, urging workers to fight back to save their right to a healthy and safe workplace, a right that is rapidly being stripped away.

Although the publication focuses on unionized workplaces, it doesn't neglect that fact that most American workplaces are not organized. Most of the tools it describes can be successfully used by organized or unorganized workers -- who will hopefully then go on to organize unions.

Finally, Tools of the Trade includes a chapter on building community support for health and safety struggles that reflects lessons learned from working with community organizations. It provides suggestions for establishing respectful two way working relationships -- and eventually long term trusting partnerships.

Canadian labor leader Bob Sass once said that "Knowledge isn't power, power is power." And power is necessary to effect workplace change. Tools of the Trade charts helps workers chart that course from hazards to information to power to change.

Full Disclosure: Over on the right is an advertisement for Tools of the Trade and although the ad has brought me untold riches, it has nothing to do with my praise for this publication. So click on the ad, and shell out the $25. (Tell them Confined Space sent you) You'll be glad you did.

(And while you're at it, check out LOHP's Collective Bargaining for Health and Safety—A Handbook for Unions)

Today was a bad air day -- as in airplane.

From dawn to dusk the dogs of delay stalked me like a wounded deer without remorse, schlepping from airline to airline, from terminal to terminal, praying for relief.

But there was to be no escape from the wrathful Gods of weather cancellations, computer glitches, ticketing confusion, maintenance problems, more maintenance problems and more weather delays as what started out as a short 5-hour jaunt from the capital of the United States to the capital of Arkansas turned into a 12 hour forced march -- first north, then south -- across half a continent.

So instead of attending this afternoon’s conference sessions, then enjoying dinner with colleagues and seeing the sites of Little Rock…

Or instead of being home, attending my soon-to-fly-the-coop daughter’s final softball banquet…

I sit alone, by myself, in my hotel room, eating room service, watching television and trying to figure out what the hell’s really happening on Alias and Lost and whether “the others” might actually be the long-lost disciples of Rambaldi.

Then tomorrow, after my speech, I head to the airport to do it all over again, in reverse.

Ah, the romance of travel, the exciting adventures of the brave road warrior….

OK, I suppose it could be worse. Most people don’t even have a blog to complain to.

Washington Metro employee Jong Won Lee, 49, was killed Sunday after being hit by a Metro train while repairing track equipment. Today, the Washington Post greets us with this headline:

Worker Hit by Train Took Safety Course

The Metro employee who was struck and killed by a train Sunday at the Dupont Circle Station had received extra safety training put in place after a similar workplace fatality seven months ago, an agency spokeswoman said yesterday.

Well, shit, if he had "extra safety training," clearly he must have screwed up and disregarded his "extra safety training," right? Case closed.

Not so fast. First, it's far too early to tell. But from what we know about this accident, and a similar Metro fatality seven months ago, it isn't clear that even "extra, extra, extra training" would have helped.

What do we know so far?

Trains were running in both directions. The employees were able to stay clear of a northbound train. But Lee, who had worked for Metro since 1999, stepped back to avoid that train and was hit by a southbound train, No. 110, Metro officials said. He was struck, knocked onto the 750-volt third rail and electrocuted, according to Metro spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein. The third rail powers the trains and runs parallel to the rails that carry them.

The train that struck Lee was operating in automatic mode, traveling at 40 mph and braking as it entered the Dupont Circle Station, she said.

And what do we know about the previous fatality the resulted in the "extra safety training?" According to a Metro press release

"Various safety procedures were not followed during the track work project," said Fred Goodine, assistant general manager for system safety and risk protection. "For example, the track and structures and systems maintenance supervisor failed to contact the operations control center before approaching the track work area. He later left the work area, failing to ensure a safe work site for the crew at the time of the accident."

Also, train operators are supposed to sound a horn to warn track workers the train is approaching and stop if they don't receive acknowledgment that it was heard. The panel ruled that two train operators, including the one that hit Waldron, did not follow those procedures.

"Those operators will be disciplined for not following those procedures," said Steve Feil, chief operating officer of rail. "But the main fault still lies with the dismissed supervisor for not notifying his crew of the oncoming train or the operations control center of their location."

***

"This is a sad time for us. Had employees followed proper procedures, this unfortunate accident wouldn't have happened," Goodine said.

OK, let's first note the fact that the focus of that investigation was on the supervisors and the train operators, not what the worker who was killed did or what kind of training he had or didn't have.

But more important, although I haven't seen that report, but I'm always very suspicious of any accident investigation that concludes that "human error" was the main cause. As we've seen numerous times, most notably in last year's BP Texas City refinery explosion that killed 15 workers, it's too easy -- and generally wrong -- to simply blame workers for not following procedures and then fire the wrongdoers.

Usually, if you look a little deeper and ask "why" the workers weren't following procedures, you'll find the real root causes which, if corrected, could prevent similar accidents as well.

The fact is that human beings inevitably make errors. In fact, errors should be expected. But rather than focusing on the workers who make the errors, effective accident analysis – analysis that actually wants to get to the root causes and effective solutions -- looks for the conditions that made the errors possible.

Why weren't workers following procedures? Were they told to do things a different way by a supervisor who had a quota to fill? Were employees expected to take shortcuts to get the work done faster? Did they feel rushed by the constant drive to finish a job by the deadline? Were they not well trained for the job? Were they tired from too much overtime? Did the written procedures not make sense in the environment in which they were working? Did they not have the proper tools? These are the kinds of questions that need to be asked. Because if the answers to any of these questions lead to the real root cause of the accident, just firing someone isn't going to help anything. The same conditions are still there, and the same accident will happen again.

So here's a hint for Metro investigators. When you have two similar "human error" accidents, most knowledgeable investigators will tell you that it's a pretty good sign that you missed some of the deeper root causes in your first investigation.

Finally, maybe the answer to this problem is obvious. You can do extra, extra, extra super-duper training and fire everyone who even thinks about violating procedures. But ultimately, it may just come down to this: Maybe it's just too dangerous to have workers on the tracks when trains are traveling in both directions.


Related Stories

• Blaming The Worker: In Texas City and On the Rails, May 18, 2005
• "Engineers and conductors sleep on trains. Anyone who tells you different is not being straight with you," May 9, 2005
• Behavioral Safety Out of Control and The KFM Flu, April 12, 2005
• Deaths and Injuries at US Steel: Blame the Workers?, Feb 24, 2005
• Behavioral Safety Comes To The Railroads, November 15, 2004
• Blame the Worker: Chinese Style, January 3, 2004
• Worker Error Department (cont'd), April 14, 2003
• Worker Error Department, Part 2 April 11, 2003
• Worker Error Department, April 10, 2003

Labels: Behavioral Safety

More than five months after the Sago mine disaster, there are legislative rumblings in Congress -- on both sides.

Joined by family members of miners killed in the explosion at the Sago Mine, Democratic members of the US House of Representatives today introduced the "Protecting America's Miners Act" to improve safety in the nation's coal mines. They also noted that House Republicans have failed to act on mine safety, even though 26 coal miners have died so far this year, compared with 22 in all of 2005.

As Congressman George Miller pointed out:

After Janet Jackson's so-called "wardrobe malfunction" at the Super Bowl in 2004, it took the House just 40 days to approve anti-indecency legislation.

I bring that example up to make one simple point: the House can act quickly when it wants to, and in this case, it should.

We think our legislation is very good legislation. But we aren't saying the House must pass this exact legislation.

All we are asking is that members of Congress from both sides of the aisle come together immediately – not next week, not next month, but immediately – to pass legislation to make the nation's mines safer. I promise that we will not give up – we will keep fighting – until that happens. We owe it to the 26 coal miners who have died so far this year; we owe it to their families; and we owe it to the thousands of men and women who work in the nation's mines.

Yesterday, Charlie Norwood , (R-Ga), chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on Worker Protections, announced that he would introduce mine safety legislation before Memorial Day.

Meanwhile, across the way, Senators Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) and Mike Enzi, (R-WY) announced bipartisan mine safety legislation. Enzi is chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee (HELP), and Kennedy is Ranking Member.

The House bill calls for increasing penalties with new fines of up to $1 million for operators who engage in a "pattern of violations" that could lead to injury or death. It would also increase the maximum fine increasing from $60,000 to $500,000. The bill would also require better communications and tracking equipment, increased and reliable oxygen supplies, and underground refuge stations where miners can go while they await rescue. MSHA would be required to issue new rules to address the flammability of conveyor belts, the effectiveness of coal mine seals, and respirable coal dust, the cause of black lung disease.

A summary of the House bill can be found here and the full text can be found here.

The Senate Bill would require more emergency oxygen supplies and require wireless two-way communications and an electronic tracking system permitting those on the surface to locate persons trapped underground within three years. Seals for abandoned sections of mines would have to be strengthened, rescue teams would be required tobe only one hour away, rather than two hours away as is currently required. The Senate bill would also increase the maximum MSHA penalty against mine owners from $60,000 to $220,000.

Senator Kennedy's press release can be found here.

The Senate bill is co-sponsored by Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV), Senator Johnny Isakson (R-GA) and Senator Patty Murray, (D-WA).

Cosponsors of the House legislation are Miller, Rahall, Chandler, and Major Owens (D-NY), the senior Democrat on the Subcommittee on Workforce Protections; Alan Mollohan (D-WV); Rush Holt (D-NJ); Sherrod Brown (D-OH); Artur Davis (D-AL); and Jerry Costello (D-IL).

Labels: Charlie Norwood, Coal Mining

Articles covering the illness and growing number of deaths resulting from lung disease related to working in the ruins of the World Trade Center grow more numerous.

The New York Times has awakened to the story:

The Fire Department tracked a startling increase in cases of a particular lung scarring disease, known as sarcoidosis, among firefighters, which rose to five times the expected rate in the two years after Sept. 11. Though that rate has declined, doctors worry that the disease may be lurking in other firefighters. Experts who regularly see workers who were at ground zero in the 48 hours after the towers' collapse expect monitoring to show many more cases of lung- scarring disorders among that group.

New evidence also suggests that workers who arrived later or worked on the periphery may also be susceptible to debilitating lung ailments.

"We have thousands of people who were down there with unprotected exposures," said Dr. Stephen M. Levin, a director of the World Trade Center Worker and Volunteer Medical Screening Program. "Many will develop asthma and a few will develop this terrible lung scarring that leads to disability or death."

The Times also notes differences in the way these cases are being handled by the New York Police and Fire Departments:

In some cases, making such links causes so much discord that government agencies have come to conflicting conclusions, extending the misery of those involved.

For example, firefighters who have developed sarcoidosis since Sept. 11 are thought to have contracted the disease because of their work at ground zero. Yet the Police Pension Board has ruled that working at ground zero did not cause the death of a police officer who developed the disease.

"This rift between the Police and Fire Departments is ridiculous," said Michelle Haskett-Godbee, whose husband, Police Officer James J. Godbee Jr., died in December 2004. She said that Officer Godbee, who had worked at or near ground zero for more than 850 hours, suddenly developed a hacking cough and grew progressively weaker, although he had to keep working.

After his lung collapsed in March 2004, Officer Godbee, a former marine and 19-year police veteran, grew frail and listless. In the weeks before he died, he could barely get out of an easy chair at his Stuyvesant Town apartment, Mrs. Godbee said.

The autopsy done by the New York medical examiner's office found that Officer Godbee's lungs were pitted with the blisters and scars caused by sarcoidosis.

Despite the Fire Department's well-researched information on sarcoidosis, the Police Pension Board last June denied Mrs. Godbee's application for a line-of-duty death benefit, which would have provided her widow's benefits — equal to half her husband's annual salary — every year for the rest of her life. The board said that sarcoidosis is "not known to be related to employment in the police force."

The New York Post reports on the extent of the damage the New York Firefighters are suffering

FDNY rescuers who sucked in toxic air while working at Ground Zero lost the equivalent of 12 years of lung function after the World Trade Center attacks, a bombshell health study shows.

"World Trade Center exposure produced a substantial reduction in pulmonary function in New York City Fire Department rescue workers during the first year following 9/11/01," according to the analysis of 12,079 fire and EMT workers conducted by Montefiore Medical Center-Einstein College and the FDNY.

***

"There was a drop in lung function equivalent to 12 years of aging," said co-author Dr. Gisela Banauch, a professor at Montefiore/Einstein College in The Bronx. "It's statistically a very significant loss."

"This study - together with other studies that have been published - makes a causal connection between WTC exposure and short- to intermediate-term respiratory disease very likely," Banauch told The Post of the findings, published in the American Journal of Respiratory Critical Care Medicine.

The New York Post also looks at the toll the disease has taken on one firefighter:

John Miscanic was the fitness buff at FDNY Engine Co. 276 in the Midwood section of Brooklyn. He jogged, lifted weights and boxed.

But Miscanic, 40 - who played shortstop for his James Madison HS baseball team - can't do any of these things now.

He's been forced into disability retirement after inhaling hazardous dust and fumes while dutifully taking part in rescue and recovery efforts at Ground Zero.

"I was on the engine going over the Brooklyn Bridge as the second tower was coming down," said Miscanic, who still gets emotional over the terrible memories.

Miscanic suffers from asthma and airway hyper-reactivity.

"I was the epitome of health. I ran four times a week. I worked out in the gym,"

***

His respiratory disability is permanent and related to his 9/11-WTC exposures," an FDNY medical report of his condition concluded.

Miscanic now walks around with an inhaler and takes three drugs to help him breathe: Advair, Pulmicort and Singulair.

He spits up brown mucus in the shower every morning and wheezes at night.

Air fresheners are barred from his home because he'll choke. Even perfume burns his insides.

He drinks lots of water to clear his throat.

And ASFSCME District Council 37 Public Employee Press reports on Deborah Reeve, the third AFSCME Local 2507 paramedic to die of an illness tied to toxic exposures at the 9/1l disaster site.

During the eight-month recovery period, Reeve was assigned at various times to the morgue at Ground Zero, where she helped medical examiners identify body parts from the rubble.

By 2003, she began having respiratory problems — difficulty breathing and a persistent cough. Doctors later discovered cancer in her lungs and diagnosed it as mesothelioma, which develops after exposure to asbestos. After waging a two-year battle with the malignancy, Paramedic Reeve passed away on March 15; she was 41 years old.

“She was an amazing Paramedic, a wonderful wife and mother and a good friend,” said Pat Bahnken, president of Local 2507.

The collapsing towers killed four DC 37 members. Paramedic Carlos Lillo, Paramedic Lieutenant Ricardo Quinn of Local 3621 and Fire Dept. Chaplain Mychal Judge of Local 299 all died doing their city jobs. Chet Louie, a Betting Clerk in Local 2021, had a second job in the WTC.

But the death toll didn’t end on 9/11. The price of doing good was an early death for Emergency Medical Technicians Felix Hernandez and Tim Keller and Paramedic Reeve.

Reeve also had trouble getting benefits:

Despite her heroics at Ground Zero, Paramedic Reeve, who worked at Station 20 at Jacobi Hospital, had to spend a year fighting the city for disability benefits. After her Workers’ Compensation claim was rejected, the New York City Employees’ Retirement System made Reeve the first city worker to get a line-of-duty-injury disability pension under the new 9/11 disability law, but she did not live long enough to receive a check.

Labels: 9/11 World Trade Center Workers

A bit of amusing news from this week's Inside OSHA (paid subscription). Industry attorney Topper Thompson has been nominated for the open seat on the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. Thompson has a reputation for representing some of the worst of the worst, including the Avondale Shipyards in a decade long battle with the union that included some ugly workplace deaths and injuries.

Because Thompson would make the second business representative on the three member panel that decides appeals of OSHA citations, Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) has put a hold on his nomination so that he and Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), have the opportunity to ask a number of additional questions.

In response to one question, Thompson argued that OSHA should issue more standards and stop relying so much on the General Duty Clause, which OSHA can use when no standard applies. (The problem is that General Duty Clause citations are difficult to defend and are generally used only after an incident):

A second challenge [facing American workers today] is to create a more workable process to update safety and health standards in order to provide OSHA with a feasible alternative to excessive application of the General Duty Clause to address changes in our recognition of the nature of hazards. Long and drawn out litigation challenging new or revised standards has often frustrated efforts by the agency to update standards.

Well, that's surprisingly good news coming from the nominee of an administration that has issued only one major standard (under court order), repealed the ergonomics standard, and then broke its promise to use the General Duty Clause to cite employers whose workers suffer from musculoskeletal disorders. Over the past five years, the Bush administration has issued only 17 General Duty Citations related to ergonomics, the biggest cause of injuries and illnesses for American workers.

But hold the celebration, not so fast:

While Thompson says OSHA should update its standards instead of relying on General Duty Clause citations, when it comes to ergonomics he has a different viewpoint. He says that ergonomic injuries are real injuries but stops short of calling for a special ergonomics standard. “I believe the General Duty Clause can properly be applied to address a situation where an employer recognizes but fails to address a pattern of injuries by applying feasible engineering or administrative controls to reduce ergonomic risk factors,” Thompson wrote.

Oh well, now back to our regularly scheduled programming....

Labels: Ergonomics

Ask the average "person on the street" whether they've ever heard of Enron, and chances are at least eight out of ten will say, "Of course!" Ask the same people if they've ever heard of Jindal Steel and ten out of ten will say "Huh?"

The failure of Enron taught the nation how important honest accounting is when it comes to financial data. If investors cannot trust companies to self-report these data accurately, they cannot make rational investments decisions and the entire structure of our country’s financial system is undermined. That’s why the government has prosecuted these cases so vigorously, and why those convicted face long prison sentences.

Why is it so hard to see that accurate injury and illness data are just as fundamental to making the rational decisions needed to protect workers - who are the foundation of this financial system?

Why do we send the cheaters who undermine our financial system to jail, but those who cheat on the health and safety of workers get a pass? Could it be that, as a nation, we care more about money than workers?

These are the questions addressed by tonight's guest writers, two OSHA experts, who prefer to remain anonymous. They are writing under the pseudonym, ERM Jr.


Learning From Enron: Why Accurate OSHA Recordkeeping Matters

Blood or money – which matters more? Does the nation care more about financial fraud than it does about cheating on the health and safety of America’s workers? Read on and reach your own conclusion.

Recent press reports suggest that at two worksites, AK Steel’s Middletown, Ohio Works, and the Bay Bridge construction project in Oakland, California, employers are hiding the dangers of their worksites by not reporting injuries and illnesses on their OSHA logs, as required by law. Worse, despite these press accounts, so far OSHA appears not to be doing very much to enforce its recordkeeping rules.

There’s reason to believe these are not isolated cases. But before looking at these two projects in detail, it’s important to answer a fundamental question.

Does the underreporting of injuries and illnesses represent nothing more than a “paperwork” mistake, a bookkeeping error unrelated to protecting workers? That’s what many employers, and even some misguided OSHA officials, now seem to think.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Why Accurate OSHA Recordkeeping Matters

First, OSHA relies on accurate injury and illness reporting to target its inspections at the most dangerous worksites. If employers cheat by not reporting injuries and illness, OSHA will spend its scarce enforcement resources inspecting employers who are self-reporting high rates, while passing over the dishonest employers whose workers are getting hurt.

Second, an inaccurate picture of what’s hurting workers not only skews OSHA enforcement, it undermines every single OSHA program. If it relies on bad data, how will OSHA know what standards to promulgate, what compliance assistance employers need, or how to do education and outreach? How will the agency be able to determine its own track record, to assess what it is doing right and what it is doing wrong, if it doesn’t know what’s happening to the people it’s supposed to be protecting?

Third, workers who are coerced into not reporting injuries and illness may not receive proper medical care, compounding the risks to their health and safety.

Finally, how will employers know what hazards to reduce and how to protect their employees, if they don’t have an accurate picture of where and why their workers are getting hurt? And like OSHA, how will companies know where their safety and health programs are working, where they need to improve?

Until recently, Assistant Secretaries of Labor for OSHA recognized the foundational importance of accurate recordkeeping in what they said and in what they did. But now that OSHA has “other enforcement priorities,” every year recorded injuries and illnesses decline…while fatalities, which are harder to hide and are collected and investigated separately, are going up. This is one reason to believe the AK Steel and Bay Bridge cases are just the tip of the iceberg.

A few examples reveal how seriously OSHA used to regard accurate injury and illness records.

“Accurate records are the foundation of sound safety and health programs.” (Assistant Secretary of Labor John Pendergrass, in an April 30, 1987 statement explaining a $474,900 penalty levied against Ford Motor Company for 119 alleged instances of violating OSHA’s recordkeeping requirements.)

Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA Joe Dear said in 1996 that reliable data “are a cornerstone in changing the agency’s performance measurements from activity-based, such as numbers of inspections and violations, to one focused on the ultimate outcome of reducing workplace injuries and illnesses.”

In 1991, recordkeeping violations ranked sixth on OSHA’s list of the most frequently cited standards. But this standard, 29 CFR 1904.2, hasn’t made the “top ten” list for many years. Is this because employers are now more honest?

"Documenting workplace injuries and illnesses is a vital part of protecting our nation's workers," said OSHA Administrator Charles N. Jeffress in an Oct. 20, 2000 press release explaining why the agency fined Jindal United Steel Corporation $1,702,800 for scores of recordkeeping violations from 1998 through 2000.

"Under our inspection targeting system, had this employer reported the correct injury and illness rate for 1998, the facility would likely have been placed on the list for a programmed inspection prior to the complaint that initiated this investigation."

***

“Failing to record workplace injuries and illnesses is a serious deficiency, not merely a paperwork violation. Accurate records of injuries and illnesses help workers and employers identify hazards that require correction and help OSHA pinpoint worksites that need to do a better job of protecting workers.”

A number of studies, including a recent one funded by NIOSH that will be discussed below, have found massive undercounting of occupational injuries and illnesses. Yet, for a variety of reasons, it’s just as difficult to prove injury and illness data at specific worksites are inaccurate as it is to untangle the accounting tricks employed by Enron. This is one reason OSHA has trouble enforcing its rules. The system is based on trust, but there are powerful incentives for managers and companies to cheat. As mentioned above, low rates mean OSHA inspections are less likely. In addition, many companies offer promotion and cash bonuses to managers and employees for low injury and illness rates. Low rates can mean lower workers compensation premiums, another incentive to cheat.

Learning from Enron

So why do we send the cheaters like Enron, who undermine our financial system, to jail but those who cheat on the health and safety of workers get a pass? Could it be that, as a nation, we care more about money than workers?

That’s the big picture and it’s a big problem, but unlike many big picture problems, there is a solution, and the solution lies in how OSHA handles the two cases we will next examine in detail, AK Steel and Bay Bridge.

These may seem like isolated cases, but no one worried whether Enron or WorldCom were isolated cases. Even one case of financial fraud was enough, because some investors were hurt. Furthermore, the government decided to prosecute those responsible to make an example of them and deter others from cheating. Conversely, the government no doubt realized fraud would spread if business leaders saw cheaters “getting away with it.”

If the government investigates and prosecutes when investors’ pocketbooks are hurt by fraud, shouldn’t it do the same when fraud may be concealing workers whose bodies are hurt?

So if OSHA cares about protecting the foundation of the nation’s workplace safety and health program, it needs to follow this example: investigate the cases of AK Steel, the Bay Bridge project, and any other instance where there is reason to believe employers are “cooking the books.” And if the agency finds evidence of hiding injury and illnesses, it needs to make an example of those responsible, by throwing the book at them.

Nothing less than the integrity of the nation’s entire workplace safety and health program is at stake.

-- ERM Jr.

Tomorrow Coming Soon: A Tale Of Two OSHA Cases: AK Steel and The Bay Bridge Project

Labels: Recordkeeping

Jack Spadaro, former director of the National Mine Safety and Health Academy, is one of eight winners of the 2006 Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Awards for their personal achievements in defending the First Amendment:

Jack Spadaro (Government): The director of the National Mine Safety and Health Academy who put his life on the line when he blew the whistle on irresponsible mining practices, corporate collusion, and government cover-up in the wake of an environmental mining disaster.

Spadaro, you may recall, was fired for blowing the whistle on an investigation of an October 200 slurry spill that was being whitewashed by Bush administration officials. To repeat, Spadaro was

an outspoken critic of a federal investigation into a huge spill of coal sludge in eastern Kentucky three years ago. The accident, at the Martin County Coal Company, is considered one of the biggest environmental disasters in the Appalachian region.

Mr. Spadaro accused political appointees in the Mine Safety and Health Administration of cutting the investigation short, playing down the coal company's culpability and not holding federal regulators accountable for weak oversight. He was a member of the team investigating the spill before he resigned in protest in 2001.

Mr. Spadaro has also raised questions about no-bid contracts that he contends were awarded to friends and former business associates of David D. Lauriski, the assistant secretary of labor for mine safety and health, and other senior mine safety officials. His complaints led to an investigation by the Department of Labor's inspector general.

Related Articles

• MSHA Whistleblower on CBS 60 Minutes, April 5, 2004
  
• One of the worst environmental disasters in U.S. history: Anatomy of a Coverup, December 17, 2003
• Better than a Political Novel, November 9, 2003

A partial listing of American workers killed on the job over the past two weeks. In this Weekly Toll, we have at least two mothers who were killed on the job, leaving children behind.

This edition of the Weekly Toll is dedicated to the memory of Detective Vicky O. Armel, mother of two children who was shot when a mentally ill youth attacked her police station, and Pamela Holmstrom, mother of three who was shot while driving a cab.

But on this Mothers Day, let's also not forget all the mothers who are mourning the children they have lost to workplace accidents, nor the wives who are spending their first Mothers Day as single parents

***

Train Kills Worker at Dupont Stop

Washington DC -- A Metro employee was struck and killed by a train yesterday at Dupont Circle Station as he performed routine track maintenance, the second workplace fatality the subway system has suffered in seven months.

Candace Smith, a Metro spokeswoman, said Jong Won Lee, 49, of Springfield was working on track equipment about 50 yards from an entrance to the station when he was hit by a train about 10:15 a.m. She said two employees working nearby were unharmed


Man killed in industrial plant accident

Athens, GA -- A 45-year-old Athens man was killed Friday in an industrial accident at a Lawrenceville plant cited last year for workplace violations.

When firefighters arrived at Valentine Enterprises Inc. on Collins Hill Road just after 11 a.m., they found the body of Jerry Hill inside a large industrial mixer, authorities said.

It was not known if Hill worked for Valentine or for a company maintaining the 150,000-square-foot plant’s equipment.

The 35-year-old company develops, processes and packages powder nutritional and dietary supplements, according to the firm’s Web site.

In July 2005, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited Valentine for 15 safety violations the agency rated as “serious,” according to data on the OSHA Web site. The federal agency originally proposed fining Valentine $16,225, the data indicated, but a settlement of $9,735 was reached between the company and OSHA as the problems were corrected.


OSHA looks into carpet cleaners' deaths

Moorpark, CA -- A state agency will investigate the suffocated deaths of two carpet cleaners from carbon monoxide fumes in Moorpark, officials said Tuesday.

The California Occupational Safety and Health Administration will talk to owners and employees of Coast and Valley Carpet Care and determine what information regarding hazardous conditions the employees should have known and what they were provided with, said Dean Fryer, OSHA spokesman.

Friday night, cousins Victor Manuel Monroy Cortez, 20, and Jose Luis Monroy Cortez, 25, were cleaning carpets at 11808 Torino St. to prepare it for an open house the next day.

The cousins backed their van into the garage, which faces the front of the condominium and is connected to the residence, and started working with a gasoline-powered carpet-cleaning device mounted to the vehicle.

They died from asphyxiation by inhaling exhaust fumes and carbon monoxide, said Senior Deputy Medical Examiner Craig Stevens. Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless gas that enters the bloodstream and prevents oxygen from entering the body.


Road worker hit, killed by pickup

Ann Arbor, MI -- A 34-year-old construction worker died Friday night after being hit by a pickup truck in the construction zone on westbound I-94 underneath the northbound US-23 overpass.

Steven Wayne Leelean of Harrison was employed by Midwest Bridge Co. of Williamston, a contractor of the Michigan Department of Transportation. The company is working on the US-23 and I-94 interchange bridge and road repair project, which has had intermittent single-lane closures.

From evidence at the scene and witness statements to police, Leelean was using a push broom to clean up debris from the road around 11 p.m. when he stepped out of the closed left lane and into the open right lane, directly into the path of an oncoming pickup truck, said Michigan State Police Sgt. Tony Cuevas.


Sheriff's Deputy Shot to Death in Tenn.

KINGSTON, Tenn. -- A sheriff's deputy and a friend riding with him on patrol were shot to death Thursday night and one suspect was in custody.

Deputy Bill Jones and his friend, Mike Brown, were found dead along state Highway 58 in eastern Tennessee, Roane County Sheriff David Haggard said.

"It looks like somebody opened fire on them and shot the officer and the ride-along," Haggard said.


Man killed in crane accident identified

VALLEY CENTER, CA – An avocado grove worker who died in a crane accident Wednesday has been identified by the county Medical Examiner's Office as Luis Juarez, 40, of Oceanside.

Juarez died when a crane boom that was being used to load avocados hit power lines on Castlecrest Drive about 7:10 p.m., authorities said.

The cause of death was high-voltage electrocution, according to the county Medical Examiner's Office.


Live Oak man killed in farm accident

Branford, FL -- It was a nightmare no one ever wants to experience when a wife found her husband pinned underneath a burning, overturned tractor Saturday evening, Apri 22.

John Clare Saunders apparently died after his tractor overturned and the seat pinned him to the ground.

An investigation is continuing to determine if Saunders, 52, of 169th Road, died from the tractor’s impact or the fire that engulfed the tractor afterward.


MAN DIES IN FORKLIFT ACCIDENT

A 52-year-old man was crushed to death Tuesday after the forklift truck he was driving flipped over, a Sterling Heights police spokesman said.

The accident occurred at about 7:30 p.m. at Teleflex Fluid Systems Inc., 42600 Mound Road in Sterling Heights, Police Lt. Michael Reese said. The man was taken to Beaumont Hospital in Troy where he later died.


Farm worker dies after being run over in field

Woodland, CA -- A 21-year-old farm laborer has died as the result of injuries received from being run over by a tomato harvester, the state's Department of Industrial Relations reported.

Details were incomplete due to conflicting jurisdictions, however, The Democrat has learned that a CalOSHA investigation is under way into the death.

According to Dean Friar, a spokesman for the Department of Industrial Relations, the accident occurred around 8 a.m. last Wednesday morning in a field near Zamora owned by D. Campos Inc.

Friar reported CalOSHA officials arrived around 10 a.m. They reported the woman was apparently walking alongside or behind a tomato truck as it was backing up into a field when the accident occurred and she was run over.


Truck driver crushed by cargo of logs

FORT SMITH, AR -- A truck driver hauling logs in a rainstorm was killed when his rig slammed into a 10-vehicle pileup and the logs crushed his cab.

State police said the truck driven by Chester Jones, 47, was the last vehicle in the crash on Interstate 540 Monday evening in northwest Arkansas. A police report said the logs he was hauling shifted and crushed him.

Four other persons were injured in the wreck, police said.


Brakes may be culprit in truck driver's death

DRAPER, UT -- The 30-year-old driver of a dump truck was killed Monday after the vehicle's brakes apparently failed.

Just after 3 p.m., Devin Cordes, of Orem, was driving two trailers full of gravel near 13500 South on the Bangerter Highway when, according to a preliminary investigation, something went wrong with the brakes, Draper Police Sgt. Gerry Allred said.

The truck was heading out of the Suncrest Project area, he said.

Cordes lost control of the load on a curve and was killed instantly when the cab was crushed by the heavy load, Allred said.


Solon farmer killed in tractor rollover

SOLON, Iowa -- A Solon farmer was killed Tuesday after he was pinned underneath his tractor, authorities said.

Michael Divoky, 50, was driving his tractor at about 11:30 a.m. southeast of this eastern Iowa town when it veered off the road and into a ditch. The tractor rolled over and pinned Divoky underneath, the Iowa State Patrol said.

He was transported to a nearby hospital and was pronounced dead.


Man charged in death of co-worker

PASSAIC, NJ — Police arrested a 44-year-old man Saturday and charged him with the stabbing death of a co-worker after the two got into a fight over money at a construction site last week.

Frank Maltese was arrested about 11 a.m. at a phone booth on Park Avenue in Newark and charged with homicide in the death of Nicholas Luciano, 43, said Passaic Detective Sgt. Stewart Kennedy.


Police Hunt For Security Guard's Killers

LA PUENTE, CA -- The security guard, identified as 59-year-old Frutso Anuino, who had been on the job for only one week, was shot to death Thursday night when four men robbed a La Puente market.

Police are still looking for the suspects, described only as being in their late 20s.

The robbery took place at about 10:30 p.m. Thursday night in the 800 block of Hacienda Boulevard at Northgate Market in the Hacienda Plaza shopping center, sheriff's officials said.


Suspect arrested in hit-and-run death of truck driver

San Pablo, CA -- A Richmond man has been arrested on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter and felony hit-and-run for allegedly running down a truck driver on eastbound Interstate 80 in San Pablo Friday morning as the victim was trying to warn motorists away from his disabled big-rig.

Investigators believe Gabriel Kanani Acosta, 21, was intoxicated at 4:15 a.m. when the car he allegedly was driving hit the truck driver on I-80 near San Pablo Dam Road, throwing the victim 200 feet, said California Highway Patrol Officer Trent Cross.

The victim has been identified as Charles Johnson Jr., 51, of Hayward.


Man killed, 3 hurt in collapse of gas rig, Rain-soaked ground may have caused accident

Binghamton, NY - A worker was killed Friday morning and three others were injured when the natural gas drilling rig they were working on collapsed and fell onto a nearby trailer in the Schuyler County town of Dix. The Schuyler County Sheriff's Department identified the man killed as Burton Stebbins, 27, of Wellsville. He was tethered to the rig about 30 feet above the ground when it collapsed and fell on him, Schuyler County Sheriff William Yessman said. The injured men were identified as: * John Matheny, 21, of Ohio, who was treated at Arnot Ogden Medical Center in Elmira and released. * Richard Waters, 21, of Whitesville, who was listed in good condition at Arnot Ogden Medical Center. * Kenneth Schoonover, 41, of Renovo, Pa., who was listed in fair condition at Arnot Ogden Medical Center. The drilling rig was located on Baker Hill Road and owned by Union Drilling Inc., which has corporate offices in Fort Worth, Texas, and a regional office in Buckhannon, W.Va. The company was drilling the well for EOG Resources, which is based in Houston.


Georgia Officer Dies Of Suspected Asthma Attack

Columbus, Georgia-- An autopsy is being conducted on a Columbus police officer who died on the job Thursday. The coroner says 39-year old Robert Kearse may have had an asthma attack while sitting in his patrol car at a Wynnton Road gas station. Kearse reportedly tried to radio for help, but could not catch his breath to complete the call. Police say he was under a doctor's care for the respiratory ailment.


Officer Dies In Motorcycle Crash, Motorcycle Collided With Car, Burst Into Flames

SAN DIEGO, CA -- A San Diego police officer was killed Friday when his motorcycle collided with a car and burst into flames in Lincoln Park, authorities said. Officer David Moya, 29, of Campo, had been with the department for five years. He was headed to his parents' house when his civilian motorcycle struck a vehicle on Imperial Avenue at Interstate 805 at about 1:30 a.m. on Friday, San Diego police said. Moya had just left his patrol shift at the department's Southeastern Division. He planned on spending the night at his parents' home because he was due in court in San Diego this morning, said Gary Hassen of the SDPD.


Man's body found at car lot

DURHAM, NC - An elderly man was found dead inside a northern Durham business early Friday. Durham police think it was a homicide but did not release the cause of the man's death. The man, identified as James Morris, 77, of Mebane, was discovered about 9:30 a.m. when a part-time employee went into the office at Growing Motors, a used-car sales lot at 4416 N. Roxboro St., said Durham police spokeswoman Kammie Michael. Michael said Morris was seen alive at his business at 6:30 p.m. Thursday. The employee called for help, and police sealed off the area as a crime scene. Soon, traffic at North Duke and North Roxboro streets had backed up, and several men had congregated in adjacent gravel parking lots, wondering whether the victim was their friend, the man who owned the business. One of the cars owned by the business also was missing, Michael said. Officers were combing the city Friday for a two-door, white 1990 Oldsmobile Toronado. The missing car has a burgundy leather interior and possibly has dealer plates that bear these numbers ID016052, ID016054 or ID016055, according to a police news release. The signs outside the business indicate the operation is at least 20 years old. Shiny used cars are lined up in a row facing the street, their selling points scrawled across their windshields. "Drives x-x-nice," one said.


Bouncer Shot And Killed Outside Walnut Hills Bar

Walnut Hills, OH - A bouncer at a local bar Friday night was shot and killed as he worked the door carding and searching patrons. Police say Adrian Battle was searching a man at the door of the First Note bar on Chapel Street in Walnut Hills around midnight when he found a gun on the man. Police say that's when Battle was shot. The suspect fled the scene. Officers found Battle outside the bar, dead of a gunshot wound. Police say they interviewed people inside the bar which was open when the body was found. One of the bar's workers, who asked to remain anonymous, made a plea to witnesses to come forward. "If you're any type of human being, they'll help," said the bar worker.


Officer Fatally Shot Outside Police Station

Chantilly, VA -- A Fairfax County police detective was killed and two officers were wounded yesterday afternoon after a gunman opened fire with high-powered weapons in the parking lot of a police station during a shift change, law enforcement officials said.

The gunman, who was awaiting trial on carjacking charges in Montgomery County, was killed during the ensuing shootout with police, the officials said.

Police and county officials identified the slain officer as Detective Vicky O. Armel, 40, a nine-year veteran who was assigned to the Sully District station in Chantilly in western Fairfax where the shooting occurred. Her husband is also a Fairfax detective. The couple has two elementary school-aged children, neighbors said.

It was the first fatal shooting of a Fairfax officer in the line of duty in the department's history.

Taxi driver killed in crash

Fayetteville, NC - A taxi driver was killed Saturday morning in a collision on Sante Fe Drive, Fayetteville police said. According to a release, the driver of an Audi lost control and crossed the center line of the roadway, striking the taxi head-on. Investigators believe the Audi was travelling at a “high rate of speed,” the release said. The wreck happened at 1:20 a.m. near Lariat Drive. The driver of the taxi, Jimmy Earl Locklear, 38, died at the scene, police said. Locklear worked for LM Taxi and Shuttle Service. No other details about the collision including the identity of the Audi driver, were available Saturday.


Fast-Food Worker Shot To Death

SAN DIEGO, CA -- A 23-year-old man was killed by a gunman at a Jack in the Box in Sherman Heights, NBC 7/39 reported.Yassir Amarant was rushed to UCSD Medical Center where he was pronounced dead at 10:04 p.m. Sunday, authorities said.Amarant was gunned down at about 9:20 p.m. at the Jack in the Box at 2404 Market St. He was working at the cash register. Witnesses said the gunman walked behind the counter, pushed Amarant and shot him with a handgun.


AK Steel: Temporary replacement worker dies at Middletown Works

MIDDLETOWN, OH — A central Ohio man who was a replacement worker at AK Steel in Middletown died after he was struck by a piece of equipment.

Curtis Johnson, 54, of Newark, died Thursday night after being struck by a large coal cart, the Montgomery County coroner’s office said.

Johnson and about 1,500 others began working at the plant after AK Steel’s union employees were locked out more than two months ago in a contract dispute.
The company bought classified advertisements in several Ohio newspapers, including The Dispatch, seeking millwrights, electricians, pipefitters, welders and others to keep the plant running.


Chief: 'No time to react', Chesterfield officers shot, one fatally, in domestic confrontation

Richmond, VA - Chesterfield County police officer Gary J. Buro had been working without a supervisor only two days when he was fatally shot by a man who had been arguing with a girlfriend early yesterday.

Although Buro had 11 years' police experience before coming to Chesterfield, he had been working with a field training officer until Tuesday, Police Chief Col. Carl Baker said yesterday.Buro, hired Jan. 17, was put through the six-week field training officer program to learn the department's procedures.

He's an experienced officer, there's no doubt about that," the chief said.Buro, 34, a former New York City and Lantana, Fla., officer, was killed after he and officer Joseph G. Diman, 26, responded to a domestic disturbance call about 1:20 a.m. in the 3700 block of Totty Street in Ettrick.


Gilbert officer dies of hit-run injuries

Tempe, AZ - A Gilbert police officer died early Sunday from the type of crash he dedicated his life to preventing. Officer Rob Targosz, 37, who spent years arresting drunken drivers, died during surgery at Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn hospital about 1:30 a.m. Sunday, several hours after a car driven by a man arrested on suspicion of drunken driving slammed into his motorcycle near the intersection of Price Road and Apache Boulevard in Tempe, police said.

Tyler Fahlman, 20, who Tempe police say is an Arizona State University student, was arrested in connection with the crime at his apartment at University House at Tempe, 2323 E. Apache Boulevard.


Concrete slab falls, kills landscaper

Norwich, OH - A man working a residential landscaping job in Norwich Township was killed yesterday after a concrete patio slab fell on him, police said.Emergency crews called at 8:30 a.m. to a $600,000 home at 4880 Bellann Rd. found the man severely injured and bleeding from his ears in the back yard. He died at Ohio State University Medical Center.Hilliard police said they were having trouble identifying the man, who looked to be in his 20s or 30s. A second worker told police they were employed by Gomez Painting and Drywall at 5969 E. Livingston Ave., but police weren't sure the name was accurate. The company is not listed in the phone book, and officials could not be reached for comment.


Oil field worker killed in equipment accident

SEMINOLE, Okla. - Seminole County authorities say an oil-field worker was killed when the brake failed on a pump jack he was repairing and the weights wedged him in a deadly lock. Sixty-year-old Seminole resident Larry Newby was changing a bolt on the frame of the pump jack when the accident occurred. Seminole County sheriff deputy Charlie Miller says he had placed a pump jack in neutral when the weights came down and trapped him between the weights and pump jack frame.


Three die in Bal Harbour construction accident

Bal Harbour, FL -- Three workers were killed Saturday when the roof of a condominium under construction in Bal Harbour partially collapsed and buried them in drying concrete that ultimately crushed them, authorities said.(The deceased are Torivio Acevedo, 36, of Pompano Beach; Menes Daniel, 52, of Miami; and Endy Guirland, 34, of Miami, Miami-Dade police said.)

Hours after the accident, workers tethered above the victims swung pick axes to hammer away at three-foot-deep concrete so they could extricate the bodies from the 26-story construction site at 10295 Collins Ave., just south of Haulover Inlet.

"These people were basically buried alive in concrete," said Miami-Dade Fire-Rescue Lt. Eric Baum.


Man charged after store worker dies

COLUMBIA, S.C. - A Columbia man has been charged with murder after a convenience store manager beaten during a robbery died. Frank Furtick Jr., who was being held on charges of robbery and assault, was charged Friday with murder in the death of Louise Dodds of Lugoff. Richland County Coroner Gary Watts said Dodds, 61, died Thursday from injuries she got during a robbery at her store April 25.


"Popcorn lung" victim Linda Redman dies

JOPLIN, Mo. - Linda Redman, one of 30 popcorn factory workers who sued a flavor manufacturer over lung damage, died after a long lung illness, her family said. Redman, 57, of Joplin, had to use oxygen and was confined to a wheelchair for the last year of her life. She died at her home Sunday. Redman was among 30 current or former workers at a Jasper popcorn plant who sued International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. and its subsidiary, Bush Boake Allen Inc. The lawsuits in Jasper County Circuit Court claimed the workers suffered lung damage because they breathed fumes from the chemical diacetyl, used in butter flavoring for microwave popcorn. They alleged the manufacturers should have known diacetyl was hazardous and failed to inform employees of the dangers. Jasper Popcorn Co. and Glister-Mary Lee Corp., which bought the popcorn factory in 1999, were not defendants in the lawsuits. Government health workers said the butter flavoring likely caused the outbreak of lung disease.


San Francisco officer dies during training exercise

SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- San Francisco Police say a 41-year-old officer died during a training exercise.

Sergeant Darryl Tsujimoto was a 15-year department veteran. Police say he collapsed and died during a canine training exercise on Treasure Island last night. San Francisco police chief Heather Fong says police are "immeasurably saddened" by the death. Coroners will perform tests to determine the cause of death.


Worker dies after falling in canal

SLIDELL, La. -- A Houston man apparently drowned after falling into a canal while repairing a Hurricane Katrina-damaged boathouse south of Slidell. Saint Tammany Parish Sheriff's deputies say the 29-year-old man's name is being withheld until relatives are notified. Divers searched for about 45 minutes before recovering the body from the muddy waters of the canal, which feeds into Lake Pontchartrain.


Worker dies in fall at water tower

LAWTON, Iowa -- A Des Moines man is dead after falling in a water tower while installing antennas in the northwest Iowa town of Lawton. The Woodbury County sheriff's office says the man, who was working for a company subcontracted by Cingular Wireless, fell about 40 feet yesterday afternoon. His name was not immediately released. Deputies says four men were feeding antenna cable through the top of the tower into the interior when the worker fell and hit a landing. He died at the scene.


Man killed at LA work site

LOS ANGELES, CA - A 19-year-old worker was crushed to death Tuesday when a tractor backed up and rolled over him at a demolition site site near Vernon, authorities said. The man was pronounced dead at the job site at 3032 E. Washington Ave. Vernon police, responding to an emergency call placed at 1:11 p.m., were the first to arrive at the scene. Ten minutes later, Los Angeles firefighters were called. The Los Angeles Police Department and Cal-OSHA were also sent to investigate the workplace death, said city fire's Jim Wells.


Harbor Worker Crushed By Elevator, Critically Hurt

LONG BEACH, Calif. -- A maintenance worker was critically injured when he was crushed by an elevator while working on the Sea Launch satellite platform in the Long Beach Harbor. Firefighter Paul Rodriguez said the 37-year-old worker was repairing and cleaning the platform when the accident occurred on Wednesday afternoon. He was hanging by a harness on the side of the structure in the path of an exterior elevator.


Man crushed to death at dairy farm

MYAKKA CITY, FL -- For the second time in less than a year, a man has been crushed to death in an industrial accident at a Manatee dairy farm. The latest victim, identified as 21-year-old Javier Luis Mendoza, was killed Saturday at Jerry Dakin Dairy in the 30700 block of Betts Road in East Manatee. Authorities said Mendoza became pinned by a Bobcat front-end loader bucket. He died from chest trauma, according to sheriff's reports. Mendoza was sitting in the operating seat when he leaned through the opening of the Bobcat to switch loading instruments, authorities said. He did not lock the safety bar, sheriff's investigators said. Mendoza mistakenly leaned on the pedal and the bucket pinned him against the machine. A fellow worker found Mendoza trapped and shut off the Bobcat. Mendoza was pronounced dead at the scene.


Paper-plant worker dies after accident

Chillicothe, OH - A worker at a coated-paper distribution center died after being pulled into a machine, authorities said. William Mullins, 54, of South Webster, was trying to fix paper being fed into the machine Sunday at NewPage Corp.'s converting and distribution center, authorities said. Mullins was operating a machine that cuts paper from a large roll into separate pieces, Ross County Sheriff Ron Nichols said. Mullins died at Adena Regional Medical Center.


Construction worker dies in fall from bridge

ANGOLA, IN - A worker fell to his death from a bridge under construction over Interstate 69, police said. James Spears, 52, of Roanoke, fell about 25 feet from the bridge to the pavement below in a lane that was blocked to traffic Wednesday, the Steuben County Sheriff’s Department said in a news release. Spears was an employee of Primco, a company contracted by the Indiana Department of Transportation to upgrade the overpass at County Road 400 North near Pokagon State Park.


Trucker Killed In Rollover

Sioux Falls, SD - One person is dead after a semi truck rolled over. The accident happened at about 7:30 on Highway 34 southeast of Flandreau. The road was blocked for an extended amount of time today as officials cleaned up after the accident. A witness’s account to the highway patrol that tells how it started. South Dakota Highway Patrol Trooper Josh Olson says, “Advised that the vehicle veered off the roadway, attempted to correct and rolled.” That rollover sent the massive eighteen-wheeler into the ditch, smashinga sign, cracking the tanker and spilling hot tar into the ditch. Cleanup will take some time. “They're making arrangements with emergency management to clean up the rest of the hot tar,” says Olson. But troopers say what's worse, is that the driver, 29-year old Eric Berreth of Redwood Falls, was not wearing his seat belt. He was thrown from the cab and killed. The Highway Patrol hopes the oozing black mess serves as a reminder to buckle up, no matter what kind of vehicle you drive. The South Dakota Highway Patrol says they are continuing their investigation into why the truck went off the road. The witness reports the driver had not been driving wildly until going into the ditch.


Utility worker killed while fixing power lines

Wausaukee, Wis. - A worker was killed while he was trying to fix some power lines downed by a storm, a utility company said Friday. Tim Howard, 45, was killed Thursday afternoon in an incident involving a tree, though Wisconsin Public Service Corp. said the exact circumstances were still being investigated. "We're not quite really sure what happened," spokeswoman Jenny Short said. A co-worker found Howard in a rural area of Wausaukee, she said. About 28,000 customers lost power after a storm Thursday brought gusting winds that knocked down trees and limbs, the utility said. Hundreds of people in Wabeno, Wausaukee and Door County were still without power Friday evening, though the utility expected to restore power to most customers by midnight.


Fall from bridge

Kansas City, KS - Police on Thursday identified Dan Denzer, 47, of Pettigrew, Ark., as the worker who fell to his death while painting the underside of a bridge Wednesday afternoon. The Lexington Avenue bridge at North Chestnut Trafficway has been closed since January for repairs. Denzer stepped back on a platform, fell through a hole and landed on the ground about 50 feet below. The platform had holes to accommodate girders. About a dozen workers were at the bridge at the time. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration was investigating whether workers had a required fall-protection system, such as guardrails or safety nets.


County employee dies in County Building bathroom

Chicago, IL - A Cook County comptroller’s office employee collapsed in a County Building bathroom and later died of natural causes, an autopsy determined Thursday. An autopsy on William Reilly, 64, of 531 N. Wells St., determined he died from coronary atherosclerosis, according to a report from the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office. He died of natural causes, the report showed


Illinois man killed in garbage truck accident

ELKHORN, WI - A 56-year-old garbage hauler was killed Wednesday morning when a recycling truck backed over him at Southern Lakes Recycling on Broad Street. Michael B. Minnegan, of 1640 Mulford Road, Esmond, Ill., died at Aurora Lakeland Medical Center, said Elkhorn Police Chief Joel Christensen. An autopsy was inconclusive, and the official cause of death was not yet released, Coroner John Griebel said.



Worker dies after being shot in face at auto repair shop

Englewood, CO - An unidentified gunman walked into an Englewood auto repair shop Thursday afternoon and shot an employee in the face with a shotgun, police said. The employee was taken in critical condition to Swedish Medical Center, where he later died. Police responded about 3:30 p.m. to 2 Brothers Automotive, 2720 S. Tejon St., but the gunman had already fled. Investigators recovered a shotgun about a block from the scene, and the shooter left behind a ski mask, police said. No motive has been given, but police are speculating that the shooter might have been a disgruntled customer who was in the shop earlier Thursday. Employees told investigators the customer had made threats to employees. Witnesses who saw the gunman flee described him as Hispanic- looking, between 20 and 30, about 6 feet tall, with a medium build and possibly wearing a yellow shirt with khaki pants.


Worker dies, another severely burned after fumes ignite fire in Wellington home

Wellington, FL -- A blackened window frame was the only visible sign of a house fire that killed a man Wednesday and severely burned another when lacquer fumes ignited in a bedroom where they were working. "The homeowners were there in another room and they heard like a `whoosh,'" Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue Capt. Don DeLucia said outside the yellow house at 13281 152nd Place South in Wellington. "It ignited twice." Tim Grant, 34, of Boynton Beach, died in the bedroom, authorities said. Anthony Andrews, 41, of Dania Beach, suffered severe burns and jumped out a window to escape the flames. He was taken to the burn unit of Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami. His condition was not available.


Transit Authority Investigates Worker's Death

New York, NY - A New York City Transit report on the investigation into the death of one of its workers has revealed problems with a motorman's radio equipment. Lewis Moore, 35, died after being crushed while walking through an open-air car on a moving work train last December 1st. His co-worker couldn't reach Transit Authority emergency dispatchers with his radio to let them know Moore had been injured. Instead, he had to use his cell phone to seek help. The TA investigation concluded that inspecting radio-signal relaying equipment only twice a year is not enough. But it also blames Moore for his own death, saying he violated TA rules on worker safety.



Man killed in workplace accident

LAWRENCEVILLE, GA— A local business where an Athens man was killed Friday was cited last year by federal investigators for workplace safety violations, some of them serious. Jerry Hill, 45, died Friday morning when he became caught in a large industrial mixer at Valentine Enterprises Inc., which makes dietary supplements at its Lawrenceville plant at 940 Collins Hill Road, authorities said.


Spreading Manure, IL Farmer Killed By Tractor

Pinckneyville, IL-A rural Pinckneyville father of five dies in a tractor accident. Authorities say 54-year-old Jim William Lunnemann was spreading manure on a hilly field Monday when the tractor he was driving overturned on him.


Farmer killed in farm accident

GLENVILLE MN- A local farmer was killed Monday when the bucket of his skid loader came down on top of him. Bruce Mittag, 65, was working between a hay field and a plowed field when the accident happened.


Worker dies from injuries at Degussa plant in Theodore

MOBILE, Ala. A 40-year-old worker has died from injuries after he got caught in a conveyer at the Degussa plant in Theodore. Police said 40-year-old Arthur McAlloy was airlifted to the University of South Alabama Medical Center at 6:20 p-m- Friday.



Tree Service Employee Dies in Freak Accident

Mongomery, AL-A freak accident in Montgomery killed a tree service employee Tuesday. The accident happened in the Beauvoir subdivision off Bell Road. Police say Terry Parker died when a large pine tree was cut, fell to the ground, and bounced back up -- hitting him in the upper body. Montgomery Police Officers say Parker died at the scene. Parker worked for Bullseye Tree Service.


Philadelphia police officer fatally shot during bar robbery

PHILADELPHIA, PA — A police officer was fatally shot while responding to a robbery at a bar.

Officer Gary Skerski, 46, was heading to the rear entrance of the bar in the city's Frankford section about 10 p.m. Monday when a man came out and fired a shotgun blast, striking him in the neck.

"This officer didn't appear like he even had an opportunity to pull his weapon," Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson said.


Solon farmer killed in tractor rollover

SOLON, Iowa -- A farmer is dead today after being pinned underneath his tractor near the eastern Iowa town of Solon. The State Patrol says 50-year-old Michael Divoky was driving his tractor at about 11:30 a-m when it veered off the road and into a ditch. The tractor rolled over and pinned Divoky underneath. He was transported to a nearby hospital and was pronounced dead.


Man dies in accident at quarry

Philadelphia, PA -- A Perry County man died yesterday afternoon after an accident at a Pennsy Supply quarry near Newville. James "Leroy" Kratzer, 42 of Buffalo Twp. died from a fall while working on a concrete batch plant that Pennsy Supply is building at its quarry operation on Jacobs Ridge Lane near Routes 11 and 233, officials said.


A Palestine man was killed Friday in an industrial accident at a steel company in Jewett.

Waco, TX -- Roland Bartley, 44, was doing routine maintenance on a machine at Nucor Steel at about 7 a.m. when the machine switched on, catching Bartley between it and another machine, said Brent Walter, chief deputy with the Leon County Sheriff’s Department.


Worker dies in fall from Cambria County cell tower

EBENSBURG, Pa. -- A worker died after falling about 90 feet from a cell phone tower on the campus of a high school, the Cambria County coroner said. Michael Sellers, 25, of Lebanon, was climbing the tower to install an antenna when the accident happened shortly after 10 a.m. Friday, Coroner Dennis Kwiatkowski said.


Truck Driver Hauling Logs Crushed by Cargo

FORT SMITH, Ark. — A truck driver hauling logs in a rainstorm was killed when his rig slammed into a 10-vehicle pileup and the logs crushed his cab. State police said 47-year-old Chester Jones' truck was the last vehicle in the crash on Interstate 540 Monday evening in northwest Arkansas. A police report said the logs he was hauling shifted and crushed him.


Stratford employee dies from wounds

STRATFORD, CT — A town public works employee who narrowly escaped being pulled into a wood chipper has died from his injuries. Theodore Johnson, 59, died late Saturday in Bridgeport Hospital. On Thursday, Johnson was feeding branches into a wood chipper in Paradise Green when a rope on one of the branches wrapped around his throat and began pulling him into the chipper


Separate accidents leave 2 men dead

GLENVIEW IL-- Two men died Friday evening in separate accidents in Glenview, police said Saturday.

About 4:50 p.m., police officers and paramedics responded to a report of an unresponsive man trapped beneath a vehicle at the Bredemann Ford dealership, 2038 Waukegan Rd. Police discovered that Alvaro Hernandez, 45, a Bredemann employee, had been working on his personal vehicle in the dealership's lot. Co-workers raised the vehicle off Hernandez with floor jacks and paramedics tried to revive him, police said. Hernandez, of the 5800 block of North Maplewood Avenue in Chicago, was taken to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge. He was pronounced dead at 5:17 p.m., police said.


Sevier construction worker killed in bobcat blaze

SEVIERVILLE, TN - A man was killed Friday when the Bobcat he was operating caught fire, according to Sevier County Sheriff Bruce Montgomery.

The victim was identified as Darrell Stewart, 46, of Gatlinburg.

Stewart was operating the bobcat in the Summitt Development on Little Laurel Road in the Waldens Creek Community when the vehicle became stuck in a muddy area around a burning brush pile, according to a statement released by the sheriff's department. Stewart was unable to get out before the fire spread to and consumed the Bobcat.


Worker falls 70 feet, dies at Florida construction site

HOLLY HILL Fla. -- A worker died after falling 70 feet from a condominium under construction, authorities said.

Jose Gonzales-Perez, 22, fell from Marina Grande's north tower Monday, said Mark Barker, Holly Hill police commander.

"It is apparent that he was not properly tethered at the time he fell," Barker said.
Gonzales-Perez was hired as a form carpenter by Austell, Ga.-based United Forming Inc., to work on the project, The Daytona Beach News-Journal reported.


Worker dies after falling from cell phone tower

EBENSBURG Pa. -- A worker died after falling about 90 feet from a cell phone tower on the campus of a high school, the Cambria County coroner said.

Michael Sellers, 25, of Lebanon, was climbing the tower to install an antenna when the accident happened shortly after 10 a.m. Friday, Coroner Dennis Kwiatkowski said.

A second worker on the ground was feeding up safety rope, Kwiatkowski said. "The initial climb is always the most dangerous until they get all the safety lines in place," he said. Sellers wore a harness, but it was impossible to hook it on to the tower while he was climbing, Kwiatkowski said.

Sellers, an employee of Sting Communications Inc. of Lebanon, was pronounced dead at the scene.


Man dies after being struck by end-loader

WILKES-BARRE Pa. -- A worker at a recycling center died when an end-loader that was backing up drove over him, authorities said.

John Koscak, 74, of Wilkes-Barre, died of a head injury after the accident Thursday afternoon at Solomon Container Service, officials said.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating to see if any violations occurred. The agency is not commenting until its investigation is complete, local director Andy Hedesh said.


Man killed by falling patio slab identified

Columbus, OH -- Investigators yesterday identified a landscape worker who was fatally injured when a concrete patio slab fell on him Thursday morning.

Carlos Ochoa died of blunt trauma to the head, Franklin County Coroner Brad Lewis said. He died at Ohio State University Medical Center after the accident outside a home on Bellann Road in Norwich Township, just northeast of Hilliard.

Lewis did not have an age or address for the man and had been unable to find any relatives. "By releasing his name, hopefully we?ll hear from next of kin," he said.
Health Administration.

Police said excavation work on a landscaping project left about half of the concrete slab unsupported. Ochoa was standing beneath the slab with a shovel when it fell on him.


Deliveryman's death likely accidental;

Philadelphia, PA -- A doughnut deliveryman who disappeared last week, leaving his idling truck on the Schuylkill Expressway, apparently died accidentally after climbing out of the vehicle and falling 50 feet into the river, police said.

Yesterday morning, a Philadelphia police marine unit recovered the body of James Polisano, 43, of Upper Darby, from the Schuylkill.

"The working theory right now is that he climbed out the window attempting to step on the cement barrier and missed or slipped and fell in the water," said Lt. John Walker of the Southwest Detectives Special Investigations.


Man dies after fall at business

COUNCIL BLUFFS, IA -- A man died Tuesday after falling through a skylight at a business.

Kevin Girard, an employee of Rasmussen Mechanical Services, was working on a roof-mounted air-conditioning unit at Warren Distribution, 2850 River Road.

He apparently stepped through the skylight while trying to get the serial number off the air conditioner, and fell 25 feet to the floor.

He was pronounced dead at Jennie Edmundson Hospital.


One worker killed, two others hurt after crane collapses

HOUSTON, TX -- One worker was killed and two others were injured Wednesday after a construction crane collapsed in northeast Houston. A crew was working on a highway billboard around 10 a.m. when the crane toppled, sending workers tumbling to the ground about 50 to 60 feet below.

Houston police spokesman Sgt. Nate McDuell said one worker died and two others were taken to Ben Taub Hospital, where they were listed in critical condition. The workers' names were not immediately released.

Houston police Sgt. D.J. Crain said it appeared the weight of the crane shifted and part of the equipment slipped down in the mud, causing the crane to tip.


Police probe death at work site

ASBURY PARK, NJ -- Detectives have begun an investigation into the death of a 52-year-old man who appears to have fallen from a ladder at a construction site this weekend, authorities said Monday.

Roberto Serrano, whose address was not available Monday, died a short time after he fell about 25 feet Saturday. He was working at a construction site on Fourth Avenue and Kingsley Street, Detective Capt. Anthony Salerno said.

It appears that Serrano was climbing the ladder and had some material in his hand when the ladder appears to have slipped, and he fell, Salerno said.


Cab driver, mother of three shot to death during pickup

ROCKFORD, Ill. Rockford police are investigating what many believe is the first murder of a cab driver in the city's history. Fifty-three-year-old Pamela Holmstrom died Sunday after being shot in her cab.

Police had found the mother of three slumped over the wheel of the car.

She had been driving a taxi for about a year.

Other cab drivers said yesterday that the shooting has them rattled.


12-year-old dies in accident on farm

KENTON Ohio -- A 12-year-old boy lost control of a team of horses and was killed in a fall from the seat of a manure spreader, authorities said.

The coroner ruled that Perry Bontrager died from head injuries, the Hardin County sheriff's office said in a news release.

He lost control of the horses, which were pulling the spreader, as they returned to the barn for another load of manure about 11:45 a.m. Monday.

The boy was thrown into the back of the horses and then fell to the ground after the spreader struck a gate post, the sheriff's office said.


Truck driver killed on I-85

Charlotte, NC -- A tow-truck driver was killed early this morning when he ran into a bridge on Interstate 85 in north Charlotte.

The highway patrol says the wreck happened around 3:30 a.m. Troopers say the driver, who has not been identified, apparently fell asleep.

According to police reports, the driver was southbound on I-85 when he apparently went off the road near the Interstate 77 interchange. The driver was killed at the scene.


Truck driver killed near Deer Park

DEER PARK, WA -- A semi driver was killed after his truck tipped over into a creek. The crash happened at Buroughs and Monroe Roads, southwest of Deer Park.

The Spokane County Sheriff's Office says Terry Lee Sharp, 61, was coming up behind a truck stopped at the intersection, when, for some reason he could not stop. Investigators say it looks like he tried to go around the other truck, but the big rig tipped over, and the cab went into the creek.

A Med-Star helicopter took Sharp to the hospital, where he died a short time later.


Cabdriver dies 2 days after crash

WHITE PLAINS, NY - A 39-year-old Mamaroneck village resident who struck a utility pole and a tree while driving his livery cab this week has died from his injuries, authorities said yesterday.

Cesar Moreno-Otavo was pronounced dead at 5:08 p.m. yesterday at Westchester Medical Center, according to the Westchester County Medical Examiner's Office. An autopsy to be performed later should reveal the extent of Moreno-Otavo's injuries, authorities said.

The accident occurred Monday as Moreno-Otavo, who was traveling south on Soundview Avenue in a Ford Crown Victoria, slammed into the pole and tree, and was thrown from his vehicle at least 8 feet, police said. Capt. Paul Lundin said Moreno-Otavo was breathing but wasn't conscious when emergency crews arrived.


Officials ID worker killed on the job

FALLBROOK, CA -- A worker who was crushed to death by heavy equipment on Thursday was identified by the county Medical Examiner's Office as Roberto Pedroza Mendez of Lake Forest.

The 49-year-old man was operating the machinery on Country Road near Canonita Drive at 7:30 a.m. when it rolled over him, Sheriff's deputies said.


Worker killed in fall

GRANVILLE W.Va. -- A construction worker was killed when he fell about four stories while disassembling scaffolding at a shopping complex. The man, a 33-year-old resident of Jefferson, Pa., was not identified pending notification of relatives.

State Police Trooper 1st Class D.E. Barger said the accident occurred Friday morning at the University Town Centre in Granville. The man, who was employed by M.I. Friday Inc. of Pittsburgh, was pronounced dead at the scene.

M.I. Friday is a masonry company that specializes in schools, office buildings, large retail/commercial establishments and other large projects, according to the company's Web site.

Labels: Chemical Plant Security, taxi drivers, Weekly Toll

Below is a speech given at the Philadelphia Workers Memorial Day program by Betsy Shonkwiler, whose husband Bob was killed in 2003 while working for Hoosier Energy in Indiana. She has some tough things to say about the company, OSHA and the union.

I was thrilled when Barb invited me here to speak today. Then the fear overwhelmed me. I am not a public speaker and after writing about 30 speeches I wondered. “Would I want to listen to me?”

Everything I had written went to the shredder. These truths are from my heart without anger directed at anyone. There is no need to assign blame. The truth simply speaks for itself.

I am here today to represent all the voices that have fallen silent due to work related incidents. For me to remain silent is consent, which is something I just can not force myself to do any longer.

I know the grief each family has to endure. I personally know how the surviving families are torn apart by the lack of justice, untrue statements, and the lack of accountability. No chance for closure..Ever.

Would everyone please close your eyes and imagine if you will a small Indiana farm, with an enormous horse barn, 12 beautiful black Percheron draft horses shinning in the evening sun. A lush green hay field on the edge of a woods filled with wild life.

Now I would like for you to see a big sun tanned handsome man, 6’ 2” 280 lbs., silver hair, ice blue eyes. (Bob was an old pro rodeo bull rider.) Holding hands with the same sassy blonde that stands before you today. We are on our way to the hay field sandwiches and beer prepared to view the lunar eclipse, something we never missed. The fires lightening bugs of the year filled the night sky. As we talked and laughed the night away, making plans and promises for the future, I remember having that shiver, smiling at him thinking…I am so happy. I know just how very lucky I am to have a husband that I just couldn’t stop kissing.

The next morning our lives were forever changed.

Please open your eyes.

Our friends grow weary because we just can not get on with our lives; and relationships are something we can only a dream of. Families fall apart. I did not feel like a survivor, I felt like I had been left behind.

It is so hard to touch a grief-stricken person and anything you say could cause emotions to spiral out of control. The life as you knew is over in the blink of an eye.

Co-workers don’t want to talk about the incident because they carry a massive amount of guilt.

Guilt because they maybe did not do their job, or maybe they didn’t come forth with information, or maybe they just plain lied when questioned. Often times co-workers try not to reveal any information because they are protecting someone.

I know about deception and consequences. Wrongdoing and untruthfulness is always a betrayal of trust, and an exploitation of others. This was often compounded when I would bring new information to light.

The further betrayals fueled my determination, and fierceness. This was intended to silence me but it made me more determined to find the truth.

The hundreds of stories I have heard are all the same.

There is an enormous difference between accidents and incidents. Tragic accidents happen everyday, everywhere.

Incidents can be prevented. Employers that are negligent should be held accountable in wrongful death situations. If criminal charges were the result, employers, and co-workers would be forced to come forward with the truth.

The accident

It was Bob’s turn to work Saturday. The coal plow in B tunnel had been faulting out for several months. Bob was down trying to get it going 3 times the day before. When he came home that Friday night he said, “If they don’t fix the plow soon someone is going to get killed.” Who would have thought in a few hours he would be that someone.

Bob was employed by Hoosier Energy of 22 years, and this would be the last time he would perform this job that he had done millions of times.

There had been lots of rain and the tunnel was flooded. One of the 3rd shift employees had shut the pump down because it was making a strange noise. He just turned it off and did not replace it, let someone else worry about it.

Again the plow faulted, and stopped dumping coal onto the conveyor belt. Bob and his partner were called to reset the plow. His partner was wearing sandals and shorts because there were no mangers working on Saturday, and he did not want to get his feet wet so he waited in the truck.

Bob reset the plow, and when there was not any coal on the belt he walked back 300 feet to check to see if there was something lodged, he climbed up the side of the plow as he always did, his wet feet must have caused him to slip and fall on to the conveyor belt. He became lodged in a metal skirt board, the cause of death? Traumatic asphyxiation.

When Bob failed return; his partner did go look for him, and found him dead.. No action was taken against him. There is a note in his file that documented his failure to wear proper safety equipment. To this day he has never told the truth, and he still wares sandals to work on Saturday.

Hoosier Energy:

Bob was dead almost an hour before anyone contacted my daughter Alison stating that he had been hurt at work and was at the hospital.

They did however call his replacement in to work just a few minutes after they discovered Bob.

The debris in tunnel was cleared; the sump pump was replaced to remove the standing water in the walkway.

The radio would not work in the tunnel, the safety pull cord to stop the belt broke when his partner pulled it, no safety monitors or cameras so the control room can view what is going on.

I offered to purchase cameras and monitors, but they would not install them because it would not be possible to keep them clean.

No one from H.E, was present at the hospital, and made no attempt to contact us except to tell me that our insurance cancelled when Bob died.

The company investigation stated Bob was pulled through a 11 X 22” opening between the belt and plow. His autopsy proved the investigation to be incorrect. The head for the safety department called me after a few weeks, she had resigned her position because she refused to sign the investigation report that contained false statements. She stays in contact with me.

The report was somewhat like a “choose your own adventure” because it contains 2 possible ways the incident occurred, and statement in this report may be incorrect because there were no witnesses.

Some of the co-workers still visit with me. Some of the call me when things go wrong, knowing that I will contact OSHA and report it. Most of them would just like to forget it happened. They realize it could have been them. I can’t understand why they don’t band together and try to make it right. When the company tells you, “If you fall we will roll right over you and keep working! Staying safe is up to you not us!” that in itself is the only truth they have told.

The Hoosier Energy Management team did attend the funeral, from the CEO down. They were there.

After 22 years of making them lots of money they didn’t even know who he was.

I called Hoosier Energy this week to see if there was something they would like for me to say about Bob on their behalf, after all he was a loyal employee.

They declined.

The union

I grew up in a union family so I am familiar with strength and brotherhood.

Union officials understand what families are going through because most have suffered losses. The brothers support each other heart and sole and this compassion needs to be extended to the family of your union brother. My experience was with only one man and I know this was not the opinion of the entire group.

I ask the local B.A. some questions about the incident; he was rude and insulted that I would even suggest Bob was in imminent danger. I asked to be on the agenda to speak to the members from H.E. so I could explain what was happening to our family after all Bob was the first H.E. employee to be killed at work, and what ever happened to his family set precedence. Mr. Kinnett informed me if had any other questions the union attorneys could provide the answers. These members to this day do not know just how powerless the families really are when someone is killed.

Before Scott Kennett became the Business Agent he worked side by side with my husband as a material handler at Hoosier Energy. He knows just how dangerous plant really is because it is an ageing facility that has in house maintenance. I had never personally met him until a few months ago. Even though he told the co-workers how he came to our house and talked to me. How quickly some people forget where they came from.

OSHA

The OSHA inspector contacted me because sometimes families can provide information that co-workers usually do not want to talk about. He was very helpful, listened to everything I had to say. He knew that H.E. was responsible but there was only so much he could do.

OSHA has been deregulated to the point that they have no teeth, the fines are a joke, and can be reduced to a very affordable slap on the hand. The message they are sending to companies. It is more cost effective for an employee to die then to shut down a valuable piece of equipment to perform needed repairs.

The OSHA fines for Bob’s accident were for 6 serious violations in the amount of $6,465.00. Very affordable. On the website it is still listed as an accident not a fatality. The fines were for housekeeping, walking surface, and working surface. The personal protective equipment (sandals) was deleted.

We live under this big bubble believing OSHA will keep out workplace safe; the Union will stand behind our families in the event that something goes really wrong, and the company that we are so loyal to really does care about

The families of their employees, and last be not least worker compensation will financially provide our families in our absence.

Every person must be accountable for our own safety!

This is not about Bob and Betsy. Nothing I can say or do will bring Bob back home. This is about the other 6,000 families that are waiting in the wings to join this club of survivors. This is about the people that are going to go to work in the morning and not come home. Will this ever stop? This is about people that make our laws that don’t know what the workplace is really about. They do not have families in the work place so they just don’t give a damn. I have sons that work everyday, I have grandchildren that will some day enter the workplace.

This worries me so.

I am worn out with lies, politics, and people that are just plain unaccountable.

I am 'we the people,' and I am powerless.

USMWF

After Bob’s death, Tammy Misner and I formed United Support and Memorial for Workplace Fatalities. This website was designed to reach families in similar situations, honor loved ones, and to gain awareness of workplace safety and health issues. . USMWF is here to give you, compassion, understanding, support, and the ability to verbalize in your time of need. Death is a certainty, life is the gift.

"One death is a tragedy; a million is a statistic". We mourn approximately 6,000 tragedies each year. These fallen workers will be foremost in our hearts, after all, they stand for the American family; the American dream.

Princeton University Professor (and former OSHA official) Adam Finkel continues to be a royal pain in the ass for the leaders of his former agency. The problem is that Finkel insists on doing the job that OSHA should be doing itself, assuming the agency had the sense, political will, funding and people to do it: protecting workers (including its own employees) and conducting evaluation and research to determine the effectiveness of OSHA's programs.

Finkel, you may recall, was removed from his job as OSHA Regional Administrator in Denver in 2003 because he blew the whistle on the agency for not establishing a testing program for OSHA inspectors who were exposed to beryllium in the course of their inspections. Due to Finkel's efforts, OSHA tested a number of its inspectors and last year, The Chicago Tribune obtained an internal OSHA memo stating that ten OSHA employees out of 271 tested have confirmed postive results for beryllium sensitization. Finkel filed a Freedom of Information (FOIA) request for data needed to determine how much beryllium the inspectors were exposed to and how many other OSHA employees and retirees may developed signs of beryillium-related disease.

Finkel has also made a second FOIA request for data relating to OSHA inspections that dealt with exposure to chemicals. He is interested in investigating the resources that OSHA is dedicating to investigating workers' exposure to toxic chemicals in the wake of evidence that such inspections are declining while the number of employers found out of compliance is rising.

Another area Finkel is investigating is whether workers' exposures increase when firms modify their production process to comply with environmental mandates. In other words, are the chemicals that are not being released into the outside air exposing workers instead?

All of these sound like worthwhile projects, projects that OSHA should be doing itself, or at least research it would want to encourage others to conduct, especially if it's not even at government expense.

But that makes far too much sense, especially for a government far more interested in protecting the business community than it is in protecting workers. So OSHA has issued a notice in the Federal Register "to all employers that were subject to air sampling by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration from 1979 to June 1, 2005" whether the disclosure of company names, along with air sampling information, would reveal any "trade secrets." (hint, hint, wink, wink.)

Without company names, according to Finkel, the information is useless.

Note also the absence of any equivalent Federal Register notice to the millions of employees exposed to hazardous chemicals every day on the job, asking them whether withholding this information and impeding this research might lead to cancer and other work-related disease from the chemicals they're exposed to.

By the way, if anyone out there in web-land has ever received air sampling data from OSHA that included company names, let me know. E-mail me or leave a comment below. Not that OSHA would suddenly change its mind or anything because of the identity, past history or political persuasion of those who may want the information.

The Washington DC area was rocked earlier this week by the murder of detective Vicky O. Armel and critical wounding of another officer by Michael W. Kennedy, a mentally ill youth who opened fire armed with an an assault weapon, a hunting rifle and five handguns in the parking lot of the Sully District police station in Chantilly, Virginia.

But there was more behind this tragedy than appears at first glance. Armel wasn't just the victim of a random act of violence. Kennedy may have pulled the trigger, but the real root cause of this tragedy is this society's failure to address the problems of the mentally ill in this country.

During the late 1970's and 1980's, partly as a reaction to the warehousing of the mentally ill in large public institutions, and partly as a result of the newly popular ideas of cutting taxes and limiting government, large mental health institutions were closed and all but the most severely ill people were "deinstitutionalized" -- moved to community treatment aned out-patient settings. Whatever therapeutic potential deinstitutionalization may have held was never realized, because budget cuts soon resulted in many of the mentally ill being left on the streets to be treated by underfunded, poorly staffed outpatient and community mental health service agencies. People that needed supervision to be kept on their medications and in therapy were lost to the streets, and eventually to the prisons.

My first experience with the deadly results of these changes was the brutal 1989 murder of Robin Panitch in southern California. Panitch, a social worker and AFSCME member, was stabbed 31 times by a mentally ill client. Panitch's murder eventually led to the issuance of workplace violence guidelines by CalOSHA, the first time that workplace violence was treated as an occupational hazard in this country. Among other things, the guidelines called for higher staffing levels, alarms and more security for workers who had to work with mentally ill persons.

Unfortunately, many of these lessons remained unlearned, resulting in the death of Dr. Erlinda Ursua who was beaten to death by a patient in a state mental health hospital in 2003. Ursua had been treating the patient alone in a closed room despite a recent history of violence at the hospital that included over 100 attacks on staff in the previous year. Calls for security guards to accompany doctors in interview of potentially violent patients had gone unanswered due to funding problems

But workplace violence guidelines and more security guards, however necessary, are really only bandaids on a bigger systemic problem. Writing in the Washington Post today, former Post reporter Pete Earley connects the dots, recounting his experience with Detective Armel and how she assisted him in dealing with his mentally ill son when the mental health system failed to respond appropriately. Despite a history of bipolar disorder and two hospitalizations, Fairfax Hospital had refused to admit Early's son until he posed posed "an 'imminent danger' to himself or others." But when he got to that point, the only option the system had was to try to lock him up in prison. Armel intervened to ensure that Early's son got treatment, not prison.

But that intervention by a caring police officer is the exception, not the rule, according to Early, who has writting a book on his experience called Crazy: A Father's Search Through America's Mental Health Madness

Police officers such as Detective Armel -- not doctors and therapists -- are now on the front lines when it comes to dealing with those who have mental disorders. Our mental health system is so deeply flawed that it is extremely difficult for people who are ill to get help. Instead they are being arrested for crimes they commit while they are psychotic. This is why jails and prisons have become our new asylums.

The federal Bureau of Justice Statistics has found that 300,000 inmates in jails and prisons take medications for severe mental illnesses such as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. An additional 500,000 are on probation. Some 700,000 pass through the criminal court system each year. The largest mental facility in America is not a hospital; it is the Los Angeles County jail.

Data from the nonprofit Treatment Advocacy Center confirm this week's grisly headline. People with mental illnesses kill law enforcement officers at a rate 5.5 times greater than the rest of the population. People with severe disorders are also killed by police in justifiable homicides at a rate nearly four times higher than others.

The result of this breakdown in our ability to treat those who suffer from mental illness is not just a tragedy for them and their families, but for our society as well -- particularly for those members of our society who take on this nation's toughest and most dangerous jobs of providing us with security and providing assistance for people most in need of help -- in a system that refuses to provide the support that they need.

As Early wrote of his friend,

A good police officer, loving wife and mother of two children is dead. Her murder was preventable. Her killer should have gotten treatment. Their deaths should serve as a wake-up call. How many more police officers will be murdered; how many young men and women with untreated mental disorders must die, before we reform a disgraceful mental health system that fails to treat the sick and protect the innocent?

Related Articles

• Epilogue on the Death of Erlinda Ursua, December 22, 2004
• Workplace Violence in Health Care on the Rise, April 26, 2004
• Who really killed Dr. Erlinda Ursua? December 2, 2003
• Doctor Killed by Mental Patient, November 23, 2003
  

Labels: mental health workers, Workplace Violence

Almost 14 years ago I received news that four AFSCME members, Phyllis Caslin, Florence A. Pike, DeniseVan Amburg and Nancy J. Wheeler, child welfare workers in the Schuyler County (NY) Department of Social Services, had been shot to death in their office by a man unhappy about being forced to make child support payments. Miller was able to walk into an unlocked back entrance, and climbed the stairs to their office.

The four women and their killer died on Thursday morning, when 50-year-old John T. Miller walked into the Schuyler County offices with a 9-millimeter handgun and shot one after the other, pausing once to tell a woman working in a nearby office that she could leave. Afterward, he calmly told deputies that he had "hurt everyone I came here to hurt." Then he held the gun to his right temple and pulled the trigger.

But that wasn't the first time that poor building security put workers at risk:

Marc Yerton remembers the day more than 20 years ago when a couple walked into the Chenango County Office Building and took a group of workers hostage in a day-long siege.

"I was here in the early 1980s when two people entered the building with guns and Molotov cocktails and took 22 people hostage,” said Yerton, a probation supervisor and 26-year employee.

Since that time, we've seen significant advancements made in an effort to protect employees from workplace violence. In 1997, federal OSHA issued guidelines to assist health care and social service workers to prevent workplace violence. Among the measures in the guidelines is one that recommends "Lock all unused doors to limit access, in accordance with local fire codes."

But according to an article in The Work Force, a publication of the Civil Service Employees Association of New York, AFSCME Local 1000 (no link), things haven't changed that much, at least in Chanango County:

The takeover didn’t result in any increased building security. “Nothing happened after that,” he said. “The county didn’t change its policies at all.”
CSEA Chenango County Local President Jerry Sayles, a county Highway Department employee, said the building has at least six unlocked, unguarded entrances.

The only sign of security at these entrances is literally a yellow sign on the doors noting that weapons are prohibited in the building. Other than a metal detector and deputy in the family court area, Sayles said, “it’s pretty much wide open.”

Sayles said the union has tried to get the county to increase security at the building and other county facilities, but county officials have been unwilling to act.

“In our labor–management meetings, we’ve asked for increased security, but they’ve been unwilling to do more,” Sayles said. “Our fear is that somebody could walk in with a weapon and not be stopped or even slowed down. Somebody could be hurt or killed.”

***

Yerton said people regularly joke about his office’s only security measure — a piece of red tape on the floor that probationers and other visitors to his office are supposed to stay behind. He said the signs on the building’s outside doors that prohibit weapons are equally ineffective.

“It’s a joke, the same as our red tape,” he said. “It’s the only measure we have — a piece of tape on the floor. We take care of each other — that’s the only real security we have.”

New York public employee have waited long enough to feel safe. CSEA, the New York Public Employee Federation and other public employees unions in New York are running a Secure Worksites Now! campaign that is supporting the Worksite Security Act (S.6441; A.9691) in the New York State Legislature. The law would require public employers with more than 20 employees to assess risk and develop a plan of action to prevent potential workplace violence. The bill would also establish a complaint procedure for workers to call attention to the potential for violence. CSEA trained 700 safety and health activists at the end of last month at the union's statewide Safety and Health Conference in Lake Placid at the end of the month. PEF is running regular trainings for its members as well.

Last week NY public employees rallied in front of the state capitol in support of the legislation. Last year, NY Governor George Pataki vetoed similar legislation that had been overwhelmingly approved by both houses of the legislature, citing "technical flaws."

CSEA and PEF held a press conference earlier this week where members who had been victims of workplace violence spoke of being attacked -- and of not being taken seriously afterwards:

"I was attacked by a patient while working as a registered nurse at Mohawk Valley Psychiatric Center," said PEF member Jill Dangler. "He broke facial bones including my jaw. I lost teeth, yet when I tried to file charges at the Utica Police Department, I was told that I knew of the risks when I took my job."

The campaign notes that although many people think workplace violence is random, unpredictable and therefore unpreventable, there are a number of common factors that increase a worker's risk of violence. These include:

• low staffing levels
• working alone
• working late at night or early in the morning
• working with money or prescription drugs
• long waits for services by customers, clients or patients; and/or lack of available services
• employees who work in homes or in the community.

CSEA Central Region President Jim Moore says that neither workers, nor the public should put up with the lack of security any more.

In this day and age, we live in a ‘post’ world – post-Schuyler County, post-Oklahoma City and post-September 11, which all serve as poignant reminders of what happens when security concerns are ignored. Chenango County can’t afford to continue their small-town ‘it won’t happen here’ mentality. That’s just what they thought in Watkins Glen, until four workers were killed. We all have a responsibility to honor their legacy and make sure that our workers and the public are better protected by getting a statewide standard enacted into law and preventively strengthening security measures.

Labels: mental health workers, Workplace Violence

And speaking of meatpacking plants, a federal court decided yesterday that Smithfield Packing Company had repeatedly broken the law in fighting the United Food and Commercial Workers union's (UFCW) attempt to organize its pork-processing plant in Tar Heel, N.C. nine years ago.

I wrote more about the plant (or actually I wrote more about NY Times labor reporter Steven Greenhouse's article about attempts to organize the plant) here earlier this year.

Concluding that Smithfield had engaged in "intense and widespread coercion," the appeals court upheld the labor board's ruling that one worker was improperly coerced when he was ordered to stamp hogs with a "Vote No" stamp.

The appeals court ordered Smithfield to reinstate four fired workers, one of whom was beaten by the plant's police the day of the election. The court concurred with the labor board's findings that Smithfield's managers were not credible when they insisted that the four workers were fired for reasons other than their support for the union.

The circuit court noted that Smithfield had illegally confiscated union materials, spied on workers' union activities, threatened to fire workers who voted for the union, and threatened to freeze wages and shut the plant if the employees unionized. The Smithfield plant has 5,500 employees and is the world's largest pork-processing facility.

As I wrote before, instead of calling for a new election, the union is putting together a coalition of churches, civil rights groups and colleges students to press the company for neutrality in the unionization fight. Not surprisingly, the company opposes those tactics, boasting about how well management and employees work together, that they don't need a "third party", that neutrality would "bar the company from telling employees about the downside of unionization," workers would be "shielded from the facts," and wouldn't learn the "full story."

Labels: Meatpacking

The good news is that conditions in meatpacking plants have gotten better since Upton Sinclair published The Jungle 100 years ago.

The bad news is that things are still pretty bad.

He works in a world of long knives and huge saws, blood and bone, arctic chill and sweltering heat. For Martin Cortez, this is life on the line as a meatpacker.

It's no place for the squeamish. Some workers can't stomach the gore - chopping up the meat and bones of hundreds of cattle, day after day. Cortez has been at it more than 30 years. It also can be very dangerous. Some workers have been slashed, burned or scarred. He has not.

Even so, Martin Cortez, a soft-spoken man with sad eyes, doesn't recommend the work. The thrashing animals, the heavy lifting ... all that goes into putting steak and hamburger on America's dinner tables, he said, makes for a backbreaking day on the killing floor.

"You know what I like to say to newcomers?" he said. "They don't kill cows. They kill people."

Now we have Mexican and Central Americans,along with immigrants from Somalia, Sudan and Vietnam, whereas 100 years ago the immigrants working in the plants were from Eastern Europe.

And although things have gotten better over the past 100 years, they're not where they should be in 21st century America:

"It's not as bad as it was in the sense of the sheer brutality of 100 years ago - before labor laws and food safety laws," said Lance Compa, a Cornell University labor law expert who wrote a stinging Human Rights Watch report on the meat and poultry industry last year. "But for the times we're in now, the situation is much in line with what it was 100 years ago."

"It's extremely dangerous when it shouldn't be," he said. "Workers are exploited when they shouldn't be. The companies know it."

Others also say even with better regulation, if the meatpacking industry is judged against other workplace progress, it falls short.

"It's a new "Jungle," measured not against the standard of yesterday, but the standard of today," said Lourdes Gouveia, director of the Office for Latino/Latin American Studies at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

Many of the safety problems are still there. According to a recent Government Accountablity Office report,

The industry still is plenty dangerous with knife-wielding workers standing long hours on fast-moving lines, chemicals, animal waste and factory floors that can be dark, loud, slippery or unbearably hot or bitter cold.

The risks are many: cuts and stabbings, burns, repetitive stress injuries, amputations and worse. Knife accidents blinded one meat worker and disfigured the face of another, the GAO said, citing OSHA records.

And other things are getting worse as well.

In the new meatpacking capitals, he said, paychecks have been shrinking. In 2004, the average annual wage for a worker in a slaughtering plant was about $25,000 - compared with $34,000 for manufacturing, according to federal figures.

It wasn't always that way.

The workers had their heyday in the 1950s and 1960s, when the union flexed its muscle and helped push up wages, turning meatpacking into a stable, middle-class job.

"For blue-collar people without much education, packinghouse workers were able to have second homes, send their kids to college so they don't have to do (the same job)," Horowitz said. "It became the American success story."

It didn't last.

In the late 1970s into the 1980s, big changes came. A new tough breed of competitors, mostly nonunion, led by Iowa Beef Processors - now part of Tyson Foods - emerged. Old-line companies went bankrupt. The master contract, one that covered several plants with a standard wage, vanished.

Meatpacking wages that were 15 percent above the average manufacturing salary in 1960 dropped to 20 percent below by 1990, said Don Stull, a University of Kansas anthropology professor and industry expert.

Related Stories

• Meat, Lies and Op-Eds, September 6, 2005
• Smithfield Foods Under Investigation For Illegal Retaliation, August 24, 2005
• The Daily Toll Of Meatpacking Workers, August 3, 2005
• Who Knows What Evil Lurks On The Floor Of Smithfield Packing Co? Not OSHA., March 6, 2005
• Stronger Inspection and Monitoring by OSHA Recommended In Meatpacking Plants, January 30, 2005
• All US Has To Offer Meat and Poultry Workers Is 'Blood, Sweat and Fear', January 25, 2005
• Repetitive Stress in Wallula: Injuries Happen, November 25, 2004

Ron Caputo, Long Island district representative of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades has been paying attention to what's going on in this country.

Last week's hearings on safety at the Sago Mine in West Virginia put the dangerous conditions faced by coal miners into sharp perspective. But workplace safety is an issue in our own backyard, too. Picture yourself hanging by a rope, dangling off the Robert Moses Bridge while painting it without an appropriate safety harness or protective gear. Imagine yourself on a pharmaceutical assembly line in Melville, day after day, performing the same repetitive motion and wondering if the strain on your body will make today your last day on the job.

These sorts of conditions are what many American workers face. In the environment of work speedups, worker layoffs and relaxed safety regulations, millions of people each year work under impossible and dangerous conditions and are injured or killed on the job.

And that not enough is being done:

Workers should not have to risk their lives to earn a living for their families. Companies whose negligence and oversight are penalized with nominal fines are only encouraged to increase their profits by exploiting their workers.

The average penalty is only $906 for companies on Long Island in a serious citation for conditions creating substantial probability of death or serious physical harm to workers. These penalties are clearly not enough to change the behavior of many employers.

Labels: Coal Mining

But Questions Remain: Was Collapse an Act of God or Act of Man?

Two Australian gold miners, Todd Russell and Brant Webb, were rescued from a mine shaft in Tasmania, yesterday after 13 days trapped 3,000 feet underground. The collapse was caused by an earthquake on April 25. 14 miners managed to escape but one miner, Larry Knight, was killed in the rock fall.

Russell and Webb were in a 4-foot tall safety cage that was sheltered by a fallen slab of rock that formed a roof over the cage. They lived off a single cereal bar and water they licked from rocks for five days until rescuers located them and bored a hole through which food and other supplies were provided.

News reports blame the initial collapse on an earthquake. One of those mother nature, Act-of-God things, right? But of course, nothing is as simple as it first seems.

Several miners from the Beaconsfield goldmine — including some who were involved in the dramatic rescue -- said that mine managers had failed to leave enough of the deeper levels unexploited to provide support.

"There were simply not enough pillars left in the whole mine because of the value of the ore," one miner told The Australian. If they found an ore body, they’d just take it out."

Some believe that the earthquake may have been linked to the mine blasting.

The Australian Miners Union blamed the collapse on a law passed in 1998 that allowed a self-regulatory approach to safety regulations in the Tasmanian mining industry.

Miners have told The Australian and the AWU that the accident could have been prevented if a basic safety measure - the retention of unmined levels and areas, known as pillars - had been sufficiently followed.

They believe pillars were not left where they should have been in the mine because of the richness of the vein of gold found in the ore.

There have also been suggestions management had come under intense pressure from elements of the mine's joint venture company to reduce the high cost of taking a conservative approach to mine safety.

Former Beaconsfield Gold NL director John Miedecke has told The Australian Mr Gill had in the past been criticised by elements of the joint venture for taking a cautious approach to safe extraction of the ore.

The union is calling for an independent investigation.

The situation recalls this country's "miracle" rescue of the Quecreek miners trapped below ground in a flood in 2002. As Indiana University of Pennsylvania Professor Charles McCollester wrote about that near disaster:

God may well have had a hand in the rescue, but the flooding can’t be pinned on the deity. Human avarice and more than a century of fierce manipulation and corporate struggle for profit and control were behind the wall of water that swept into the Quecreek mine.

He did it again. While the blogosphere was buzzing about the ridiculous speech OSHA Director Ed Foulke made blaming dumb workers (who do the darnedest things!) for workplace accidents (my article here, and others here, here and here), he was down in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida making a variation of the same speech to the Association of Georgia's Textile, Carpet and Consumer Products Manufacturers.

What's the matter with him? Doesn't he read Confined Space first thing every morning? (Everyone else at OSHA does).

I wonder if I can see a show of hands here -- How many people remember a fellow on TV back in the 1960s called Art Linkletter? He had a program called "Kids Say the Darnedest Things."

When it comes to workplace safety and health, it may be just as true that "ADULTS DO the darnedest things," as you'll see from some pictures that I have brought with me.

Taking the fifth place award for dangerous workplace practices is this fellow. It's hard to believe anyone would take a chance at injuring themselves at work by standing on one foot on an unstable ladder that is leaning against power lines - but there you are!

***

All kidding aside, workplace safety and health is a serious subject, and at OSHA we take our responsibility very seriously.

Yeah, ha, ha. Actually, Ed, if you were really taking your responsibility seriously, you'd be talking about putting managers in jail if they ever allowed anything like what was portrayed in those pictures and someone got seriously injured or killed.

Instead, the rest of the speech was the usual drivel we've come to expect from this administration: A half part enforcement and 10 parts "safety pays," Alliances and compliance assistance: read our website, order our publications and we know you'll do the right thing.

Plus, safety makes people happy :)

Let me give you something else to consider: Businesses with effective safety and health programs are the most cheerful places to work. I know this quality is hard to measure, but you know it when you see it.

And safety keeps jobs at home:

Think of it this way: In today's highly competitive global economy, when employers are looking for ways to increase their profit margin, any savings is important. In many cases, even a one percent increase in profits can mean the difference between a company succeeding here or facing the unhappy choice of shipping American jobs out of the country -- just to compete.

But I'm not talking about saving one percent. The American Society of Safety Engineers estimates that workplace injuries rob employers of 25 percent of all their pretax corporate profits. That's a tremendous impact on the bottom line.

I always like the "safety pays" argument. Makes good business sense. What always bothers me though, is what if certain safety programs decrease profits a little in the short term, which is all business seem to be interested in these days? Nevermind?

Some of the rest of the speech wasn't too bad. He sincerely sympathizes with the families of workers killed on the job:

Having been involved in numerous OSHA investigations in my career[on management's side, but who's counting?], I have seen the devastating effects that a single workplace fatality has on a wide circle of people connected to one employee.

That's good, but let me give you a tip Ed. People are more likely to think you really care if you don't ridicule them first.

Labels: Ed Foulke

In the United States we have an OSHA regulation that keeps workers from getting killed in confined spaces. (Well, for some workers. OSHA is still working on a confined space standard for construction workers.) One focus of the Confined Space standard ensures that potential rescuers don't get killed trying attempting to rescue the original victim.

Before we had this regulation, tragedies like this were not uncommon:

Toxic gas kills six workers
Shanghai Daily News
2006-05-08

SIX employees of a drainage company were killed by toxic gas in China's northwest when one fell into a well and five coworkers tried to rescue him, the government said Monday.

The disaster occurred Sunday in Qiemo County in the Xinjiang region of China's northwest, the official Xinhua news agency reported, citing local authorities. It identified the gas involved only as "marsh gas."

One worker fell into the well and was overcome by toxic gas, and six coworkers succumbed to the gas when they tried to rescue him, the report said. It said five of the coworkers died and one was hospitalized in serious condition.

BP's Texas City refinery does more than just blow people up, it also apparently poisons them softly with toxic emissions -- more all the time:

The nation's worst polluting plant is the BP PLC oil refinery where 15 workers died in an explosion last year, raising questions about whether the company has been underreporting toxic emissions. BP's Texas City refinery released three times as much pollution in 2004 as it did in 2003, according to the most recent data from the Environmental Protection Agency.

The increase at BP was so large that it accounted for the bulk of a 15 percent increase in refinery emissions nationwide in 2004, the highest level since 2000.

***

The company reported that it released 10.25 million pounds of pollution in 2004, up from 3.3 million pounds the year before, according to EPA's Toxics Release Inventory, which tracks nearly 650 toxic chemicals released into the air, water and land.

***

Most of the increase in pollution was from formaldehyde and ammonia, which can form smog and soot and irritate the eyes, nose and throat.

That would come to about three times the toxic pollutants released by the second place polluter, an Exxon Mobil Corp. refinery in Baton Rouge, La.

BP has been having a hard time lately. They killed 15 workers in a March 23, 2005 explosion, earning them a 21.3 million OSHA fine and an ongoing criminal investigation. Last month, OSHA fined BP North America $2.4 million for unsafe operations at the company's Oregon, Ohio refinery near Toledo.

BP denies that the releases actually took place, blaming some kind of paperwork discrpency:

These were on-paper calculations -- not based on real measurements through valves or stacks," spokesman Neil Geary told the newspaper.

I don't know what they mean by that. And I'm not the only one:

The Environmental Integrity Project, a Washington-D.C. based advocacy group, said the increase shouldn't be dismissed as merely an increase on paper.

"It's real; it just never got reported before," said Eric Shaeffer, a former EPA staffer and the organization's founder. "You can argue that it's not an increase, but the next sentence has to be, 'We've always been bad.'"

Labels: BP

Usually, the Bush-appointed leadership of our nation's workplace safety and health agencies just make me mad. Edwin Foulke, our new Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA, is starting to make me sick.

Foulke, the man charged by the President of the United States with ensuring the safety of America's workers, made a speech last week entitled "Adults Do The Darndest Things" which displayed a shockingly profound lack of understanding of some of the most fundamental principles of workplace safety, combined with an astonishing insensitivity to the tragic losses that thousands of American families face each year.

The speech marked the launch of North American Occupational Safety and Health Week, also known as: "North American Blame Stupid Workers For Getting Themselves Killed Week." The highlight of the speech was a bunch of photos showing workers doing some of the dumbest things you've ever seen. In fact, you'd almost suspect some of them are staged.

These photos -- the workplace safety version of the Darwin Awards -- have been traveling around the internet for years. And yes, they're funny. I laughed the first few times someone sent them to me. But it's one thing for you or me (or even Ed Foulke) to have a chuckle when these first arrive in an e-mail, but it's quite another for the Assistant Secretary of Labor, the highest workplace health and safety position in the country, to highlight these photos to launch (what's supposed to be) a major health and safety event, sending a message out to employers across the country (there are no unions that participate in North American Occupational Safety and Health Week) that the main reason we have almost 6,000 workplace deaths (and rising) in this country every year is that "workers do the darndest things."

Take these pictures below, for example. What do the represent? Workers too dumb to live, or managers too cheap to purchase or rent lifts or cranes?


And any true safety professional (which Foulke obviously isn't), or anyone who knows anything about workplaces -- particularly construction workplaces -- (which Foulke obviously doesn't), would be asking (after the initial chuckle) "Who the hell is managing this place?" "Have these people ever been trained?" In other words, the humor fades fast.

What we're dealing with here is the same old tired "behavioral safety" theory hiding behind "funny.' Behavioral safety theories say that most workplace accidents are caused by worker carelessness or misconduct, and by disciplining workers for making mistakes, or praising them for reporting fewer injuries, accidents will cease to happen. But behavioral theories don't hold up to a closer look at the root causes of most workplace accidents: generally management system and organizational problems that lead to unsafe working conditions. Punishing (or praising) workers for fewer reported injuries may result in less reporting, but not fewer injuries. (Confined Space has covered the issue numerous times before -- Here, here, here, here, and here to name just a few)

So who's laughing at these photos? Probably not Irene Warnock or Coit Smith whose young sons were electrocuted at work. And probably not Mary Vivenzi , whose boyfriend, Kevin Noah was killed falling from Golden Gate Bridge in 2002 while working on an earthquake retrofit project, nor the families of the construction workers killed in the recent Boston scaffold collapse. And I doubt if Tammy Miser, whose brother burned to death in a combustible dust explosion, is rolling in the aisles. Nor Holly Shaw, whose husband fell from a dredging barge and drowned. No life preservers. Pretty amusing.

I know for a fact that Donna Spadaro isn't laughing because she told me. Donna's brother, Gary, fell 25 feet from a cement tower, while shoveling gravel off the hopper to clean it. He had no fall protection or training.

This pathetic attempt at humor insults the families of those killed on the job and dishonors our dead who gave their lives trying to eke out an existence in George Bush’s America, a country where corporate cronyism has replaced competence in our regulatory agencies, to the peril of our nation and its citizens.

And how did Foulke miss this photo? I'm sure Michelle Marts and Jim Walters whose son Patrick was crushed in a trench collapse, or Michelle Lewis whose stepfather was buried alive would have been quite amused, as would the family of Lorenzo Pavia, who was crushed in a trench collapse and then decapitated in the rescue attempt.

Maybe the families of the 15 BP workers who were blown to pieces and burned to death think these photos are amusing. Or the families of these workers or these or these or....

Of course, Foulke is not completely to blame. He's learning from the best. In fact, he was probably just taking a cue from his boss in the White House who showed those hilarious slides of himself looking for Weapons of Mass Destruction under furniture in the Oval Office at the 2004 White House Correspondent's Dinner. I'm sure the families of the thousands killed and wounded in Iraq are still chuckling about that one.

And OSHA isn't the only clueless agency around when it comes to blaming workers for their own injuries and deaths. Last year, the Mine Safety And Health Administration launched a campaign called "Make the Right Decision," which was supposed to be "a safety and health initiative that helps miners and mine operators focus on human factors, such as decision-making, when at work." I'm sure the families of the 12 dead Sago miners, and the other 22 miners who have died this year are mad as hell at their loved ones who must have made the "wrong decision" that got themselves killed.

One more upsetting thing. The other point of the speech was to honor kids who won a workplace safety poster contest. Foulke compared the "funny" workplace photos with the winning kids' posters to remind us

that sometimes kids are a lot smarter than adults give them credit for. These posters here on stage illustrate this clearly. Kids don't always know what their parents do all day at work, but they instinctively understand the importance of them working safely. In contrast, adults could stand to learn a thing or two.

OK, the kids are sweet and posters are cute, except that they all focus on the same "Let's be careful out there" theme. Great, so we're teaching a generation of kids to think that if their parents die in the workplace it's because they weren't being careful? OK, maybe they're too young to get the concept of root cause analysis, management systems and the difference between unsafe working conditions and unsafe behavior, but the Assistant Secretary in his 50's shouldn't be quite so ignorent.

Mary Vivenzi has a better suggestion for a poster:For more on union responses to Behaviour Safety in the US and worldwide, check out Hazards.

Labels: Behavioral Safety, Ed Foulke

Anne Hudson, Director of the Work Injured Nurses' Group (WING USA) sends out regular updates of state legislative efforts to pass laws that "halt needless injuries to nursing staff, patients, and residents from hazardous manual patient lifting." In addition to recent laws passed in Texas and Washington state, Anne adds:

Massachusetts legislation for safe patient handling was introduced in 2004 and continues in the Massachusetts Legislature. California legislation for safe patient handling, vetoed twice by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2004 and 2005, has been introduced for the third time, in January and February 2006, into the California Senate and Assembly. Rhode Island and Florida each introduced safe patient handling legislation in February 2006 into both the House and the Senate. New Jersey introduced safe patient handling legislation in March 2006.

Importantly, the safe patient handling laws enacted by both Texas and Washington provide for healthcare workers to refuse to perform patient lifting or movement activities, without fear of reprisal, if they believe in good faith that the activity would expose the healthcare worker or patient to an unacceptable risk of injury. This protection is also included in legislation introduced by several other states.

Check out Anne's site as well: http://www.wingusa.org and get on her mailing list.

NEW NIOSH PUBLICATION

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has just issued a new publication, Safe Lifting and Movement of Nursing Home Residents, which seems much easier to understand and use than OSHA's nursing home guidelines. For one thing, the NIOSH publication actually describes the scope of the problem, something OSHA refused to do in its guidelines:

These conditions contributed to the 211,000 occupational injuries suffered by caregivers in 2003 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2003). Because of the rapidly expanding elderly population in the U.S., employment for nursing aides, orderlies, and attendants is projected to increase by 25% between 2002 and 2012, adding an estimated 343,000 jobs (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2004). Due to the ongoing demand for skilled care services, musculoskeletal injuries to the back, shoulder, and upper extremities of caregivers are expected to increase.

NIOSH also describes the current scientific literature on the causation of back and other musculoskeletal injuries, whereas OSHA offer only this statement:

More remains to be learned about the relationship between workplace activities and the development of MSDs.

Labels: Ergonomics

America Public Media's Marketplace did a story Friday called "Dead ships, toxic business" about how breaking up decommissioned ships has become big business for the city of Alang, on the northwest coast of India.

This is where the world sends its ships to die. American cruise liners and Soviet war tankers are belched up on this gray industrial shore like whale carcasses.

Workers wrench apart their toxic insides: steel plates insulated with asbestos, and engine rooms filled with PCBs. The wood will be resold and reappear later, as hotel room furniture. The steel will be melted down and refashioned as water pipes and refrigerators.

At the height of India's ship breaking industry, the motto at Alang was "a ship a day, a death a day" — and that referred to the number of workers killed.

Protests by enviromental and workplace safety advocates have improved conditions, but also sent much of the shipbreaking work to less regulated countries -- Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Labels: Asbestos

Bal Harbour: fancy hotels, high end shopping and death:

Three die in Bal Harbour construction accident

BY DAVID OVALLE, CHARLES RABIN AND MARTIN MERZER

Three workers were killed Saturday when the roof of a condominium under construction in Bal Harbour partially collapsed and buried them in drying concrete that ultimately crushed them, authorities said.

Hours after the accident, workers tethered above the victims swung pick axes to hammer away at three-foot-deep concrete so they could extricate the bodies from the 26-story construction site at 10295 Collins Ave., just south of Haulover Inlet.

''These people were basically buried alive in concrete,'' said Miami-Dade Fire-Rescue Lt. Eric Baum.

A fourth victim was hospitalized, apparently with a heart problem.

''The sad part is I could hear men crying for help,'' said Dana Phillips, 66, who lives in a complex across the street and was on her balcony when a loud sound and billowing cloud of dust startled her shortly before 10 a.m. "t was an excessive big boom.''

And it looks bad...

I'd bet a fair amount of money that if you stopped ten people in the street (a street far away from Washington DC) and told them this story, at least nine of them would say it couldn't happen in 21st century America.

***

When Washington Senator Patty Murray asked OSHA nominee Ed Foulke at his January 31st confirmation hearing whether he thought it would be a good idea to ban asbestos, Foulke replied that he wasn't aware that the cancer-causing product was used anymore in the United States. Murray sharply corrected him, listing automobile brake pads as one of the many products in which asbestos can still be found.

And the problem of asbestos in brake pads is getting worse. Experts estimate that there has been an 83 percent increase in imports of asbestos brakes and brake material over the past 10 years. Most auto mechanics, however, are just as ignorant about the asbestos threat as the new head of OSHA -- but for the mechanics, ignorance can mean a painful death.

But that's not even the worst part: OSHA scientists are well aware of the growing hazard that auto mechanics face and have prepared an information bulletin. And then, according to Baltimore Sun journalist Andrew Schneider, the Bush administration refused to issue it.

In late 2004, asbestos experts from OSHA's Directorate of Science, Technology and Medicine completed a five-page Safety and Health Information Bulletin. By March 2, 2005, the bulletin had been peer-reviewed, deemed accurate and reviewed by OSHA political appointees, according to documents obtained by The Sun.

OSHA reviewed the proposed warning again with officials of the Office of Management and Budget in August 2005, said two OSHA managers who asked not to be identified.

Some of those at OSHA and at the EPA who were working on the issue say it was at that meeting that the warning was killed. OSHA did not respond to questions about the meeting.

In October 2005, OSHA's [Dan Crane, who oversees asbestos analysis at OSHA's Salt Lake City laboratory] submitted another technical review, supporting release of the bulletin.

OSHA declined to issue a new warning. A spokesman, Al Belsky, said agency officials had concluded that development and publication of a safety and health information bulletin on asbestos in brakes "is not warranted."

The agency issues warnings when it becomes aware of new hazards that need to be brought to the attention of workers and employers, Belsky said. (emphasis added)

Only "new" hazards? It's been twenty years since the Environmental Protection Agency issued the so-called "Gold Book" along with a video that warned auto mechanics about the dangers of asbestos. It's been out of print and the revised version has been promied for years. But "new" hazard, "old" hazard, or whatever -- it still kills, mechanics don't know about it, and OSHA's job is to make sure workers don't get sick (or at least that's what the law says.) Dr. Barry Castleman, a former Baltimore County health officer and a leading researcher on medical and legal issues involving asbestos estimates that thousands of workers die every year from exposure to asbestos from brake pads.

Joel Shufro of the New York Committee on Occupational Safety and Health accurately states that "It borders on criminal negligence for OSHA to have produced a new alert addressed to mechanics but refuse to publish it because it does not conform to a so-called guideline."

"Borders" on criminal negligence?

So what's going on here? The same old tragic story.

David Michaels, a health and safety official in the Clinton administration, said industry is "calling the shots" at OSHA and EPA "on all changes involving health or safety."

"Except when ordered to by a federal judge, OSHA has stopped issuing regulations or even guidance telling workers how to protect themselves," he said. "It has been that way from the moment President Bush took office. The political appointees continue to place the desire of industry before the safety of workers."

Long time readers of Confined Space may remember back to November 2003 when the lawfirm of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, representing asbesetos manufacturers, petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency "to stop distributing warning booklets, posters and videotapes that give mechanics guidance on the need to protect themselves from asbestos."

The main target in their petition is a thin gold-colored EPA pamphlet titled "Guidance for Preventing Asbestos Disease Among Auto Mechanics." Tens of thousands of copies of the Gold Book and other asbestos warning material have been distributed to schools, garages, auto dealers and unions since they were first published 17 years ago.

For two years in the mid-'80s, the EPA and asbestos experts from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration gathered extensive research on exposure to mechanics from leading government and civilian scientists.

The petition says that the EPA has it all wrong and that brake repair work is safe.

"The continuing availability of the Gold Book, and its alarmist and inflammatory tone continues to hinder a fair-minded assessment of the hazards, if any, imposed to users of asbestos-containing friction products," the petition states.

Inflammatory?

Dr. David Egilman, a specialist in occupational medicine who has been a consultant for the brake industry and for the families of workers who have died, said that calling the Gold Book "inflammatory" is ludicrous.

"It's the same thing as calling a stop sign inflammatory. It warns people of possible danger. The government warnings do the same thing," he said.

EPA has been promising for at least three year to re-release a revised version of the Gold Book. Latest word is that they hope to have it ready for public comment by this summer.

Meanwhile auto mechanics continue to get exposed while the federal government fiddles....

PS: One more thought. You know how this is administration is so hot on "compliance assistance" -- instead of issuing regulations -- under the thory that if you give employers information, they will naturally do the right thing? Well, here we have a case where there's already an asbestos regulation, all they have to do is educate employers (and employees) about how to implement it for auto mechanics. But can they manage to do that? Apparently not. Hypocrites.

Related Articles

FLASH! Auto Mechanics: Don't Worry, Be Happy. Asbestos is Safe, November 12, 2003

A Seattle Post-Intelligencer article from almost six years ago describing the extent of asbestos contamination in auto repair shops can be found here.

Labels: Asbestos

They may have ignored Workers Memorial Day, but the NY Times editorial page has this to say about the hearings current taking place on the Sago Mine disaster.

Among the open questions is why it took 11 hours to attempt a rescue. Why the equally intolerable delay in drilling an air passage to the miners? And what caused the explosion? The company's theory that it was storm lightning remains pure conjecture, particularly considering the mine's alarming history of safety citations and worker injuries. The survivor raised the question of whether a dangerous methane pocket discovered three weeks before the blast was ever properly secured.

Underlying these questions is the sorry record of company, federal and state officials responsible for miners' safety. The Bush administration has presided over the attrition of scores of critical mine regulatory jobs, plus the patronage appointments of mining industry officials to safety agencies. It's no wonder that the victims' families fear the Sago hearings will prove to be merely a means of venting the community's grief and frustration.

The disaster should be examined as thoroughly and openly as a plane crash and its lessons promulgated industrywide. For openers, regulators should immediately begin a nationwide inspection of emergency oxygen packs.

There have been 26 mining deaths this year, twice the pace of last year in a booming industry. The lone survivor's report told of the despairing men reciting a "sinner's prayer" and penning farewell notes. Do bureaucrats need to hear more before doing their jobs and protecting miners' lives?

Bureaucrats always need to hear more, but it's not really the career bureaucrats we're worried about here; it's the Bush political appointees who are making -- or not making -- the important decisions. They already "hear" plenty, but it's all from their buddies in industry where they've spent most of their lives, the industries they're supposed to be regulating. Put them under some bad top for a few weeks or threaten them with jail if miners get killed and then see if they think about doing their jobs a bit better.

Labels: Coal Mining, Sago

It's Spring and that means it's conference season again -- which provides a great opportunity to get health and safety information to workers, and to use that information to help create a movement in this country that will force the powers-that-be to take worker safety and health more seriously. Which is why I write this blog instead of sleeping or reading books.

In order to contribute to creating some kind of movement, Confined Space needs to reach the screens of far more workers than it does now. For that reason, I'm re-launching a two-pronged campaign to boost circulation.

1. Linked here is a Confined Space flyer. Print up a few hundred thousand and drop them at workshops, meetings, conferences and other places where there are people you think might be interested. (There's also a more "G" rated version here.)



2. Make an effort to forward Confined Space to anyone you think might be interested. You can forward the main link http://spewingforth.blogspot.com/ or click on those little envelop-arrow icons at the top of each post to send individual posts to friends and co-workers.

And if you have any other ideas, let me know.

Thanks.

Being the modest person I am, I'm always reluctant to write about myself, but occasionally someone writes up something that says what I do better than I can say it myself.

Lifelines, the web publication of the Laborers Health and Safety Fund of North America, has an article in the May edition on the third anniversary of Confined Space:

Subtitled “News and Commentary on Workplace Health & Safety, Labor and Politics,” Confined Space pulls no punches when it comes to the interface of safety and politics in the U.S. It is unrelenting in its criticism of OSHA under the Bush Administration (Barab worked there for the last three Clinton years), and it praises state and local officials who bring criminal charges against derelict employers. It publishes the Weekly Toll – an individual accounting of as many workplace fatalities as it can document.

As is typical of blogs, Confined Space does not attempt to present all sides of any issue. Rather, it absolutizes the importance of ending workplace injuries and fatalities and dissects the efforts – or lack thereof – of others from that point of view, letting the chips fall where they may. Readers form their own judgments in reaction to the clear and definite perspective offered by Barab.

***

There’s no question but that the fight for jobsite health and safety is an uphill battle. Barab clearly enjoys the fight, and he makes the most of it. The topics are intense, the writing is good and the perspective is sharply critical. It’s good reading for anyone who wants to end the carnage – 6,000 fatalities a year – in American workplaces.

Labels: Blog

Custodial workers at the University of Miami have won the right to use card check recognition to win recognition of the union -- no thanks to Donna Shalala. After a two month strike, SEIU and University contractor Unicco Services reached an agreement where the company will recognize the union if 60% of the employees sign union cards by August 1. Although the University raised the worker's wages by at least 25 percent and offered healthcare coverage to the employees, University Preident (and former Clinton Administration Secretary of Health and Human Services) Donna Shalala had refused to help pressure the company to reach an agreement with the union to accept card check, instead of going through an NLRB election.

As Nathan Newman points out in Labor Blog, the fact that the union would settle for signing up 60% of workers on cards, as opposed to a NLRB election would have only required a 50% vote

illustrates how bad the NLRB election process is. The workers preferred a lengthy strike, a hunger strike that hospitalized multiple workers, and a requirement for a super-majority rather than face the buzzsaw of a federal election, where employers manipulate the rules and routinely threaten and fire workers to defeat unions.

And one more thing. This campaign, like the hotel worker campaign that UNITE HERE is running, stressed the poor safety and health conditions that the Unicco employees were forced to work under.

In fact, last week, just days before a settlement was reached, Unicco was included in in the National Council on Occupational Safety and Health's "Dirty Dozen," companies whose reckless disregard for their employees’ safety and health has had tragic consequences for workers and their families.

Coincidence? I think not.

In the continuing battle to organize hotel workers and improve their working conditions, UNITE-HERE has released a new study titled, "Creating Luxury, Enduring Pain"

Findings show that behind the luxury and comfort that housekeepers provide for hotel guests is a pattern of persistent pain and injury.

The report utilizes the first comprehensive analysis of employer records of worker injuries, including records of the major five hotel companies. The analysis covers seven years (1999-2005) and 87 hotel properties with approximately 40,000 hotel employees. The report finds that not only are housekeepers injured more frequently than other hotel and service workers, but this problem is only getting worse as hotel companies implement room changes including heavier beds and linens and room amenities like coffee makers and treadmills.

We already described a couple of weeks ago how the new "heavenly beds" create a hell of a mountain of pillows, heavy bedspreads, duvet covers and gigantic mattresses while hotel workers still expected to clean the same quota of rooms.

One of the contributing factors to pain and high injury rates is the standard way hotel management organizes housekeeping work. Based on a “room quota” system, housekeepers are required to clean a certain number of rooms each day. The greater the room quota, the faster she must work. If a hotel housekeeper has a 16-room quota, she must clean each room in less than 30 minutes to allow time to stock her cart and travel between floors. Housekeepers routinely report that they must race through their tasks in order to complete them on time. When rushing to clean a slippery tub or lift a heavy mattress, workers are more likely to get hurt.

Further, hotel housekeepers report that clean linen and towels are commonly understocked and well-functioning vacuums are few and far between, intensifing this time pressure. Any obstacles such as these supply shortages disrupt the pace of work and consume valuable minutes.

In recent years, the workload that hotel companies demand housekeepers perform has increased significantly. Chronic understaffing, coupled with the addition of time-consuming amenities—luxury items like heavy mattresses, fragile coffeepots and in-room exercise equipment—have placed housekeepers at greater risk of injury. In order to complete their room quotas, housekeepers are increasingly forced to skip meals and other breaks—rests necessary to prevent injury. Today, housekeepers’ bodies are at the breaking point.

The consequences for the health of these workers, mostly women of color and immigrants, is devastating:

Hotel workers are 48% more likely to be injured on the job than the typical worker in the service sector. Hotel workers also have higher rates of serious, disabling injuries—those that require days away from work or reassignment to light duty. These disabling injuries occur to hotel workers at a rate 51% higher than for service sector workers in general

The response of the hotel industry to the report, as reported by Catherine Comp in the New Standard, was almost amusing (in a tragic sort of way.)

Requests for interviews to the Hyatt and Hilton were not granted, but Joseph McInerney, president of the American Hotel and Lodging Association, an industry membership group, told TNS he does not believe rooms are harder to clean, nor that housekeeper injuries are increasing.

"If there was some problem that we are creating a hazard for the maids, then it would behoove the union to bring it to management’s attention," McInerney said. "Don’t say that there’s a report out there that maids are hurting themselves because it’s harder to clean the room because they’ve added one or two more pillows."

McInerney said that many hotels have made adjustments, like providing special training and upgrading the carts for workers who clean the luxury suites, though he declined to name which hotels. He added that no hotel wants any of its employees to be injured, because "if they are hurt on the job, then they’re not working and then we have to hire replacements and train them."

UNITE HERE's health and safety director, Eric Frumin, notes that although there are ways to make the work safer, the hotels have generally refused to listen to workers' ideas. In some cases, however, organized hotel workers have managed to make some progress:

Some housekeepers in San Francisco have been successful in reducing the number of rooms they clean during contract negotiations, while others in DC have succeeded in negotiating a contract that requires management to consult them before making changes to the rooms. But they add that even minor concessions to alleviate housekeepers’ pain have been hard to come by.

"We’ve had to agree to continue discussions on a detailed basis about all these new amenities," said Fruman. "It was quite obvious that hotels were not prepared to accept the notion easily that these were hazards that needed a progressive program of prevention."

The UNITE HERE report has gotten quite a bit of favorable press attention:

Toronto Globe and Mail

This year, with no fewer than 400 hotel contracts up for renegotiation across North America, their union, UNITE HERE, has launched a hard-nosed bargaining campaign. The union, a 450,000-member giant created in 2004 with the merger of needle trades and hotel unions, aims to persuade the industry to provide its employees not with just higher wages but also with improved working conditions. Specifically, the union is looking for a reduction in the number of rooms an attendant must make up per shift and a guarantee that everyone gets breaks, to stop the practice of "working off the clock."

USA Today:

Hyatt Regency Chicago housekeeper Francine Jones said at a UNITE HERE news teleconference Tuesday that she has worked there 15 years and that a room now takes 15 minutes longer to clean, because of heavier, elaborate bedding and more amenities. The job "takes a whole lot out of a person's body. A whole lot," she said.

Occupational-medicine physician Peter Orris, who helped analyze study findings and is a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health, says that in recent years in his work at Cook County General Hospital, he has started seeing more housekeepers "complaining of problems" associated with heavy lifting.

"We were not paying much attention (previously)," he says, calling hotel housekeepers "invisible workers" because they toil mostly unobserved and in obscurity.

"This is among the highest-stress jobs (on the body) in the service and production industries," he says. "This is not just a union-generated thing, this is a real problem. And it looks like it's getting worse."

San Francisco Chronicle:

Joseph McInerney, president of the American Hotel and Lodging Association, said the union's real agenda is increasing its ranks. He said labor negotiators will use the report to press for easier ways to sign up members, adding that Unite Here should have brought its health and safety concerns to management rather than turning the matter into "a political football.''

In San Francisco, talks are expected to resume in the next few months -- nearly two years after the expiration of the last contract covering 4,000 union workers at 14 major hotels. Hotel executives say there could be labor unrest in major cities across the country, including San Francisco, as Unite Here emphasizes attracting new members.

The union has moved the issue of housekeeper health and safety to the top of its negotiating agenda and may use it to influence bargaining on other topics.

***

Meanwhile, if you're planning on being in Chicago for Mothers Day, May 11, take Mom out to brunch and then head down to Thompson Center plaza to help hotel workers keep their two short daily breaks that the hotel industry is trying to take away from them. Children of these hotel workers will be there to say, "I love my mommy. Give her a break!"

Linda Redman, 57, died Sunday from died after a long lung illness caused by her exposure to the popcorn butter flavoring chemical diacetyl. Redman was among thirty employes at a Missouri popcorn plant who sued International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. and its subsidiary, Bush Boake Allen Inc. for failing to warn the workers at the plant where the chemical was used of its dangers, even though they had information that it caused deadly lung damage.

In other words, Redman was but the latest victim of this nation's failure to overcome the power of the chemical industry and protect workers from hazardous chemicals.

Studies had shown since the early 1990's that diacetyl could cause severe lung damage and that information was known to the Flavor and Extract Manufacturers Association. Yet the Material Safety Data Sheet that the International Flavors and Bush Boake Allen provided to Redman's employer stated that the chemical had "no known health hazards" and that respirators are "not normally required" for its butter flavoring, unless vapor concentrations were 'high.' "

I described her case over two years ago when the first lawsuits were filed:

Linda Redman started working as a packer at the Jasper popcorn plant in 1995, two years after the original study[that identified diacetyl's health effects]. Within two years, her breathing was so bad that she had to quit.

Redman used to work 12 hours a day and then come home to garden, cook dinner, and do her family's laundry. Now, she lives alone in Joplin, relying on home health nurses four days a week to help with basic chores around the house.

Redman, 55, doesn't have the stamina to change her bedsheets or cook herself dinner, unless it's something out of a can.

Only 15 percent of her lung capacity remains. Redman bides her time while waiting for a lung transplant by taking breathing treatments every four hours. She is constantly tethered to an oxygen tank, but she still gets exhausted walking from the bedroom to the couch.

Redman's sister, Donna Crampton, described the last year of her life:

"She said so many times she would give every penny of it for her health," Crampton said.

Redman worked at the plant for 18 months, starting in 1994 and leaving in 1996.

Crampton said Redman was in and out of the hospital "countless times" during the last year of her life, was bedridden for the last two months, and required round-the-clock nursing care for the last three weeks.

"The hardest thing of all to accept is knowing that it could have been avoided," Crampton said. "We're all pretty bitter."

Ken McClain, the attorney who represented the former and current popcorn workers, said Redman was one of the clients who had the most severe health problems at the time of her trial.

"We knew she would need a double lung transplant, but she continued to decline and was never healthy enough to go through the procedure," he said.

There are no government regulations to prevent exposure to diacetyl and Baltimore Sun journalist Andrew Schneider revealed a couple of weeks ago that OSHA has refused to consider regulating exposure to the chemical despite recommendations by the agency's scientists.

More popcorn lung articles here.

Labels: Diacetyl, Popcorn Lung

Last year was the deadliest year on record for the global media, according to a new report from Reporters Without Borders.

A record number of media workers were killed -- 63 journalists and five media assistants -- and more than 1,300 were physically attacked or threatened, according to the report released Wednesday, to coincide with National Press Freedom Day on May 3.

Additionally, at least 807 media workers were arrested on the job.

The organization estimates that more than a third of the world's population lives in countries where press freedom is "minimal."

One of the most dangerous countries for journalists is, of course, Iraq:

The 23 on-the-job deaths in Iraq in 2005, plus six in the first three months of 2006, bring the toll of journalists there to 74 since 2003, according to the Freedom Forum. The organization said that is more than died in either World War II or the conflict in Vietnam and Cambodia.

MASSCOSH and the Massachussetts state AFL-CIO have issued their annual Dying for Work in Massachusetts report.

This report has been compiled to highlight the fact that work continues to kill and maim workers in epidemic and alarming numbers. The saddest aspect to this loss in lives and limbs is that work-related injuries and illnesses are preventable.

The report noted that:

• Work-related deaths in Massachusetts increased from 72 in 2004 to 78 in 2005. An estimated 700 workers died from occupational disease.
  


• Massachusetts employers only paid an average of $14,065 for OSHA violations associated with the death of one or more workers in their workplaces in 2005. The average fine for a "serious" violation is only $1,034.
  


• More than 350,000 public sector workers in Massachusetts are not protected by OSHA and federal safety regulations because the Legislature hasn’t adopted federal safety rules for the state and its cities and towns.


• Of the 78 workers who died last year, 28 percent of them were immigrants who often work in the most dangerous industries and jobs, exploited by employers and given little or no training or protections. Only 17% of Massachusetts workers are immigrants (as of 2004.)
  

And what is to be done? The press release summarizes the report's recommendations:

The report calls for health and safety laws and regulations on the state and federal level to be strengthened, for job safety agencies to be given increased funding and enforcement powers, and criminal prosecution to be used in cases where employers recklessly endanger workers’ lives. The report also calls on the Massachusetts Legislature to pass a bill that would extend OSHA protections to public employees in Massachusetts, and a bill requiring temporary agencies to provide workers with safety equipment and information about the hazards they will encounter. At the worksite level, the report promotes comprehensive worksite safety programs that focus on identifying and eliminating hazards; and calls for safe staffing levels, work loads and working hours that protect against workplace injury, illness or death.

This is Washington for you...

As everyone in the country (except possibly for Rip Van Winkle) probably knows, we will be facing a flu pandemic sooner or later, probably sooner. If/when that happens, we'll need a lot of healthy and knowledgeable health care workers to care for millions of critically ill patients. They need to be protected from getting the flu themselves, and one of the ways to protect them from inhaling the flu virus is to use effective respirators.

Happily, the relatively inexpensive N-95 disposable respirator will probably do the trick. They are used in both medical and industrial settings to prevent the inhalation of harmful microscopic particles.

Unfortunately, the N-95 at $1 to $3 a piece, is not quite cheap enough for health care institutions that will have to stock millions of them. And the Bush administration, not having learned its lesson in New Orleans that you can't deal with a major disaster on the cheap, is thinking about a couple of alternatives -- using surgical masks instead of respirators, or possibly re-using the disposable respirators. In fact, the current Pandemic Influenza Plan, issued by the Department of Health and Human Services, recommends the use of surgical masks instead of NIOSH certified respirators

So, the US Department of Health and Human Services requested that an Institute of Medicine committee study the potential reuse of N-95 disposable respirators and surgical masks in the event of an influenza pandemic.

Oy.

Now I don't know how much was spent on this study, but I'll bet I could beat the price.

Step 1: I Google the word "disposable."

disposable: Designed to be disposed of after use

There, that took about half a minute. So let's see, at the rate I should be paid for being an Washington DC-based award-winning blogger (let's say conservatively, in the neighborhood of $1000 an hour), that comes to a little over $8. Plus expenses, depreciation, office expenses, utilities, etc, etc., we'll round it off to $25.

But wait. If you've ever read a scientific research study, you'll know that they always end the same way: calling for more research. So, just to be sure, we'd better look up "disposed of" as well (doubling my fee to $50)

disposed of: To get rid of; throw out

OK, well I guess that just about settles it. My exhaustive investigation has concluded that: Disposable respirators are meant to be thrown out, not re-used.

And sure enough, the Institute of Medicine came to precisely the same conclusion (for a bit more money, I'm sure). To make a long story short, the committee could find no way to decontaminate an N-95 respirator without increasing the risk of infection. According to the IOM press release:

Disposable masks and respirators do not lend themselves to reuse because they work by trapping harmful particles inside the mesh of fibers of which they are made. This hazardous buildup cannot be cleaned out or disinfected without damaging the fibers or other components of the device such as the straps or nose clip, the committee found. Moreover, the committee could not identify any simple modifications to the manufacturing of the devices that would permit reuse, or any changes that would dispense with the need to test the fit of respirators to ensure a wearer is fully protected.

Then there's the "debate" between surgical masks and respirators. Surgical masks are soft, clothlike objects that cover the nose and mouth and tie behind the head -- and they only cost 15 cents each. The IOM report describes them as fitting

loosely over the user's nose and mouth and are primarily meant to be worn by health care providers and patients to help maintain a sterile environment by preventing the spread of contaminants by the wearer -- for example, by limiting the dispersal of sneezes and coughs.

In other words, they're fine for the person doing the sneezing to prevent them from coughing droplets of saliva and mucus into the environment, but not the healthy person who's trying not to inhale the viruses contained in the sneeze. (They're called "surgical masks" because surgeons and the surgical team wear them so they don't contaminate the patient.)

Again, the fact that surgical masks do prevent the wearer from inhaling harmful substances is a well known fact for anyone who's ever taken a basic workplace safety and health class. Nevertheless, HHS decided that only the IOM could authorititively determine what everyone already knows. (And let's not forget that hidden deep in the bowels of HHS is a little agency called the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, which is supposed to be the nation's experts on things like respirators. But nevermind.)

Regarding surgical masks and other cloth face coverings, the IOM simply said that "the effectiveness of such masks and improvised coverings against flu is not known."

In a SARS fact sheet, NIOSH stated that

Surgical masks are not designed for use as particulate respirators and do not provide as much protection as an N-95 respirator. Most surgical masks do not effectively filter small particles from air and do not prevent leakage around the edge of the mask when the user inhales.

Meanwhile, in a not unrelated development, a Johns Hopkins University study found that almost half of health care workers would stay home in the event of a flu epidemic:

Two-thirds of the 308 employees polled said their work would put them at risk of contracting the potentially deadly flu should an outbreak come to pass.

"Forty-two percent of the health care workers surveyed said they would not respond in the event of a flu pandemic," said study co-author Dr. Daniel J. Barnett, an instructor at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Public Health Preparedness in Baltimore

The most important factor was that health care workers didn't know they'd be needed. Only one-third of those polled also stated that they thought they were knowledgeable about the health impact of pandemic flu and 83 percent of respondents said they could benefit from additional training on how to limit their exposure during such an event.

Meanwhile, OSHA has not responded to a petition filed last January by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) and several other labor organizations, calling on OSHA to issue an emergency temporary standard to protect health care workers against pandemic flu. The petition noted that a Congressional Budget Office report had predicted that hospitals, clinics and doctors offices would be overwhelmed and the system would be strained as health care workers became sick or stayed home to take care of sick family members or to protect themselves.

And given the circus in thi