tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52185382024-02-28T16:37:27.412-05:00Confined Space<b>NOTE: Confined Space is back after a short 10-year break and can now be found at:<a href="http://jordanbarab.com/confinedspace"> Confined Space</a>.</b><br>
<b><br>WHAT IS THIS?</b><br><br>Workplace issues, Occupational Safety and Health (OSHA), Workplace Safety, Public Health, Environment and Political Information that everyone should know.<br><br>
What happens inside the Beltway matters outside the Beltway. <br><br>That's why they try to keep it secret.
<br>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2709125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5218538.post-14471184073600415202017-03-15T17:30:00.002-04:002017-03-25T11:32:47.340-04:00We're Back! And We've Moved<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="color: red;"><b>In case you've somehow missed the news, Confined Space is back after a short 10-year break while I was working in the House of Representatives and at OSHA.</b></span><br />
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It can now be found at: <a href="http://jordanbarab.com/confinedspace">http://jordanbarab.com/confinedspace</a>.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5218538.post-1170216415570753722007-01-30T22:34:00.000-05:002007-02-05T22:31:52.207-05:00Beyond Confined SpaceAs I mentioned in last week's farewell post (<a href="http://spewingforth.blogspot.com/2007/01/goodbye-final-curtain-comes-down.html">here</a>, if you missed it), I will try to keep you up to date on places you can go to find similar information and analysis. Here's the first installment:<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Workplace Health and Safety News</span><br /><br /><ul><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://thepumphandle.wordpress.com/">The Pump Handle</a></span> is an excellent blog that covers regulatory issues. To fill some of the gap left by the termination of Confined Space, The Pump Handle has launched a new feature, <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://thepumphandle.wordpress.com/tag/confined-space-tph/">Confined Space@TPH</a>, that will keep up on workplace safety and health news.</li><br /><li>Starting next week, Tammy Miser will continue the misnamed <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://weeklytoll.blogspot.com/">The Weekly Toll</a>every two weeks on its own page.</li><br /><li>You should also bookmark the award-winning <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.hazards.org/">Hazards Magazine</a>, run by the intrepid Rory O'Neill and friends. Hazards has health and safety news and a toolbox of indepth information about every conceivable health and safety issue.</li><br /><li>The labor news service, <span style="font-weight: bold;">Labourstart </span>runs a <a href="http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/hs/showarchive.cgi">health and safety page</a>. If you have a webpage, you can also set up a health and safety feed (check out the right-hand column of <span style="font-style: italic;">Confined Space</span>)</li><br /><li>The <span style="font-weight: bold;">CalOSHA Reporter</span> offers a free daily news digest. Despite its name, it covers more than just California news. You read the on-line version <a href="http://www.cal-osha.com/webemails/COR02-20070130-000.htm">here</a> or subscribe to the daily e-mail.</li><br /><li>For immigrant issues, you can't go wrong with <b><a href="http://www.workingimmigrants.com/">Working Immigrants</a></b></li><br /><li>For Workers Compensation news, check out <a href="http://workerscompinsider.com/"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Workers Comp Insider</span></a>.</li><br /><li>For general public health news and commentary (as well as excellent writing), there's no better place to go than <a href="http://www.scienceblogs.com/effectmeasure/"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Effect Measure.</span></a></li></ul><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Labor News</span><br /><br /><ul><li><a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.labourstart.org/">Labourstart</a> also runs an excellent labor news service, sorted by country. US labor news is <a href="http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/show_news.pl?country=USA">here</a>. If you have a webpage, you can run the Labourstart newsfeed.</li><br /><li><a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://rawblogxport.blogspot.com/">RawblogXport</a> runs a labor news blog as well, with short excerpts for labor articles.</li><br /><li>Mick Arran has resurrected <a href="http://trenches.wordpress.com/"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Dispatch From The Trenches</span></a>, a labor commentary blog, and, in honor of the demise of Confined Space, has added a feature called TrenchNews, "a round-up of some of the news stories on unions and labor issues that the MSM either buries in the Business pages or doesn’t cover at all."</li><br /></ul>Well, that should do it for now. I'll continue to keep you updated as new workplace safety resources come on line.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5218538.post-1168492406266517262007-01-24T20:45:00.002-05:002021-11-12T23:10:43.145-05:00Goodbye: The Final Curtain Comes Down<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/5823/164/1600/401994/truckin.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/5823/164/320/68534/truckin.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px;" /></a>As I mentioned last night, this will be my last <em>Confined Space</em> post. Next week I start work at the House Education and Labor Committee. If you're on line now (9:00 - 11:00 pm EST), welcome. Please use the comments all the way down at the bottom of this post (below the last song) and "refresh" occasionally to keep up to date. (Of course, some people decided to start the party early. Check out the comments under <a href="http://spewingforth.blogspot.com/2007/01/moving-on-closing-up-shop.html">last night's post</a>.)<br />
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Over the past four years, I’ve written more than 2,800 posts here at <em>Confined Space</em>. My <a href="http://users.rcn.com/jbarab/Blog%20Intro.htm">original goal</a> was not just to educate people about what is happening in American workplaces, but also to put workplace safety and health into a political context. You won't read in any newspapers that if the 12 deaths at Sago last year, or the 15 deaths at the BP Texas City refinery the year before had been the only workplace fatalities on those days, those would have been <em>good days</em> in the American workplace. More than 15 workers are killed every day on the job in this country and a worker becomes injured or ill on the job every 2.5 seconds. The overwhelming majority of deaths, injuries and illnesses could have been easily prevented had the employers simply provided a safe workplace and complied with well-recognized OSHA regulations or other safe practices.<br />
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And you'll never learn from the evening news that we have more fish and wildlife inspectors than OSHA inspectors, or that the penalties from a chemical release that kills fish is higher than a chemical release that kills a worker. Not many are aware that workers are often afraid to complain about health and safety hazards or file a complaint with OSHA. Almost no one understands that OSHA inspections are so infrequent and penalties for endangering workers are so insignificant that there is almost no disincentive for employers to break the law. Employers are almost never criminally prosecuted for killing workers even when they knew they were violating OSHA standards.<br />
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<em>You</em> know these things. But most Americans – including our political leaders -- don’t have a clue. And most of this nation’s newspapers and other media aren’t helping.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">And there are still far too many health and safety professionals that don’t understand that to a very great extent, who lives and who dies in the workplace is determined by politics – both power relationships in the workplace, and traditional politics that determines who controls our government. What that means is that organizing unions and electing politicians who will fight against unlimited corporate control over our regulatory agencies, our workplaces and the environment are of vital importance to protecting the health and safety of American workers.</span><br />
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Two events inspired me to launch this blog in March 2003. Following the deaths of the Columbia astronauts in 2002, I woke up one morning realizing that while a few workers killed in a workplace accident sometimes receive <a href="hthttp://users.rcn.com/jbarab/Acts%20of%20God.pdf">enormous media attention</a>, most workers die alone and unnoticed by anyone except their immediate families and friends. Something had to be done to ensure that these thousands aren’t dying in vain.<br />
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The second event was the repeal of the OSHA ergonomics standard by the Republican Congress and the Bush White House. That travesty of justice taught me that if we’re going to make – and sustain -- any progress on workplace safety in this country, many more people have to understand what’s happening in American workplaces, the political context in which these tragedies occur, and the need to organize on a local and national level. Or, as Michael Silverstein wrote in his recent paper discussing the <a href="http://www.defendingscience.org/newsroom/upload/Silverstein_Complete_Draft.pdf">future of OSHA</a>, "political change must precede policy change.”<br />
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When I started <em>Confined Space</em> in March 2003, it was all about me – a way to vent, which I needed (thanks to our President and his cronies), a reason to write (or rant) -- which I enjoy (and will miss) -- and a way to keep in touch with friends and colleagues who I was afraid I’d lose track of.<br />
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But based on the mail I get from people, <em>Confined Space</em> became much more – a source of much-needed news about what’s happening in our workplaces and government agencies and a voice for those feeling politically frustrated. But most important – and most unexpected -- it became a way for family members and loved ones of those lost to the workplace to find meaning in the death of their loved ones, a voice for their anger and a constructive direction to fight the system that took their loved ones away. And perhaps it even provided some ideas and tools that they could use to wage their struggle.<br />
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Writing this blog became a learning experience for me as well. Not just that it forced me to keep up with what was happening in the world of workplace safety, but the <em>Weekly Toll</em> (thanks Tammy) and the thoughtful and angry notes and comments I received from the families and friends of those killed in the workplace, brought me closer to the human tragedies faced by thousands of American families every year. <em>Confined Space</em> provided a place for them to tell their stories, stories that are almost never heard in our newspapers, magazines, radio or TV. And with that came a renewed sense of meaning and inspiration -- raw energy – to challenge the low priority that the politicians and media in this country give to workplace safety and workers’ health and lives.<br />
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But at the same time, I’m tired -- bone tired – not just from lack of sleep (I didn’t have the luxury that some bloggers enjoy -- being able to blog at work), but also from writing the same sad stories – with different names and details – over and over again. More and more frequently I’ve gotten the sense that I’m repeating myself; I’m not sure I have anything new to say anymore. And maybe there isn’t really anything new to say; maybe it’s always the same basic story; only the names and dates change. And so, although it’s incredibly hard to think about leaving this behind, this is an opportunity to move beyond writing to facilitate change.<br />
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Before I go, there are a few people I need to thank. Actually, there are hundreds that I need to thank, but a few require special mention – particularly Jonathan Bennett at NYCOSH, Rory O’Neill at <a href="http://www.hazards.org/">Hazards</a> and Tony Oppegard for keeping me supplied with news and perspective that I might otherwise have missed. Journalists Ken Ward at the <em>Charleston Gazette</em>, Andrew Schneider at the <em>Baltimore Sun</em>, Steve Franklin at the <em>Chicago Tribune</em> and David Barstow at the <em>NY Times</em> deserve lots of credit for going the extra miles to dig out the stories behind the stories and setting a standard that every journalist should strive to live up to.<br />
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But most of all I want to thank the families -- the wives, husbands, daughters, sons, brothers, sisters, fathers and mothers of those chewed up and spit out by the system of work in this country. The courage, creativity and resolve displayed by <a href="http://spewingforth.blogspot.com/2006/11/chemical-safety-board-calls-for-osha.html">Tammy Miser</a>, <a href="http://spewingforth.blogspot.com/2005/11/letter-from-father.html">Coit Smith</a>, <a href="http://spewingforth.blogspot.com/2006/03/more-on-death-of-francisco-alejandro.html">Mary Vivenzi</a>, <a href="http://spewingforth.blogspot.com/2006/05/my-son-was-killed-workers-memorial-day.html">Irene Warnock</a>, Misty Plante, <a href="http://spewingforth.blogspot.com/2003/12/you-done-killed-my-boy.html">Michelle Marts</a>, <a href="http://spewingforth.blogspot.com/2006/11/walking-away-from-negligent-homicide.html">Becky Foster</a>, Barb Parker, <a href="http://spewingforth.blogspot.com/2004/05/family-left-behind-death-of-scott-shaw.html">Holly Shaw</a>, Sharon Nichols, <a href="http://spewingforth.blogspot.com/2005/08/weekly-toll.html">Kelly Heilert</a>, <a href="http://spewingforth.blogspot.com/2006/01/loss-of-great-man.html">Michelle Lewis</a>, Robin Harpster, <a href="http://spewingforth.blogspot.com/2003/09/weekly-tollworker-killed-in-s.html">Adam Turem</a>, <a href="http://spewingforth.blogspot.com/2004/10/life-and-death-of-gary-puleio-and-new.html">Donna Puleio Spadaro</a>, Patience Buck-Clarry, Melissa King, <a href="http://spewingforth.blogspot.com/2004/08/i-dont-want-one-more-person-to-go.html">Phyllis Oliver</a> and <a href="http://spewingforth.blogspot.com/2006/05/no-chance-for-closure-death-of-bob.html">Betsy Shonkwiler</a> to name just a very few who have shared their sorrow, their anger and their energy, have nourished me with the inspiration and fuel to carry on through the late nights and early mornings.<br />
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<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/5823/164/1600/753127/Dilbert%20blog.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/5823/164/400/911956/Dilbert%20blog.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;" /></a>And, of course, I need to thank my wife, Jessie, and the kids (Nicole, Madeleine and William) for giving me a far longer leave of absence from many familial duties than anyone really deserves.<br />
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Finally, I'd be remiss is I didn't thank the Bush administration appointees, many Congresspersons and Senators, and scores of negligent employers for ensuring that there wasn't a single day over the past four years that I didn't have plenty to write about.<br />
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I do have one major disappointment, though – that this blog is going out childless, without issue. I had hoped for some offspring. You know, a few similarly crazy people out there who would say “Hey, this is a good idea, but he’s missing a bunch of stuff,” or “What a clutz. I can say this better,” or “He’s full of shit. Listen to <em>me</em>." So that when I passed on, there would be two, five, a dozen workplace safety blogs to carry on.<br />
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But don’t despair. I’ve been having conversations with people about continuing some parts of <em>Confined Space</em>, and Tammy will continue the <em>Weekly Toll</em> from another (to be announced) location. The <a href="http://thepumphandle.wordpress.com/">Pump Handle</a> will be carrying on with some of the more newsy parts of <em>Confined Space</em>. To the extent other blogs start picking up some of this work, I’ll announce it here and in mailings to my list. And the archives will remain as a resource.<br />
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So, has this blog had any impact on improving the conditions for workplace safety in this country? Maybe. Enough? Not nearly. Since I started this blog, the AFL-CIO has dismantled its safety and health department, OSHA has issued only one new, weak standard (under court order) and expanded its voluntary programs at the expense of enforcement. Immigrant fatalities continue to grow, coal mine fatalities more than doubled last year, the Bush administration continues to appoint political cronies and union busters to agencies entrusted with ensuring workers lives and well-being and Congressional oversight became a thing of the past -- until now. (On the other hand, when I started this blog, President Bush’s favorable ratings were in the 70’s and Republicans held both Houses of Congress. Now he’s in the low 30’s, the Dems have taken charge of Congress, and they’ve hired me.) The real test of success is how many more workplace safety activists exist today than existed four years ago.<br />
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What comes next? I know what comes next for me. But what about you? What needs to be done and how are we going to do it? Chew on that for a while.<br />
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As journalist Bill Moyers wrote in a recent must-read article in <a href="http://www.thenation.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20070122&s=moyers%E2%80%9D">The Nation</a>, <br />
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The eight-hour day, the minimum wage, the conservation of natural resources, free trade unions, old-age pensions, clean air and water, safe food--all these began with citizens and won the endorsement of the political class only after long struggles and bitter attacks. Democracy works when people claim it as their own.</blockquote>
And that goes for workplace safety as well.<br />
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In 1970, Congress passed, and President Nixon signed a radical new law promising <br />
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To assure safe and healthful working conditions for working men and women </blockquote>
In other words, a safe workplace became a right, not a privilege to be enjoyed only when a company is making a good profit. Thirty-five years later, that promise not only remains unfulfilled, but has taken several major steps backward over the past several years.<br />
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And to quote myself at the <a href="http://spewingforth.blogspot.com/2004/11/apha-lorin-kerr-award-speech.html">2004 APHA Occupational Health Section Awards luncheon</a>: <br />
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We need to make it clear that the right to a safe workplace wasn’t bestowed upon us by concerned politicians or employers who were finally convinced that “Safety Pays.” The right to a safe workplace was won only after a long and bitter fight by workers, unions and public health advocates. It was soaked in the blood of hundreds of thousands of coal miners, factory and construction workers. And the current movement to transform the agency into nothing but a coordinator of voluntary alliances is a betrayal of that promise and those lives.</blockquote>
Hopefully in my new job, I can help to restore the system of checks and balances that our constitution provides to make sure that our government does what it’s supposed to do.<br />
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Anyway, as I said. I’m not disappearing, just moving into a different dimension. But before going, I have a couple of favors to ask. <strong><em>Please</em> stay in touch. Save my e-mail address </strong><a href="mailto:jbarab@gmail.com">jbarab@gmail.com</a>. I’ll need your information and inspiration more than ever.<br />
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Do me just one more big favor: keep informed, stay angry and keep raising hell.<br />
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OK, I’m out of here. It’s your turn now. Hasta la vista, baby. Flights of angels sing me to my rest. And don't be sad. We’ll always have Paris.<br />
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-- Jordan<br />
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P.S. Like any good union meeting, this blog shouldn’t end without a song. So, everyone, let’s all join hands, click once or twice on the picture below and sing along with Pete and the Weavers. After all, when you really think about it, what force on earth is weaker than the feeble strength of one?<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/dGwe25Htbiw" width="480"></iframe><br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Obituaries</span><br />
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Tammy Miser: <a href="http://weeklytoll.blogspot.com/2007/02/many-have-written-about-jordans-leave.html">Weekly Toll</a><br />
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Mike Hall: <a href="http://blog.aflcio.org/2007/02/01/a-farewell-and-tribute-to-confined-space/">AFL-CIO Now</a><br />
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Mick Arran: <a href="http://trenches.wordpress.com/2007/01/25/confined-space-closes-down/#more-221">Dispatch From the Trenches</a><br />
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Revere: <a href="https://www.scienceblogs.com/effectmeasure/2007/01/24/party-tonight-at-confined-spac">Effect Measure</a><br />
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Cervantes: <a href="http://healthvsmedicine.blogspot.com/2007/01/congratulations-jordan.html">Stayin Alive</a><br />
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Michael Fox: <a href="http://employerslawyer.blogspot.com/2007/01/tremendous-loss-confined-space-closes.html#links">Jottings By An Employer's Lawyer</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.workdayminnesota.org/index.php?news_6_2864">Workday Minnesota</a><br />
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James Governor: <a href="http://www.redmonk.com/jgovernor/2007/01/30/goodbye-to-an-important-blog-on-health-safety-and-economy/">Monkchips</a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5218538.post-1169685311600790572007-01-24T19:19:00.000-05:002007-02-05T22:32:42.989-05:00A Son, A Father, 911 and The PresidentGuests at last night's State of the Union address didn't just include basketball players and Iraq war veterans. One guest -- who has the most gripping story to tell -- was ignored by the President and the media last night. <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/491503p-413969c.html">His name was Ceasar Borja</a> and he was a guest of NY Senator Hillary Rodman Clinton. Just two hour before the President began speaking, Borja received nows that his father had died.<blockquote>Borja's dad, Cesar, 52, was a Filipino immigrant, a former Army paratrooper and an NYPD cop who never missed a day of work in 20 years.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">He volunteered for months of 16-hour shifts at Ground Zero so he could make overtime for his wife, Eva, and their three children: Ceasar, whom he called "Kuya," the Filipino word for older brother; son Evan, 16, and daughter Nhia, 12.</span><br /><br />He retired in 2003. He started coughing soon after. By the time he was properly diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis last fall, he could barely walk and his lungs were filled with scar tissue.<br /><br />He checked into Mount Sinai Medical Center on Dec. 19. He died there at 6 p.m. last night. </blockquote>Instead of returning immediately to New York, Borja decided to attend the speech.<blockquote>the 21-year-old promised his family that he was going to sit in front of President Bush, exactly as planned, to bear witness to the suffering of thousands of others like his dad.<br /><br />"He passed away right when I'm down here fighting for him. This is the most I've ever done for Dad," he told his mom. "Mommy, you know I'm strong, Mom. You were with him, though, right? Good. That's all that matters to me. Comfortably and no pain."<br /><br />Borja was shivering as he talked on a dark sidewalk outside a Capitol Hill restaurant. Other Ground Zero victims and staffers from Sen. Hillary Clinton's office wrapped him in their arms and sat him down at an empty table. Tears started to fall.<br /><br />"Dad always knew the man I could become, and I love him for that," Borja said. "Dad didn't go down without a fight, Mom. You know that."</blockquote>Borja is on a mission: <blockquote>“I want a meeting with the president to make the case directly about how important these health programs are,” Borja told The Associated Press.<br /><br />“I want him to hear from me, how my father died a hero last night, and there are many heroes that will and are continuing to die because they’re not given the proper medical attention or not given enough help from the federal government,” said the 21-year-old college student, his voice breaking with emotion.</blockquote>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5218538.post-1169665529388165052007-01-24T19:03:00.000-05:002007-02-05T22:42:19.664-05:00What's In A Name? (Part II)William Safire in the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/21/magazine/21wwln_safire.t.html?ref=magazine">NY Times Magazine</a> last Sunday has more to say about the name change at my future employer, the House Education and <em><strong>Labor </strong></em>Committee: <blockquote>Who says the 110th House of Representatives, with Democrats in the majority, will be no different from the G.O.P.-dominated 109th? The names, they are a-changin’: the word Labor is back, with a capital L. In 1995, when the Republicans took over after 40 years — 14,610 interminable days — in the minority wilderness, they changed the name of the Education and Labor Committee to “the Committee on Education and the Workforce.”<br /><br />Why? Because the word Labor, capitalized, was taken to be “Big Labor” — unions almost monolithically support Democrats — and here was a way to go over the union bosses’ heads. The idea was to spread the committee’s jurisdiction over the needs of all workers, especially the majority, who are not union members. (A bit of history: When President Nixon accepted George Meany’s invitation to attend the annual A.F.L.-C.I.O. convention in Bal Harbour, Fla., Meany sat the president in the third row on the platform — an unprecedented snub. Charles Colson, the White House counsel, came up with a fighting slogan afterward: “Remember Bal Harbour!”)<br /><br />If Labor was to be replaced, then with what? Not workers; that word is associated with socialism (International Workers of the World (<a href="http://www.iww.org/">sic</a>), or “wobblies”) and communism (in its manifesto, “Workers of the World — Unite”). But there was another term, coined in 1931, during what revisionist Republicans considered the unfairly maligned Hoover administration: workforce. Most dictionaries gave it two senses (and make it two words): “all employees collectively, or those doing work in a particular firm or industry.”<br /><br />Therefore, one of the first actions in what Speaker Nancy Pelosi dubbed “the first 100 hours” of the newly Democratic House was to vote that “Clause 1(e) of Rule 10 is amended by striking ‘Committee on Education and the Workforce’ and inserting ‘Committee on Education and Labor.’ ”</blockquote>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5218538.post-1169613288514023152007-01-23T23:33:00.000-05:002007-02-05T22:42:33.856-05:00Moving On: Closing Up Shop<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/5823/164/1600/869819/Scream%20Head%20Shot%20Red.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/5823/164/400/901328/Scream%20Head%20Shot%20Red.gif" alt="" border="0" /></a>This is incredibly hard for me, but tomorrow night will be my last blog post on <em>Confined Space</em>. After much deliberation, I’ve decided to take a new job that makes it impossible to continue.<br /><br />Starting next week, I’ll be heading to the House of Representatives Committee on Education and Labor, working on OSHA-related legislation, oversight hearings, investigations, etc. In other words, instead of just <em>writing</em> about what Congress and this administration needs to be doing to protect workers, I’ll hopefully be able to <em>directly affect</em> some of those things.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">If you’re around, stop by here tomorrow (Wednesday) night to say goodbye. I’m inviting you all over to an <a href="http://spewingforth.blogspot.com/2007/01/goodbye-final-curtain-comes-down.html">on-line goodbye party</a> from 9:00 to 11:00 pm EST.</span> I’ll take some time to reflect on the past four years, and I’ll be on line, so you can use the comments at the bottom of the last post to wish me well, blast me for leaving, speculate about the future of workplace safety in this country, or predict the next American Idol winner.<br /><br />And it’s BYOB. Lots of it.<br /><br />See you tomorrow.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Update:</span> You can view the wreckage of the party <a href="http://spewingforth.blogspot.com/2007/01/goodbye-final-curtain-comes-down.html">here</a>, and in the comments below this entry and tomorrow's.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5218538.post-1169613077435718202007-01-23T23:07:00.000-05:002007-02-05T22:33:11.667-05:00Libby Asbestos Activist Dies; Residents Consider Buyout<a href="http://www.helenair.com/articles/2007/01/23/ap-state-mt/d8mqhap82.txt">Les Skramstad</a> died Sunday. He was 70.<br /><br />I often complain about how workplace fatalities get very little press. Every couple of weeks, Tammy and I publish the <span style="font-style: italic;">Weekly Toll</span>, a partial list of workers killed in the workplace. But that list includes only those workers killed in traumatic accidents -- falls, trench collapses, traffic accidents, etc. It almost never includes the almost 1000 Les Skramstads who die of workplace related disease, like mesothelioma, every week.<br /><br />But Les Skramstad was more than just another occupational disease fatality.<blockquote>Skramstad had been diagnosed with mesothelioma _ a rare, fast-moving cancer that attacks the lining of the lungs _ about a month ago, his son said. He had several tumors in his stomach and had been previously diagnosed with asbestosis, which has been compared to a slow, constant suffocation.<br /><br />He was best known as a voice for many of Libby's sickened residents. He lobbied Congress for financial relief for those who could not pay their many medical bills.<br /><br />The vermiculite, used in a variety of household products, contained tremolite asbestos that was released into the air and carried home on miners' clothing. It is blamed by some health authorities for killing about 200 people and sickening one of every eight Libby residents. Skramstad worked at the mine in the late 1950s and early 1960s.<br /><br />Brent Skramstad said that he has also developed asbestos-related disease, as did his sister and his mother, Norita.<br /><br />"Hopefully there's somebody who will take his place now," Skramstad said of his father. "Because this is something you never want to be dropped. You want people to be held accountable for it."</blockquote>In 2005, the Justice Department <a href="http://spewingforth.blogspot.com/2005/02/wr-grace-execs-indicted-for-asbestos.html">indicted the W.R. Grace & Co</a>. and seven of its current or former executives and department heads for conspiring to conceal information about the hazardous nature of the company’s asbestos contaminated vermiculite products, obstructing the government’s clean-up efforts, and wire fraud. Approximately 1,200 residents of Libby have been identified as suffering from some kind of asbestos-related disease and over 400 have died.<br /><br />Meanwhile, the <a href="http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bal-bz.grace23jan23,0,6730671.story?coll=bal-business-headlines">Baltimore Sun's Andrew Schneider</a>, who originally broke the Libby story, reports that despite the tens of millions of dollars spent by the Enfironmental Protection Agency to clean up the town, there no one is sure if the town can really be cleaned up enough to be safe. Some residents are now suggesting that the EPA or Grace buy them out so that they can move to a safer location.<blockquote>Talk of a buyout took hold after the EPA's inspector general said in a report last month that, because the agency has not determined the safe level of human exposure to the asbestos in Grace's vermiculite, the "EPA cannot be sure that the ongoing Libby cleanup is sufficient to prevent humans from contracting asbestos-related diseases."<br /><br />The IG report also said the EPA must "fund and execute a comprehensive study to determine the effectiveness of the Libby cleanup" with special attention on the effects of asbestos exposure on children.<br /><br />Paul Peronard, the EPA emergency coordinator who has been involved in the cleanup since the beginning in 1999, said, "The EPA has no plans for a mass relocation or buyout, although the concept is not off the table. Right now the judgment is the community would be better served by fixing the problem in place."<br /><br />However, he added, "There is a possibility that our analytical methods are not sensitive enough to measure down low enough to say there is no risk, and with this type of asbestos we cannot say that we ultimately will know what level will be deemed acceptable."</blockquote>Meanwhile, Grace, which declared bankruptcy in 2001, has been studying the costs and benefits of a buyout.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Related Stories</span><br /><ul><li><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://spewingforth.blogspot.com/2006/04/in-go-to-jail-issue-asbestos.html">In A "Go To Jail Issue" Asbestos Manufacturers Fight To Stay Free</a>, April 22, 2006<br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://spewingforth.blogspot.com/2005/11/hallelujah-grace-miraculously-cures.html">Hallelujah: Grace Miraculously Cures Asbestos Victims</a>, November 4th, 2005<br /></span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://spewingforth.blogspot.com/2005/10/graces-deadly-asbestos-tentacles.html">Grace's Deadly Asbestos Tentacles Continue To Reach Across The Country</a>, October 2, 2005</span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://spewingforth.blogspot.com/2005/06/lessons-of-hamilton-new-jersey.html">Lessons of Hamilton, New Jersey</a>, June 29, 2005</span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://spewingforth.blogspot.com/2005/06/grace-knew-about-asbestos.html">Grace Knew About Asbestos Contamination of NJ Plant</a>, June 28, 2005 </span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://spewingforth.blogspot.com/2005/06/attorney-for-grace-to-head-epa.html">Attorney for Grace To Head EPA Enforcement</a>, June 27, 2005</span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://spewingforth.blogspot.com/2005/03/wr-grace-did-these-guys-ever-tell.html">W.R. Grace: Did These Guys Ever Tell The Truth?</a>, March 4, 2005 </span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://spewingforth.blogspot.com/2005/02/asbestos-cruel-deadly-and.html">Asbestos: Cruel, Deadly and Uncompensated</a>, February 19, 2005 </span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://spewingforth.blogspot.com/2005/02/libby-montana-and-tort-deform-whats.html">Libby Montana and Tort Deform: What's Wrong With This Picture?</a>: February 15, 2005 </span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://spewingforth.blogspot.com/2005/02/they-were-killing-us-they-were-killing.html">They Were Killing Us, They Were Killing Our Wives and Children</a>: February 12, 2005 </span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://spewingforth.blogspot.com/2005/02/wr-grace-goes-to-jail-why-not-all.html">W.R. Grace Goes To Jail: "Why not all the others?"</a>: February 10, 2005 </span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://spewingforth.blogspot.com/2005/02/wr-grace-execs-indicted-for-asbestos.html">W.R. Grace Execs Indicted For Asbestos Coverup</a>, February 8, 2005</span></li></ul>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5218538.post-1169607219023014472007-01-23T21:53:00.000-05:002017-03-27T14:42:45.768-04:00Hazardous Trenches, Good Luck and Bad Journalism<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Eric Moreno is an extremely lucky guy. He was running some sewer pipe down in an unshored 7-8 foot deep trench last week when it collapsed on top of him. He could only breathe because the brim of his hard hat created a small pocket of air that separated his face from the dirt.<br />
<br />
But even a breathing pocket often isn't enough to save the life of a trench collapse victim. <strong style="font-weight: normal;">A cubic yard of soil weights about 2700 pounds, the weight of a mid-sized automobile. A trench collapse may contain three to five cubic yards of soil.</strong> Do the math. Even if you're only buried up to your waist, successful rescue is unlikely; you're probably going to die. I've written before about workers, like <a href="http://spewingforth.blogspot.com/2005/05/trench-rescue-generally-too-little-too.html">Mike Morrison</a> and <a href="http://spewingforth.blogspot.com/2004/05/slow-death-by-trench-collapse.html">Willie Hodge</a> who both died as a result of trench collapses, even though they were only buried up to their waists.<br />
<br />
My beef here is with the articles about Moreno's lucky escape. Not one of them (<a href="http://www.dailybulletin.com/news/ci_5055206">here</a>, <a href="http://www.dailybulletin.com/news/ci_5043409">here</a>, <a href="http://www.dailybulletin.com/news/ci_5035536">here</a>, and <a href="http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_B_18bcrashcopyblock.23970ce.html">here</a>) mentioned that there is an OSHA standard that requires trenches deeper than 5 feet to be shored.<br />
<br />
As I've written before, it wouldn't have taken the reporter too much time to add some valuable information to this article that might have gone beyond the human interest/shit happens/what-a-lucky-guy focus. If she couldn't spend 15 minutes on the web, she might have even called OSHA for some general information about trench collapses.<br />
<br />
And then the readers (and construction workers) would have known that:<br />
<br />
a) This tragedy was preventable<br />
b) The employer was probably breaking the law.<br />
c) Trench collapses are not to be taken lightly; most workers don't come out alive.<br />
<br />
But Moreno's <a href="http://www.dailybulletin.com/news/ci_5055206">a tough guy</a>: <span id="GLOBAL_article_display"></span><br />
<blockquote>
<span id="GLOBAL_article_display">Despite what was clearly a traumatic experience, Moreno said he is not afraid to continue working, and intends to return to work next week. </span><br />
<span id="GLOBAL_article_display">Moreno works for Gregg Electric Inc. of Ontario, a subcontractor for Oltmans Construction Co. of Whittier, a general contractor. </span><br />
<span id="GLOBAL_article_display">"I don't think I'd hesitate to get right back in," Moreno said. "I don't think I have any fears about that."</span></blockquote>
But if he's being sent down into unprotected 8-foot deep trenches, maybe he should have some fears. Maybe he and others working in unsafe workplaces should have been trained about the hazards of trenches and the laws that are meant to control those hazards.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5218538.post-1169520914183183522007-01-22T21:43:00.000-05:002007-02-05T22:34:09.542-05:00Nothing New About Trench Collapses<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/5823/164/1600/266560/herodotus.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/5823/164/400/835013/herodotus.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Check out the <a href="http://spewingforth.blogspot.com/2007/01/weekly-toll-death-in-american_21.html">Weekly Toll</a> below and you'll find a familiar entry at the top: a worker crushed to death in a <a href="http://www.greenwichtime.com/news/local/scn-gt-a1fatalthursdayjan11,0,5514635.story?coll=green-news-local-headlines">trench collapse</a>. But how could employers know that a trench would collapse? <a href="http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/trenchingexcavation/index.html">OSHA's trenching standard</a> for starters.<br /><br />But Dr. Michael Silverstein also reminds us in his paper, <a href="http://www.defendingscience.org/newsroom/upload/Silverstein_Complete_Draft.pdf">OSHA At 35</a>, the the hazards of trenching -- and how to prevent trenching casualties -- were well known even before OSHA issued its standard -- like somewhere around 2300 years before OSHA. Just ask Heroditus.<blockquote> All the other nations, therefore, except the Phoenicians, had double labour; for the sides of the trench fell in continually, as could not but happen, since they made the width no greater at the top than it was required to be at the bottom. But the Phoenicians showed in this the skill which they are wont to exhibit in all their undertakings. For in the portion of the work which was allotted to them they began by making the trench at the top twice as wide as the prescribed measure, and then as they dug downwards approached the sides nearer and nearer together, so that when they reached the bottom their part of the work was of the same width as the rest.<span style="font-style: italic;"><br /><br />-- The Histories of Herodotus, The Persian Wars,</span> Book 7 Polymnia, c. 484 - 425 BC</blockquote>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5218538.post-1169520142806965772007-01-22T21:20:00.000-05:002007-02-05T22:44:38.401-05:00Chilling ReadingJulie Ferguson at <a href="http://www.workerscompinsider.com/archives/000612.html">Workers Comp Insider</a> has a very nice piece on our <a href="http://spewingforth.blogspot.com/2007/01/weekly-toll-death-in-american_21.html">Weekly Toll</a>: <blockquote>Every other week, our blog neighbor Tammy at <span style="font-style: italic;">Confined Space</span> compiles a list of news stories about workers who have lost their lives at work. We've linked to it before. Despite its length, it's only a partial list at best- whatever manages to turn up in the search engines. The roster makes for some chilling reading. No matter how many times I've read these lists before, I am almost always jarred to see how many deaths occurred in my state - sometimes, just a town or two away. I am also struck by how pedestrian the circumstances sound - on a golf course, in a restaurant, at a market, on a farm. I guess it's the human tendency to think these things occur in far away places, at different kinds of work sites.<br /><br />***<br /><br />In story after story, the reports from co-workers are heart-wrenching - witnesses to the carnage, some after having frantically fought to save a colleague. It must be terrible to have to return to a job after having witnessed a beloved coworker die. It must be a heavy burden for coworkers and supervisors, and should they actually bear some negligence in the events, it could be soul crushing. Indeed, a year or two ago we noted the deaths of roofing workers on a construction site in Florida. There had been numerous safety violations, and in following up to see the criminal disposition, we learned the owner of the contracting company had taken his own life - no doubt, the horrible events played a role in his death, too. He and others paid a steep price for whatever corners were cut in shortchanging safety.</blockquote>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5218538.post-1169441295971012432007-01-21T23:41:00.000-05:002007-02-05T22:36:32.260-05:00To Sit Or Not To Sit....It hadn't really occurred to me until I read this article, but cashiers at the little grocery store across from our apartment in Paris last Christmas did something almost unheard of in American grocery stores: They sat down.<br /><br />The question of why American grocery store workers usually stand, rather than sit, was the subject of a <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/20/AR2007012001310.html">Washington Post column</a> today by Marc Fischer who tells the story of a customer, Deana Jordan Sullivan, who went out and bought stools for Safeway checkers to sit on.<br /><br />Safeway officals said "Thanks, but no thanks."<blockquote>"We do appreciate the customer's thoughtfulness and generosity," he says. "But sitting on a chair could potentially expose employees to injury. Part of their job requires them to lift heavy objects -- laundry detergent, frozen or fresh turkeys, cat or dog food. Their checkstands are designed to be conducive to standing."<br /><br />Actually, although you wouldn't think the seating of supermarket cashiers would be an earth-splitting issue, the planet is indeed divided over this: In most European countries and in Australia, grocery checkout clerks routinely do their job perched on stools. In the United States, the tradition has been that they stand all day. And it turns out that this has more to do with image and notions of customer service than with worker health.<br /><br />The British government's occupational health department issued guidelines in 2005 strongly recommending that supermarket cashiers be given sit-stand stools so clerks could sit when not lifting those heavy items. "A seat should be provided enabling operators to have a choice," the British study concluded.<br /><br />A report by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration says that thousands of grocery store workers are injured each year by repetitive motions and awkward posture while scanning items and "standing for most of the shift." But Americans take a milder approach to solving the problem. OSHA recommends using anti-fatigue floor mats, which Safeway does provide.<br /><br />The feds add only that grocery stores should "consider using checkstands designed with an adjustable sit-stand" stool.<br /><br />Muckle says Safeway's checkstands are not designed to permit stools. Anyway, "culturally, I don't know of any American supermarket where checkers sit down," he says. "That is prevalent in Europe, but in our culture, if people saw that, a lot of people would wonder, 'Are these people really working?' "<br /></blockquote>Yes, traditional culture is always a good reason to keep subjecting workers to workplace health and safety problems.<br /><br />Fischer notes, however, that the Safeway workers union, the United Food and Commercial Workers, aren't advocating for stools either.<blockquote>Interestingly, the union that represents Safeway checkers is pretty much in accord with the company. "Safeway designs checkstands to be as ergonomically beneficial as possible," says union spokeswoman Jill Cashen. "Sitting may actually make the work more difficult."</blockquote>The cashiers seemed perplexed, but not too upset about the prospect of sitting, however.<blockquote>At her Safeway, Sullivan found the cashiers to be grateful but a bit wary when she delivered the stools. "They looked at me like I was a crazy white woman," she says, "and that's a reasonable reaction. It sounds like I'm obsessed with this, but I'm really not: I'm a busy working mom with two kids, but I just thought this was stupid. I didn't want to just whine about it, so I did something."<br /><br />Sullivan, an executive at Discovery Networks, isn't done rocking the boat. She's rallying support from neighborhood online bulletin boards. And even though her stools remain in storage, she's found herself shopping at the Safeway more often: "Ironically, it's making me more loyal to the store and to the people who work there."<br /><br />Cashiers at the store told me they weren't allowed to talk about the stools. But they smiled broadly at the mention of the seats and the woman who donated them. "Tell her to come in and see us," one clerk said.<br /><br />Another added: "We'll be here -- standing right here."</blockquote><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Update:</span> <a href="http://www2.blogger.com/www.hazards.org/standing%20">Hazards Magazine</a> has much more on the hazards of standing.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5218538.post-1169434771179282922007-01-21T21:29:00.000-05:002007-06-26T18:46:50.801-04:00Weekly Toll: Death In The American Workplace<strong><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: normal;">A partial list of workers killed in American workplaces over the last several weeks.</span><br /><br />Worker dies after trench collapses</strong><br /><br />Greenwich, CT - A 59-year-old groundskeeper died yesterday afternoon following a <a href="http://www.greenwichtime.com/news/local/scn-gt-a1fatalthursdayjan11,0,5514635.story?coll=green-news-local-headlines">trench collapse</a> at a northwest Greenwich country club. "Employees of Tamarack Country Club were working on a drainage pipe and part of the trench collapsed on two of the employees," police Lt. James Heavey said. One worker was able to free himself from under the pile of dirt and went to help the second man along with other employees on the job site, authorities said. Police, firefighters and paramedics arrived at the scene shortly after 1 p.m. and found workers performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the injured groundskeeper. Paramedics took the man to Greenwich Hospital, where he died, Heavey said.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Worker dies after five-story fall in Roxbury</strong><br /><br />Boston, MA -- A worker died today after <a href="http://www.boston.com/news/globe/city_region/breaking_news/2007/01/worker_dies_aft.html">falling five stories</a> at a construction site in Roxbury this morning, according to police and an official from the worker's company. The man, whose name was not released, was rushed to Boston Medical Center in critical condition. He later died, an official from the worker's company said this afternoon. The man fell at about 11:20 a.m. Police are currently investigating at the scene near the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard. Officials from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration are also at the construction site.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Four arrested in death of Lawton cab driver</strong><br /><br />LAWTON, Okla. - Lawton police say four teenagers are in custody in the weekend shooting death of a cab driver. Officers say 19-year-old Delarenta Burton was arrested for murder in the death of <strong>John Thomas Lamb</strong>. Officers arrested 19-year-old Elijah Davis, 18-year-old Caprisha Davis and 19-year-old Donald Hood as material witnesses. Police Lieutenant William Grimes says Lamb was found dead in his cab at an apartment complex early Saturday with a <a href="http://www.kswo.com/Global/story.asp?S=5906271">gunshot</a> wound to the back of his head. Investigators believe Burton called for the cab then killed Lamb and stole his wallet. Grimes says security video led police to an apartment at the complex where they found Lamb's wallet.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">All lanes open on I-64 after deadly crash</span><br /><br />All lanes are now open on Interstate 64 remains in York County <a href="http://www.wavy.com/global/story.asp?s=5955047&ClientType=Printable">after a deadly crash</a> that claimed the life of a truck driver. Virginia State Police say it happened around midnight near the Busch Gardens exit.<br /><br />The truck, which was hauling produce, flipped over, blocking the lanes and killing the driver. State police have the lanes blocked while they reconstruct the accident to try and figure out what happened. Investigators say the truck driver was trying to avoid a construction vehicle when he crashed.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Trucker Killed In Unusual I-65 Crash</strong><br /><br />INDIANAPOLIS, IN -- A truck driver was killed in an unusual crash, according to police, on Interstate 65 downtown Thursday morning that backed up traffic for several miles. The crash happened after 7 a.m. when the driver of a tractor-trailer that was carrying a load of steel pipes stopped abruptly in the northbound lanes just north of Raymond Street. When the trailer stopped, the load shifted, sending the <a href="http://www.theindychannel.com/news/10723443/detail.html">pipes crashing through the back of the cab</a> and killing the driver, <strong>James Surrena,</strong> 38, of Lorain, Ohio. Investigators said the load was not properly secured. Traffic was backed up for at least three miles as workers cleaned up the crash site.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Workers killed on rails were loyal family men</strong><br /><br />Woburn, MA - <strong>Christopher Macaulay</strong> and <strong>James Zipps</strong> loved working on the railroad, and they never considered any other career s , friends and family said yesterday. Macaulay was drawn to trains at an early age -- his father was an Amtrak conductor -- said Michael Blakemore, who described himself as Macaulay's best friend. Zipps joined the railroad at 21, following in the footsteps of several childhood friends, said his brother, Richard Zipps. Macaulay, 30, of Brentwood, N.H., and Zipps, 54, of Lowell, were killed Tuesday afternoon when a <a href="http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/01/11/workers_killed_on_rails_were_loyal_family_men/">commuter train barreled into their maintenance vehicle</a> parked on MBTA tracks in Woburn. While investigators yesterday continued to sort out the events leading to the deaths, friends and coworkers visited the mourning families to offer condolences.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Warsaw ‘cab guy’ killed in car crash</strong><br /><br />Warsaw, IN - A Warsaw cabdriver who died in a one-car car crash late Tuesday was a hard-working man whose grizzly-like appearance belied a tender heart, according to a longtime friend. <strong>Roger L. Calvert</strong>, 49, was driving a 1996 Chrysler van southeast on North Lake Street near Fox Farm Road on the west edge of Warsaw about 11 p.m. when he drove off the northeast edge of the road, Kosciusko County police said. The van traveled over two small parking lots before it <a href="http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/fortwayne/news/local/16435011.htm">crashed through a fence and struck several propane tanks</a> at AmeriGas, located along North Lake Street.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Construction Worker Killed in Fort Valley</strong><br /><br />Fort Valley, GA - A construction worker was killed in Fort Valley during an accident at the job site. The man was working for Garrison Construction near Highway 49 North in Fort Valley when police say there was an <a href="http://www.wmgt.com/node/727">accident involving a backhoe</a>. The accident happened this morning after 7:00 am. The victim was taken to Peach Regional Hospital where he was pronounced dead. The man has not yet been identified because police are trying to notify his family. The driver of the backhoe has submitted to a blood test and at this time no charges have been filed.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Two Arrested In Killing Of Tenn. Trooper</strong><br /><br />Nashville, TN - Officer Killed After Traffic Stop; Suspects Arrested At Hotel Near Nashville. State officials said Sunday they had arrested two people they believed were responsible for the killing of a state trooper who was <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/01/07/national/main2335184.shtml">shot</a> during a traffic stop in western Tennessee. The 24-year-old trooper pulled over two men and was trying to get them out of the vehicle Saturday night when he was shot twice, according to footage from the patrol car's video camera. At least one bullet struck him in the head, said Mike Browning, a Department of Safety spokesman. On Sunday, two men were “arrested without incident” at a hotel near downtown Nashville, said Tennessee Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Jennifer Johnson. TBI director Mark Gwin said “after interviewing the two men we feel confident we have the two people in custody that murdered the state trooper.” Hunters found <strong>Trooper Calvin Jenks'</strong> body beside his patrol car near the intersection of state highways 14 and 54, Browning said.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Tractor accident kills Union Co. man</strong><br /><br />LIBERTY, Ind. — A Union County man was killed Saturday in a farm tractor accident. <strong>Joe Thibaut,</strong> 38, of Industrial Park Road, was dead at the scene after he was run over by a large, dual-wheel tractor, Union County Coroner Bill Havens said. The accident occurred around 6 p.m. on a farm at 5420 E. State Road 44, Havens said. Thibaut and farmer Steve Posco were trying to jump start a Case Agri King tractor using another vehicle, Havens said. When the tractor started, it lunged forward, knocking Thibaut underneath the rear wheels, Havens said. Thibaut died from <a href="http://www.pal-item.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070107/NEWS01/70107015">trauma to the chest and head</a>, Havens said. Union County Deputy Dale Dishmond said the accident remains under investigation.<br /><strong></strong><br /><br /><br /><strong>Fallen officer honored</strong><br /><br />BONHAM, TX — Silence and sobs spoke volumes Sunday night around the Fannin County Sheriff’s Office as people clung to each other for support. They were there to honor a fallen officer, Fannin County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Rahamy Mitchell. Fannin County <strong>Deputy Rahamy Mitchell,</strong> 38, <a href="http://www.heralddemocrat.com/articles/2007/01/08/local_news/news01.txt">died early Sunday in the line of duty</a>. Mr. Mitchell and other deputies responded to a 1:15 a.m. call for help from Leonard police regarding a disturbance in progress. Mr. Mitchell was “going code,” which is a word used to describe in a hurry, traveling on State Highway 11. He never made it to Leonard.<br /><br /><br /><strong>McKinney pilot killed in plane crash</strong><br /><br />Batesville, Ark. - Independence County Sheriff's Office officials, of Batesville, Ark., confirmed that a McKinney husband, father and pilot was one of two Texas men who died in a <a href="http://www.courier-gazette.com/articles/2007/01/08/mckinney_courier-gazette/news/anews01.txt">plane crash</a> last Thursday. Capt. Bill Lindsey, of the ICSO, confirmed that <strong>Craig Meyer</strong>, 26, of McKinney, and <strong>Joel Diffie</strong>, 40, of Terrell, were found around 1 p.m. Friday in the wreckage of a plane crash a mile east of the Batesville Regional Airport. Their plane, a Cessna 182-R operated by Barr Air Patrol LLC of Mesquite, which conducts aerial inspections of oil pipelines for Exxon-Mobil, was reported missing Thursday afternoon after it left Joliet, Ill., headed for Beaumont. The last contact with the plane occurred in Ripley County, Mo. The cause of the crash is still under investigation by the ICSO and the National Transportation Safety Board.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Family mourns loss of ferry worker</strong><br /><br />GRAFTON, IL -- A city is mourning the loss of one of its own, killed on the Grafton Ferry two days ago. <strong>Raymond Eugene "Gene" Ready</strong>, 62, died on Saturday afternoon doing his job. Ready died from injuries he suffered when a <a href="http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=17681920&BRD=1719&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;PAG=461&dept_id=25271&rfi=6">sport utility vehicle leaving the ferry struck and killed him</a>. Ready died doing what he loved. "He loved working and he loved being around people," Lori Crowe, Ready’s stepdaughter, said. Authorities were notified at about 4:34 p.m. that a pedestrian had been hit by a Land Rover Range Rover deboarding the ferry. The Jersey County Coroner’s Office pronounced Ready dead at the scene at 4:45 p.m. The Jersey County Sheriff’s Department, the Grafton Police Department, Jersey County Ambulance, QEM Fire and Rescue, Illinois State Police, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Coast Guard responded to the scene.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Employee found dead at restaurant</strong><br /><br />CLINTON, S.C. Police are questioning someone today in the death of a worker whose body was found in a Burger King restaurant. Clinton Public Safety director <strong style="font-weight: normal;">John Thomas</strong> says 27-year-old <span style="font-weight: bold;">Richard Allen Wideman</span> of Laurens was found this morning lying on the floor in the back of the restaurant. Wideman had been <a href="http://www.fox21.com/Global/story.asp?S=5933268&nav=menu149_2">shot</a> three times and a had a knife wound across his throat. Thomas would say only that investigators are interviewing a (quote) "person of interest." Thomas says Wideman may have known his assailant. There was no evidence of a break-in.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Employee Of Supplier Transporting Hydrogen Killed in Explosion at Muskingum River Plant</strong><br /><br />COLUMBUS, Ohio, -- An <a href="http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/070108/clm184.html?.v=1">explosion</a> this morning at American Electric Power's Muskingum River power plant killed an employee of a supplier delivering hydrogen to the plant. The identity of the victim, who worked for General Hydrogen, is not available at this time. The cause of the 9:20 a.m. explosion is unknown and under investigation, but the plant boilers were not involved, and the explosion was outside the walls of the plant. The plant has five generating units. Four of the units are still operational. Unit 5 is offline pending the investigation of the explosion. The plant is located near Beverly, Ohio. Nine AEP employees were transported to five local hospitals for evaluation and treatment of injuries. None of the injuries is life threatening.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Fellow officers mourn loss of friend</strong><br /><br />PATERSON, NJ -- The Franklin family, well-known for their contributions and sacrifices to this city, made the ultimate one early Sunday morning; their son, <strong>Tyron D. Franklin</strong>, was <a href="http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkzNTcmZmdiZWw3Zjd2cWVlRUV5eTcwNTQwNzMmeXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkz">killed in a robbery attempt</a> just a week shy of his 24th birthday. Franklin's death had an impact on many lives in Paterson -- first and foremost those of his family and the 16-month-old son he left behind. But the city's uniformed services were also hit hard: both the police department Franklin served as a rookie patrolman and the fire department his father, Larry Franklin, retired from as the first black captain in the department's history.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Probe Underway at Georgia Plant</strong><br /><br />DALTON, Ga. -- Dalton firefighters on Monday continued to extinguish small pockets of fire, more than 48 hours after the start of a <a href="http://cms.firehouse.com/content/article/article.jsp?sectionId=46&id=52840">blaze that killed an employee</a> and gutted much of a business here. Dalton Fire Chief Barry Gober said investigators likely would begin combing through rubble today at Columbia Recycling Corp. at 1001 Chattanooga Ave. "In my 28 years with the fire department, this is a top 10 major loss," he said. "In scope, size and scale, it's a major loss." <strong>Leonel Delgado</strong>, 22, who was working at the textile waste recycling firm when the fire broke out early Saturday, died of smoke inhalation, Whitfield County Coroner Bobbie Dixon said.<br /><strong></strong><br /><br /><br /><strong>Market's clerk shot in head, Victim in attempted robbery in North Side stabilized after surgery</strong><br /><br />Richmond, VA - An employee at Hanes Market & Deli in Richmond's North Side was <a href="http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD/MGArticle/RTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149192560615">shot</a> in the head last night during a robbery attempt after another store worker struggled with the gunman, Richmond police said. Medics rushed the victim to VCU Medical Center after the 8:41 p.m. shooting inside the store at 3008 Hanes Ave, at the corner of West Brookland Park Boulevard. At the scene, shortly after the shooting, Richmond police supervisor Capt. Michael Shamus said the victim's wound appeared to be life-threatening. Late last night, Shamus reported the victim was out of surgery and stabilized. "Very fortunate," Shamus said.<br /><br /><br />City Employee Killed In Ice Storm<br /><br />A 25-year-old Houston city employee was killed when he was <a href="http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/DN-txwinter_18tex.ART.State.Edition1.29e8f0c.html">hit by a car</a> while helping guide traffic around another traffic accident.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Delta man dies in mine accident</strong><br /><br />SOMERSET, CO — A Delta coal miner died in an accident Saturday in the Elk Creek Mine near Somerset, according to Delta County Coroner Chalmer Swain. Swain identified the victim as 26-year-old <strong>Jeremy Garcia</strong>. Jim Cooper, executive vice president of Oxbow Mining, the owner of the Elk Creek Mine, said he had spent much of the weekend with Garcia’s family. He was married and had two young children, Cooper said. Garcia had 2 1/2 years of experience as an underground miner and had worked at the Elk Creek Mine since September as a utility man on the continuous miner section, Cooper said. The accident occurred about 12:30 p.m. when Garcia went to an area where supplies are stored to get some wire screen that is used for roof support to keep small materials from falling on miners, Cooper said. According to a press release from Oxbow, when Garcia cut the metal band securing the screen material to the mine wall to get a portion of it, the whole bundle fell on him. “When the <a href="http://www.gjsentinel.com/hp/content/news/stories/2007/01/09/1_9_3a_Mine_death.html">miner cut the metal band holding the bundle of screen together, it released outward striking him</a>,” a press release from Oxbow stated.<br /><br /><strong><br />Guard dies at Deseret Depot</strong><br /><br />UT - A 26-year employee of Deseret Chemical Depot <a href="http://www.tooeletranscript.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=18806&Itemid=54">collapsed</a> and died Sunday at noon in the facility's parking lot. <strong>Terry Stonebreaker</strong>, 56, of Lehi worked at the depot as a security guard. He had just finished his shift when he collapsed. Emergency personnel were called in and he was taken to Mountain West Medical Center where he was pronounced dead. Stonebreaker leaves behind a wife and three children. Alaine Southworth, spokeswoman for the depot, said Mr. Stonebreaker suffered from an undisclosed medical condition.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Worker Dies At Bonaventure Country Club</strong><br /><br />BONAVENTURE, FL - A worker at the Bonaventure Country Club died after the <a href="http://cbs4.com/topstories/local_story_009173433.html">tractor he was driving ran into a lake</a> at the golf course. The landscaping contractor was mowing the lawn, when the tractor he was using tipped over, dumping him into the water. The Broward Sheriff’s Office is investigating the incident. They don’t know how long the victim had been in the water before other workers at the golf course found him inside the lake. Paramedics transported him to Broward General Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. The victim’s name has not been released. The golf course is located at 200 Bonaventure Blvd.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Remembering the life of Officer Fumiatti </strong><br /><br />New Haven, CT - <strong>Officer Robert Fumiatti</strong> grew up in West Haven. His father was also in law enforcement as a detective on the New Haven police department. Fumiatti graduated from West Haven high school in the late 80's. He was a hockey player on the varsity squad. That love for the ice stayed with him as an adult he coached the boys hockey team for Amity high school. His positive spirit is remarkable considering what he's been through. For the last five years officer Fumiatti's life was full of challenges. In June of 2002 Fumiatti was <a href="http://www.wtnh.com/Global/story.asp?S=5917676&nav=menu29_2">shot</a> in the line of duty. A drug raid in New Haven turned violent, a suspected drug dealer shot the officer in the face and neck. With prayers and medical technology Fumiatti fought back. Spending months in recovery enduring a long battle both physically and mentally. One of the bullets forever lodged in his brain, a pacemaker monitoring his heart.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Fallen Indiana Firefighter Smothered</strong><br /><br />Forte Wayne, IN - Upland volunteer firefighter <strong>Sidney Hall</strong> died after being <a href="http://cms.firehouse.com/content/article/article.jsp?sectionId=39&id=52864">deprived of oxygen</a> while trapped inside a burning house last week, the Allen County coroner announced Tuesday. Hall, 52, died following a Wednesday house fire at 7056 E. 100S. He fell through a floor and was trapped, perhaps for as long as 20 minutes, before being rescued. He died Thursday at Parkview Hospital, Fort Wayne, where he was flown following the fire. Dick Alfeld, the chief investigator for the Allen County coroner's office, said the official cause of Hall's death was hypoxia and asphyxiation due to position. "Basically, he couldn't breathe because he had pressure on his chest," Alfeld said. "It was an accident."<br /><br /><br /><strong>Employee fatally shot outside Mount Pleasant newspaper office</strong><br /><br />MOUNT PLEASANT, MI — A 30-year-old newspaper advertising representative was <a href="http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070110/NEWS01/701100361/1001/news">shot</a> to death Tuesday in a parking lot outside the Morning Sun offices after police said she was rammed and flipped over in her vehicle. Police said they later arrested Thomas Daniel Babb, 37, in the death of his wife, <strong>Mary Lynn Babb</strong>, after he drove into a ditch near Evart in Osceola County. Police said the victim had a personal protection order against her estranged husband. Authorities said they believe Thomas Babb was waiting outside the Morning Sun offices about 4:30 p.m. when his wife drove her sport utility vehicle into the parking lot, the Mount Pleasant newspaper reported. Witnesses told police the suspect then rammed Mary Babb's SUV with his pickup truck, pushing her vehicle across the parking lot and causing it to roll over onto its top.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Driver killed in tractor-trailer crash</strong><br /><br />Joplin, MO - <strong>Edward F. McMurray</strong>, 67, of El Dorado Springs died when his <a href="http://www.news-leader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070110/NEWS01/701100314/1007/NEWS01">tractor-trailer cab went off the road and caught fire</a> Monday in Newton County, the Missouri Highway Patrol said. His southbound 1997 Kenworth reportedly went into a median between two bridges, vaulted into a creek bed and caught fire. The crash was reported after 1:15 p.m. on U.S. 71, five miles south of Joplin.<br /><br /><br /><strong></strong><strong>Family of city worker killed on the job to file suit</strong><br /><br />Houston, TX- The family of a City of Houston worker killed during Wednesday’s bad weather has hired an attorney and plans to file suit. The accident happened on Highway 59 at San Jacinto River in north Harris County. Police say <strong>Jerry Hines</strong> was operating a sand truck when he and his partner spotted an accident. Hines attempted to direct traffic around the accident when another came along and <a href="http://www.khou.com/news/local/stories/khou_070118_jj_cityfamilysues.51788348.html">hit</a> him, sending him over the San Jacinto River Bridge. Hines had worked for the city for 14 months. He leaves behind a wife and one-month-old baby.<br /><br /><br /><strong>NC officer dies during foot pursuit</strong><br /><br />HOPE MILLS, N.C. -- A North Carolina police sergeant <a href="http://www.policeone.com/news/1203046/">died Thursday after collapsing</a> while chasing a suspect. Authorities say <strong>Sergeant James Keith Hardin</strong>, 34, was running along US 301 at the time with a K9 and another officer. According to the Cumberland County Sheriff’s watch commander, suspect Ricky Allen Wilson, Jr., was captured on Thursday at 5:25 p.m. He was wanted on a misdemeanor charge of unauthorized use of motor vehicle. He’s now also charged with felony speeding to elude arrest. Hardin, who had been promoted from corporal to sergeant in July, is survived by his wife, Shelly, and two children.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Worker found shot to death at car dealership</strong><br /><br />North Lawrence, NY - The day after one of the top salesmen at a North Lawrence car dealership was <a href="http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-liauto0112,0,4860197.story?coll=sns-ap-business-headlines">shot</a> dead, detectives Friday said they had no motive or suspect in the killing. Nassau police said <strong>Collin Thomas,</strong> 27, of Jamaica, Queens, was shot once in the back about 8:50 p.m. Thursday, shortly before he was to help close Universal Auto World on Burnside Avenue. Investigators combed the site for clues Friday, cordoning off the entire block with tape and allowing canine units to sniff the fleet of pre-owned luxury cars and sport utility vehicles. "At this point in time, our investigation is in its infancy stages," said Det. Lt. Michael Fleming, commander of the homicide squad, who said relatives and friend of Thomas were interviewed Friday. "We do know he was shot once in the back. That was a fatal shot."<br /><br /><br /><strong>Two killed in fiery Van Nuys plane crash</strong><br /><br />NORTH HILLS, CA - Two pilots died Friday in a ball of flames when their corporate <a href="http://www.dailynews.com/ci_5001714">jet crashed</a> after taking off from Van Nuys Airport, authorities said. Witnesses watched in horror as the twin-engine Cessna Citation "wobbled" before banking away from homes and plummeting into a grassy lot north of the airport just before 11 a.m. Some saw a baggage door open during takeoff. Others saw a man jump out of the plane just before it crashed.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Man Killed by Forklift To Be 'Deeply Missed'</strong><br /><br />LAKELAND, FL - <strong>Roy Eugene Davis</strong> had put in nearly 30 years at Central Maintenance & Welding Inc. before he retired on New Year's Eve. The 64-year-old Lithia man returned to work Tuesday, on a part-time basis, to assist in a project at Mosaic's New Wales plant on State Road 640. Davis, the nighttime safety coordinator on the project, was hit and <a href="http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070112/NEWS/701120367/1004">killed by a forklift</a> carrying a bucket about 6:45 p.m. Tuesday, the Polk County Sheriff's Office said.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Worker killed in fall at REP, Man slipped off ledge while cleaning at mill</strong><br /><br />LORAIN, OH — A 35-year-old father of twin girls <a href="http://www.chroniclet.com/Daily%20Pages/011307head8.html">fell 120 feet</a> to his death Friday morning in an industrial accident at a Lorain steel mill. <strong>Jose M. Diaz</strong> was working as a contract cleaner at Republic Engineered Products, 1807 E. 28th St., when he slipped off a narrow ledge and fell, according to a police report. Diaz was an employee of Superior Environmental Solutions, a Cincinnati company hired to provide cleaning services throughout the massive complex formerly known as USS/Kobe Steel Co.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Two more Burger King workers killed months after Lindenhurst murder</strong><br /><br />CHICAGO, IL -- <strong>Pam Branka</strong> would often talk about the recent murder of an employee at a Burger King in Lindenhurst, but she never believed the same fate could befall her at the Burger King where she worked for 15 years in a small northeast Illinois community, her husband said. The 46-year-old mother of one and another employee of the Burger King in Momence, about 50 miles south of Chicago, were <a href="http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/newssun/news/209901,5_WA14_burgerking.article">found dead</a> inside the fast-food restaurant early Saturday, Kankakee County Coroner Robert Gessner said. He identified the other victim as <strong>Paul Jones</strong>, 49, of Donovan.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Two W.Va. Miners Killed At Coal Mine</strong><br /><br />McDowell County, WV - Two miners (<span style="font-weight: bold;">James D. Thomas</span>, 48, of North Tazewell, Va., and utilityman <span style="font-weight: bold;">Pete Poindexter</span>, 33, of Rock) are dead after another tragedy at a West Virginia coal mine. It happened at the Brooks Run Mining's Cucumber Mine in McDowell County, W.Va. The news came just weeks after the nation remembered the one year anniversary of the Sago Mine disaster. The accident marked the first mining deaths of 2007. Officials said the miners were trapped and killed around 10:30 a.m. Saturday, while working to remove pillars of coal. Investigators are still working to determine whether it was one of the pillars or the <a href="http://www.wtov9.com/news/10742182/detail.html">roof that collapsed</a>. Local lawmakers said it's eerily tragic news so soon after the governor's State of the State address, where mine safety was a key issue. "No matter what, it's a horrible tragedy but if we find that it's something that could have been prevented, then maybe we can act quickly and make sure that no other families have to go through it in the future," said Majority Leader Joe DeLong (D).<br /><br /><br /><strong>Death of nurse at hospital being probed</strong><br /><br />PARAMUS, NJ -- Authorities were investigating the death of a Bergen Regional Medical Center employee who <a href="http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk2MTAmZmdiZWw3Zjd2cWVlRUV5eTcwNTgzNjQmeXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkz">died on the job </a>early Saturday, police said. <strong>Dennis Bombardier</strong>, 33, a head nurse at the hospital, was found in his office and in "medical distress" by another employee around 4:30 a.m., Bergen County Police Capt. Kevin Hartnett said. The Mahwah resident was taken to the hospital emergency room where he died three hours later, Hartnett said. The cause of death is pending the completion of an autopsy.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Paramedic dies after Boone wreck</strong><br /><br />Boone, WV - A 30-year paramedic died in a Charleston hospital Sunday after being injured in a <a href="http://sundaygazettemail.com/section/News/Other+News/200701151">head-on collision</a> Saturday in Boone County. Tennille <strong>Annette Davis</strong>, 30, of Belle died at CAMC General Hospital, where she underwent surgery Saturday. She was airlifted to the hospital after being extricated from her pickup truck, said David Kieffer, a captain with the Kanawha County Ambulance Authority. Davis was en route to teach an Emergency Medical Technician class in Boone County when the accident occurred at about 9:30 Saturday on W.Va. 3 in Racine. An employee of the Kanawha County Ambulance Authority since 1999, Davis had reached the highest skill level — a critical care transport paramedic — and was a field training officer<br /><br /><br /><strong>Man killed when tractor flips</strong><br /><br />Boyd Lake, CO - A 60-year-old Larimer County farmer was killed in a freak accident this morning when the <a href="http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5281239,00.html">tractor he was using to pull a pickup from deep snow overturned and crushed him</a>. Larimer County sheriff's spokesman Don Nadow said the man, whose name hasn't been released, was going goose hunting with two other men when their pickup became stuck in a field northeast of Boyd Lake.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Female cab driver shot to death in La Marque</strong><br /><br />LA MARQUE, TX — Police are investigating the <a href="http://www.khou.com/news/local/stories/khou070115_mh_cabbiekilled.41e6b810.html">shooting</a> of a taxi driver who they believe was killed by the last person she gave a ride to. A passing motorist found <strong>Raneshia Lyshaun Kelly</strong>, 28, of Hitchcock, bleeding to death in her taxi along the northbound Interstate 45 feeder road near Century Boulevard about 3 a.m. Sunday. The motorist had pulled over to check on the driver after she saw the maroon taxi van weave on the road, go across the grass median and hit the I-45 guardrail. Kelly was dead by the time police and EMS workers arrived.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Clerk killed in robbery at Forest Heights 7-11</strong><br /><br />Forest Heights, MD - A clerk at the 7-11 on Livingston Road in Forest Heights was <a href="http://www.gazette.net/stories/011507/princou130238_32011.shtml">killed</a> Friday evening during a robbery that police spokesman Cpl. Steve Pacheco said showed a ‘‘total disregard for everything.” An unidentified suspect armed with a shotgun entered the 7-11 sometime before 9 p.m. Friday and demanded money from store employee <strong>Bekurestsion K. Gebreamlak</strong>, who was behind the counter. During the course of the robbery, the suspect shot 57-year-old Gebreamlak in the upper body, before fleeing.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Grinnell Medical Center Worker Dies</strong><br /><br />Grinnell, IA - A 42-year old worker at Grinnell Regional Medical Center died Monday. The hospital says <strong>Randy Criswell</strong> was using a lawn tractor with a snow blade to remove snow from the one-story helipad. The machine cleared the five-foot safety net and landed on the ground, more than 17-feet below. Officials say further details about how it happened aren't known at this point. Criswell had <a href="http://www.woi-tv.com/Global/story.asp?S=5941111&nav=1LFX">major head and chest injuries</a>. An autopsy will be performed Tuesday.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Two Idaho Statesman Newspaper Carriers Killed</strong><br /><br />Canyon County, Idaho -- The Idaho Statesman is mourning the tragic loss of two of their newspaper carriers. Gene and Darlene Sell died in an early morning accident in rural Canyon County while delivering papers along their regular daily route. Just before 4 a.m. Monday, Cindy Hess woke up to a loud noise outside her bedroom window. "Sounded like thunder," she said. That thunder was the sound of a deadly accident. Idaho State Police say a <a href="http://www.fox12news.com/Global/story.asp?S=5941794">pickup truck ran a stop sign</a> at Hollow and El Paso roads in rural Canyon County and collided with a semi-tractor hauling a milk tanker trailer. The impact knocked the street sign off the pole, uprooted one of the trees in Hess' yard, and ejected the man and woman inside the pickup. <strong>Gene Sell</strong>, 73, and his wife, <strong>Darlene</strong>, 68, weren't wearing their seatbelts and died at the scene.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Police name man killed in industrial incident</strong><br /><br />Salina, KS - The man killed Monday morning while working on a loader at Hronek Salvage, 146 S. Cherry, was identified Tuesday as <strong>Stanley Beckner</strong>, 61, 146 S. Cherry. Mike Marshall, deputy Salina police chief, said Beckner was working on the loader shortly before 11 a.m. Monday when the hydraulic arms suddenly lowered. Beckner was <a href="http://www.saljournal.com/?module=displaystory&story_id=9196&format=html">trapped between the lift arms and the frame of the loader</a>, Marshall said.<br /><br /><br /><strong>One worker killed, two others seriously injured in shredder</strong><br /><br />Seattle, WA-An industrial accident at a South Seattle scrap recycler that shreds metal from cars <a href="http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/300181_accident18.html?source=mypi" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">killed</a> one employee and left two others hospitalized with serious injuries Wednesday. The three Seattle Iron & Metals Corp. workers were preparing to repair the recycler's massive car shredder when a metal service platform they were installing shifted, pinning them inside the machine, authorities said.<br /><br /><br /><strong>One person dead in Palatine fire</strong><br /><br />IL-The owner of a Palatine auto repair shop was <a href="http://www.dailyherald.com/story.asp?id=270970" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">killed</a> Thursday when a fire ravaged his business, fire officials said. <strong>Michael Kipnis</strong>, 40, of Lake Zurich was the lone fatality in the blaze; 12 others - one person from the auto shop and 11 employees from another business that shares the same building - safely escaped.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Cooper Tire Worker Killed</strong><br /><br />Texarkana, AK- A long-time employee at Cooper’s Texarkana, Ark., plant was <a href="http://www.tirereview.com/default.aspx?type=wm&module=4&id=2&state=DisplayFullText&item=7146" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">killed</a> Jan. 16 when, according to news reports, he was struck by a piece of falling equipment. According to Cooper it was the first fatality at the plant in its 42-year history Construction worker dies in drilling accident<br /><br /><br /><strong></strong><strong>Long Island Rail Road worker is hit by train, dies; many delays</strong><br /><br />VALLEY STREAM, N.Y. (AP) _ A railway track worker was <a href="http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--trainworkerkilled0117jan17,0,5402902.story?coll=ny-region-apnewyork" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">struck</a> by a train and killed Wednesday, delaying service on several branches of North America's largest commuter rail system. The Long Island Rail Road worker was hit at 9:55 a.m. just west of the Valley Stream station by the 9:12 a.m. westbound train from Babylon to Manhattan's Pennsylvania Station. He was airlifted to a hospital, where he died.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Highway worker dies on road</strong><br /><br />College Station, AR-A state Highway and Transportation Department worker re-moving a dead animal from southbound Hwy. 67/167 about a quarter mile south of the on-ramp at Redmond Road Tuesday morning was <a href="http://www.arkansasleader.com/2007/01/top-story-highway-worker-dies-on-road.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">struck</a> and killed by a passing motorist. The AHTD employee was identified as <strong>Jerome Harris</strong> from College Station, according to Glenn Bolick, a spokesman for AHTD. Harris was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident, according to Bolick. The driver of the vehicle that struck Harris was identified as D. Lance Smith of Evening Shade. Smith was driving south in a 1994 Ford pickup on Hwy. 67/167 near Redmond Road when he struck Harris.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Tree Trimmer Dies After High Wind Knocks Down Limb</span><br /><br />A tree trimmer was <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/19/AR2007011902009.html">killed by a falling limb</a> in Arlington yesterday, an apparent casualty of the high winds that raked the area. The worker, who was not identified immediately, was part of a seven-member crew from a private service that was trimming trees behind a house, authorities said. While crew members were rigging a tree to be trimmed, "a large gust of wind blew," according to a statement from Arlington authorities. Crew members heard "a large cracking sound," and a big branch broke from a tree and fell about 70 feet.<br /><br />The workers tried to flee, but one was struck on the head by the falling branch. He was pronounced dead at the scene. His name is being withheld until relatives could be notified.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Man who died on job named</span><br /><br />KALIHIWAI, HA — The Hawai‘i Department of Transportation yesterday announced the name of a man who was killed working on the job this week.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Johnathan Hirata</span>, 30, of Wailua, died after cutting down a tree near Kalihiwai bridge on the mauka side in Kilauea around 1 p.m. Wednesday. Hirata had been part of the maintenance crew for more than seven years. His family was notified of his death Wednesday night.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Warehouse Worker Killed When Run Over By Payloader</span><br /><br />CHICAGO, IL -- Authorities are investigating the death of a Lake Station, Ind., man at a Chicago warehouse where he worked. Authorities said 48-year-old <span style="font-weight: bold;">Craig Harlacker</span> was <a href="http://www.nbc5.com/news/10793276/detail.html">run over Wednesday night by a payloader</a> driven by a fellow Kinder Morgan employee. A report from the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office said the driver was apparently blinded by a mercury vapor light. The report states that Harlacker was wearing a hard hat with sound suppressors and may not have heard the payloader approaching.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Worker Dies After Falling from Roof</span><br /><br />Fort Wayne, IN -- A Fort Wayne construction worker (<span style="font-weight: bold;">Brandon J. Bragg</span>, 26,) <a href="http://www.wane.com/global/story.asp?s=5958355&ClientType=Printable">fell to his death</a> Thursday morning, while finishing up a roofing project in DeKalb County.<br /><br />Just before 9:30, crews were working on the building that now houses the Garrett Christmas Bureau. The building previously served as a church, and has steep roofs. The new roofing project was nearly complete, when a worker slipped and fell.<br /><br />"There were two ladders going up to the roof with the scaffolding across and apparently he slid on to that and bounced off the scaffolding and fell to the ground," Garrett Police Detective Sterling Robbins II told NewsChannel 15.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">10-Hour Effort Fails To Save Trapped Worker</span><br /><br /><b class="Dateline">BLOOMINGDALE, Ill. -- </b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Russell Gusloff</span> of 904 Colfax Ave. was pronounced dead on the scene at 12:38 a.m. Thursday at Graber Concrete Pipe, 24W121 Army Trail Road in Bloomingdale, according to DuPage County Chief Deputy Coroner Charlie Dastych. "It was an extremely technical extrication," according to the firefighter, who said outside companies that specialize in rescues were brought in to help.<br /><br />Upon arrival, crews were notified that an employee was <a href="http://www.nbc5.com/news/10782253/detail.html">engulfed by sand in a hopper</a> located about 40 feet up on top of the building, according to a release from the district. After about an hour, the rescue was turned into a recovery effort because part of Gusloff’s body was exposed and showed "no signs of life," the firefighter said.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Police identify accident victim</span><br /><br />SANDPOINT, ID -- The victim in Tuesday's deadly industrial accident at The Seasons resort development has been identified as Washington state resident <span style="font-weight: bold;">Ezra D. Gordon</span>. Sandpoint Police released the man's identity on Wednesday and a federal labor safety inspector investigated accident site. Authorities on Tuesday listed Gordon's age as 24, but he was actually 25.<br /><br />Police Chief Mark Lockwood said Gordon lived in the Spokane area and was working for Crux Subsurface, a Spokane Valley firm which specializes in geotechnical drilling services. Crux was doing work for developers of the waterfront condominium and marina project, but Lockwood had no further details on the nature of Crux's work at the site. Gordon was part of a three-man crew using a track-mounted drilling machine when his <a href="http://www.bonnercountydailybee.com/articles/2007/01/18/news/news02.txt">clothes became entangled in the drill</a>. "His clothes got caught in the apparatus and it pulled him in," Lockwood said.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Worker buried alive while filling a sewage trench<br /></span><br />Mission Bluff, TX -- A construction worker was critically injured <a href="http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/4469060.html">after accidentally being buried alive</a> while filling a sewage trench in Fort Bend County. The unidentified man was working in the trench at a construction site near Mission Bluff late this afternoon when other construction workers began filling the trench, apparently covering him before anyone realized he was there, said Terriann Carlson, spokeswoman for the Fort Bend Sheriff's Office.<br /><br />As soon as workers realized what had happened, they began digging the man out, but "he was down there for a good length of time," perhaps 20 to 30 minutes, Carlson said.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Police ID worker who died after falling down elevator shaft in Fort Lauderdale</span><br /><br />FORT LAUDERDALE, FL -- A 42-year-old Lake Worth man died Tuesday after he <a href="http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-celevator10jan10,0,771855.story?coll=sfla-news-broward">fell 60 feet down an elevator shaft</a> while working at an oceanfront hotel construction site, officials said.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Ronald D. Mc Rostie</span>, a subcontractor and mechanic was getting ready to test elevator cars at the St. Regis Resort when the accident occurred around 2 p.m., Fort Lauderdale Fire-Rescue spokesman Stephen McInerny said.<br /><br />The man went to work on an elevator he thought was on the seventh floor, opened the doors with keys and fell down the elevator shaft onto the car, which was on the first floor, McInerny said. The man worked for Schindler Elevator. Company officials could not be reached for comment.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Unclothed Worker Dies After Four-Story Plunge</span><br /><br />A naked construction worker <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/10/AR2007011000557.html">fell about four stories</a> to his death early yesterday at the work site for a new downtown museum, D.C. police and fire officials said.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Joseph Oliver</span>, 23, of La Plata was discovered about 6 a.m. in the basement elevator shaft area of the Newseum, which is being built at 555 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, officials said. Authorities said it was unclear why he was naked.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Maintenance worker dies as tractor traps him underwater in Weston</span><br /><br />Fort Lauderdale, FL - Detectives from the Broward Sheriff's Office are investigating the death of a landscape maintenance worker, who was <a href="http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-0108workerdeath,0,7543962.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines">trapped underwater</a> after his tractor tumbled into a pond on a Weston golf course.<br /><br />Apparently, <a href="http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-0108workerdeath,0,7543962.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines">Carlos Carbena</a>, 43, was operating a John Deere tractor with a mower attachment, cutting the grass, when the tractor lost traction and slid into the water, overturning and trapping him underwater.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Town official is killed by tree; Sturbridge man was an assessor</span><br /><br />STURBRIDGE, MA -- A longtime town assessor and businessman died Monday afternoon shortly after a tree he was cutting down fell on him, police said.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Donald H. Mapplebeck</span>, 67, was taken by ambulance to Harrington Memorial Hospital in Southbridge, where he died a short time later. He suffered severe trauma, Police Sgt. Kevin R. Mercier said in an interview yesterday.<br /><br />Mr. Mapplebeck and his co-worker were taking down pine trees in the backyard at 67 Walker Pond Road when the accident happened just before 2:30 p.m., the sergeant said. A very large tree that was being cut down struck another tree as it fell, which redirected the path of the falling tree. Two police cruisers and an ambulance arrived within five minutes.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Pastor Fatally Shot In Prince George's </span><br /><br />Suitland, MD -- A well-known Prince George's County minister who runs a transitional home for poor families died yesterday <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/06/AR2006120600508.html?nav=hcmodule">after being gunned down</a> on the steps of his church in the morning.<br /><br />The <span style="font-weight: bold;">Rev. Milton L. Moore</span> was outside the entrance of the Warriors for Christ Ministries in Suitland about 7 a.m. when he was struck in the upper body and bullets shattered a glass door, police and relatives said. He died at 4:25 p.m.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">FBI Agent Killed While Training</span><br /><br />BOWLING GREEN, Va. -- An FBI agent was killed Wednesday <a href="http://www.policeone.com/officer-down/1195803/">during a live-fire training</a> exercise, the agency said. Supervisory <span style="font-weight: bold;">Special Agent Gregory J. Rahoi</span>, 38, of Wisconsin, was shot Wednesday during the exercise at Fort A.P. Hill, a sprawling Army base about an hour south of Washington.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Truck Driver Killed, Family Injured In Overnight Collision; One Truck Rear Ends Another On Bishop Ford Expressway</span><br /><br />CHICAGO, IL -- The driver of a tractor-trailer truck was killed when the big rig he was driving rear-ended another semitrailer stopped in traffic on the Bishop Ford Freeway. Five others were badly hurt -- including his wife and three children -- in the collision early Wednesday on the South Side.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">William Cummings</span>, 65, of Springfield, Mo., was pronounced dead at 1:55 a.m. at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, according to a spokesman from the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Bear-area motel worker killed in fall from ladder<br /></span><br />Wilmington DE -- A worker was killed Tuesday when he <a href="http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061205/NEWS/61205036/1006/rss">fell 12 feet</a> after climbing an extension ladder to a Bear-area motel roof to make repairs. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Ramesh Patel,</span> 44, who lives at the motel, was pronounced dead at the scene, said state police spokesman Cpl. Jeff Whitmarsh.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Firefighter dies on duty Long 'very religious and very dedicated to his family'</span><br /><br />Charlotte, VA -- A veteran Charlotte firefighter <a href="http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/16149634.htm">died Friday night</a> on duty while exercising, fire officials said. Just before 6 p.m., firefighter <span style="font-weight: bold;">Kent Long, </span>44, collapsed at Charlotte Fire Station # 23 on W.T. Harris Boulevard. "He was a fine outstanding young man, very religious and very dedicated to his family," said Charlotte Fire Chief Luther Fincher Jr. Fincher said Long had gone out to do some windsprints between the firestation and a nearby church. A passerby noticed Long in the grass outside the station, Fincher said. Fellow firefighters began resuscitation efforts along with an on-duty medic crew. Long was rushed to Carolinas Medical Center where continued efforts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Man Killed When Tree Falls On Him In New Jersey</span><br /><br />JAMESBURG, N.J. -- A man who works at a tree removal company was horrified when a tree he was taking down struck a second tree, <a href="http://www.wnbc.com/news/10533270/detail.html">which fell and killed his son</a> on Wednesday. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Jerrold Love</span>, 28, was killed in what police are terming a tragic accident.<br /><br />"I saw the tree go down and hit the other tree, and I said, 'Please don't let anybody be over there,"' neighbor Robert Cunha told The Star-Ledger of Newark for Thursday's newspapers. "Then I heard the screams."<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Shipyard worker dies of Dec. 5 gunshot; co-worker charged</span><br /><br />MOBILE Ala.-- A shipyard worker shot in the head in a dispute with a co-worker on Dec. 5 has died. Police said <span style="font-weight: bold;">Travis Baldwin</span>, 25, of Fairhope died Thursday from his injury.<br /><br />An assault charge against the co-worker, LeKelvin Carlton, 27, of Mobile, in custody since the shooting, has been upgraded to murder. Carlton surrendered to police a short time after the shooting. Baldwin was shot at Austal U.S.A. Shipyard in Mobile following an argument with Carlton over tools, police said.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">$10,000 reward for clerk's killer Cops check tips</span><br /><br />Aurora, CO -- A $10,000 reward is being offered by 7-Eleven for information leading to the conviction of the man who shot and killed a store clerk in Aurora on Sunday morning. The homicide investigation is the top priority for Aurora police, with several investigators assigned to track down dozens of tips that have come in, Detective Robert Friel said Tuesday. There has been no arrest so far.<br /><br />"There are so many directions to go in," Friel said. "It's a big spider web." <span style="font-weight: bold;">Jutte Gallegos Burton</span>, 62, who worked an overnight shift at the 7-Eleven at East Sixth Avenue and Havana Street, was murdered behind the counter at the store at 3:08 a.m. Sunday.<br /><br />Surveillance video shows the clerk and the gunman looking at each other and having a conversation that lasts about one minute. The man then pointed a shortened shotgun at her and pulled the trigger. Gallegos Burton tried to run into a manager's office behind the store counter, Friel said. She was shot once in the back.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Postal workers remember slain supervisor and dead carrier</span><br /><br />San Francisco, CA -- More than 50 U.S. Postal Service workers held an unusual vigil Wednesday to remember both a slain San Francisco postal supervisor and the colleague police believe killed her and took his own life.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Genevieve Paez</span>, 53, a customer service supervisor at the Postal Service annex on Napoleon Street in the Bayview district, was shot in the back of the head outside her home Nov. 28 as she was leaving for work.<br /><br />Police believe a letter carrier who worked for her, 39-year-old Julius Kevin Tartt of South San Francisco, shot Paez, possibly because he was angry she had sought disciplinary action against him. That baffled co-workers at Wednesday evening's vigil, some of whom said Paez and Tartt had a long, friendly relationship. More <a href="http://www.postalreporter.com/news/2006/04/10/memorial-service-honors-slain-supervisor/">here</a>.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">HIGHWAY WORKER KILLED</span><br /><br />Columbus, WI -- Columbia County highway worker <span style="font-weight: bold;">Nick B. Price</span>, 41, was killed Tuesday in a freak accident while working with a crew near the intersection of highways 151 and 73 in Columbus, the Columbia County Sheriff's Office said.<br /><br />Price and others were part of a crew mowing the ditch along U.S. 151 when one of the vehicles being used got stuck in mud, the Sheriff's Office said. A second vehicle was brought to the scene to pull the stuck vehicle free, and while that was being done Price was hit in the head by a cable and suffered fatal injuries.<br /><br />Price was married and the father of a daughter.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">T-shirt shop owner killed in robbery</span><br /><br />St. Louis, MO -- The owner of a small T-shirt shop in St. Louis was <a href="http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/laworder/story/3F9079F79AEFB403862572420060DC3C?OpenDocument">shot and killed</a> this morning during a robbery at his store, police said.<br /><br />The shooting took place about 10:45 a.m. in the 4600 block of St. Louis Avenue, at Cora Avenue. The victim was identified as <span style="font-weight: bold;">Jesse Taylor</span>, 73, of Bellefontaine Neighbors. He was pronounced dead at the scene.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Shooting rampage kills 3 - 2 strip club employees among dead</span><br /><br />NEW BEDFORD, MA - At about 7 Monday evening Irene Thomas, inside a friend's tanning salon, heard a ruckus outside the Foxy Lady strip club next door. She went outside and saw two club employees, manager <span style="font-weight: bold;">Tory C. Marandos</span> and bouncer <span style="font-weight: bold;">Robert Carreiro</span>, arguing with a third man she didn't recognize.<br /><br />"I'll be back for you and you and everybody," the man shouted. She shrugged it off as just another barroom dispute.<br /><br />Five hours later, at closing time, a man walked into the club and went on a shooting rampage. He wielded an assault weapon and wore dark, paramilitary-style clothing. When it was all over, Carreiro, 32, of New Bedford, and Marandos, 30, of Nashua, N.H., were dead. Their killer, Scott C. Medeiros, 35, of Freetown, apparently took his own life, the police said. (More <a href="http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/12/13/night_of_terror_in_new_bedford/">here</a>.)<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Friends, customers mourn slain Shoreline convenience store clerk</span><br /><br />SHORELINE Wash.-- Relatives, friends and customers are mourning the unexplained <a href="http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:1IQ44wyx5NoJ:www.examiner.com/a-451247%7EFriends__customers_mourn_slain_Shoreline_convenience_store_clerk.html%3FsetEdition%3DMiami+Friends,+customers+mourn+slain+Shoreline+convenience+store+clerk&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=3">killing of a convenience store clerk</a>, an immigrant who helped support his ill father in this suburb north of Seattle.<br /><br />King County sheriff's Sgt. John W. Urquhart said a customer found the man's body just after 4 a.m. Sunday on the sidewalk in front of the 7-Eleven store where he worked the night shift. Investigators have not determined who might be responsible, nor was anything missing, Urquhart said.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Ho Viet Ton</span>, 49, was shot while sitting outside the store on a cigarette break within sight of the Shoreline Police Neighborhood Center across the street, but surveillance videotape provided no useful clues, Ron Conlin of 7-Eleven Inc. said Monday.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Deer comes through windshield, kills truck driver</span><br /><br />Odell, Neb. -- In a bizarre traffic collision near Odell, Neb., a deer smashed through the windshield of a semitrailer truck, striking and killing the driver.<br /><br />The deer had a broken leg, probably from being hit by another vehicle, and jumped into the path of the truck as it drove west on Nebraska Highway 8 just before 6 p.m. Thursday, said Gage County Sheriff's Deputy Larry Kendall said. The deer struck the hood of the semi, went through the windshield and into the cab.<br /><br />The driver, 34-year-old <span style="font-weight: bold;">Travis Hedman</span>, of Morganville, Kan., was killed. After the collision, the truck went into a ditch, into a field and then rolled onto the passenger side, according to the Sheriff's Office.<br /><br />Emergency crews found Hedman and the deer, both dead, in the cab of the truck, Kendall said. Hedman, who worked for Carlson Trucking Co. out of Clay Center, Kan., had been transporting a load of pipe on a flatbed trailer.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">LaPorte man killed in accident at work</span><br /><br />Authorities have identified the man who was fatally injured in Bertrand Township early Wednesday while working on his semi-truck and trailer as <span style="font-weight: bold;">John P. Bryan</span>, 33, of LaPorte.<br /><br />The vehicle reportedly rolled over on Bryan as he was performing maintenance on it shortly before 5:30 a.m. in the parking lot of the DHL Worldwide Express terminal at 2121 Chicago Road, just southwest of Niles, the Michigan State Police post in Niles reported. Bryan was an independent contract carrier who worked for Werner Enterprises, DHL said.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Construction Worker Falls To Death</span><br /><br />A construction worker on a condo remodeling project fell to his death Thursday morning. At about 8:40 a.m. police responded to a report of a fall at the Tequesta Towers Condominium at 400 Beach Road. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Jose Caliz</span>, 41, of Jupiter was working on a balcony renovation when he fell 10 stories, police said. He was flown to St. Mary's Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. The Fort Lauderdale office of the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration is conducting an investigation, Area Director Luis Santiago said, but no details about the incident were available Friday.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Five workers killed in head-on collision near Modesto</span><br /><br />OAKDALE Calif. -- A pickup truck slammed head-on into a car on a San Joaquin Valley road, <a href="http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/state/20061208-1115-ca-head-oncrash.html">killing five people on their way to work</a>, the California Highway Patrol said. Four of the victims were related.<br /><br />The truck's driver, Justin Chase Christensen, 26, of Oakdale, was the only survivor of Thursday's crash, said Highway Patrol Officer John Martinez. Christensen was arrested at the hospital, where he remained hospitalized with major injuries and was under 24-hour guard.<br /><br />Martinez said the CHP will recommend to prosecutors that he be charged with five counts of vehicular manslaughter and driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Christensen remained hospitalized Friday. The CHP said his blood tested positive for alcohol and heroin.<br /><br />The five people killed were not all identified by Friday, but Martinez said they were two cousins, two brothers-in-law and a friend, all of Oakdale. The men were on their way to work at a nearby tree farm. All five were pronounced dead at the scene.Tammyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01336305851539193881noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5218538.post-1169358755847931102007-01-20T11:16:00.000-05:002007-02-05T22:35:36.148-05:00CalOSHA Standards Board Chickens Out of Issuing Emergency Temporary Standard for Popcorn LungAs long as I've been in this business, there are some things I just don't understand. Like this: Earlier this week, the CalOSHA standards board decided not to issue an emergency temporary standard to protect workers from "popcorn lung." Instead, they decided to send the issue to an advisory committee.<br /><br />The chemical at question here is diacetyl, the chemical butter flavoring that wreaks havoc on workers lungs. It's a chemical that causes <span style="font-style: italic;">bronchiolitis obliterans</span> a disease that obliterates the lungs bronchioles (the lung's tiniest airways), resulting in "<a href="http://spewingforth.blogspot.com/2004/04/astonishingly-grotesque-popcorn-lung.html">astonishingly grotesque</a>" effects on the lungs, "the worst" that this nation's leading experts have ever seen. Its effects have been "likened to inhaling acid."<br /><br />California, where health officials have detected a number of cases of <span style="font-style: italic;">bronchiolitis obliterans</span>, established a "Special Emphasis Program" in the roughly 30 manufacturing facilities that use diacetyl. The agency is monitoring workers for signs of the disease and educating employers about how to prevent overexposure.<br /><br />But cases continued to turn up. Just last week, the <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/109571.html">Sacramento Bee</a> reported that <blockquote>An ongoing health investigation of California's flavor manufacturing industry has found another six workers who have lost nearly all use of their lungs.<br /><br />The six are in addition to two cases that sparked the investigation nine months ago, according to the state's occupational health chief, Barbara Materna.<br /><br />"Most of these workers are severely impaired, cannot work and suffer extreme shortness of breath on exertion," Materna wrote in a Jan. 11 report updating investigation results. "At least one is reported to be on a list for lung transplantation."</blockquote>And last week George Washington University Professor David Michaels, on behalf of the Project on Scientific Knowledge and Public Policy (<a href="http://defendingscience.org/index.cfm" target="_blank">SKAPP</a>), sent the Board <a href="http://thepumphandle.wordpress.com/2007/01/17/how-much-evidence-is-enough-the-limits-to-epidemiology/#more-89">additional evidence</a> from an unpublished Dutch study reporting three cases of the rare lung disease among workers at a diacetyl factory.<br /><br />Last August, the United Food and Commercial Workers and the California State AFL-CIO <a href="http://spewingforth.blogspot.com/2006/08/unions-petition-calosha-for-popcorn.html">petitioned CalOSHA</a> for an Emergency Temporary Standard to protect workers against the damaging lung disease caused by diacetyl. (In July, UFCW and the Teamsters <a href="http://spewingforth.blogspot.com/2006/07/unions-petition-osha-to-deal-with-slow.html">petitioned federal OSHA</a> for an emergency temporary standard.)<br /><br />What's an Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) and why is it so important to use it. Normal OSHA standards can take ten years or more from the time that OSHA decides to start working on them until they are actually issued. Most OSHA chemical standards date from the 1960's and, under the Bush administration, only one new chemical standard has been issued -- and that was done under court order.<br /><br />But the Occupational Safety and Health Act <a href="http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=OSHACT&p_id=3360">states that</a> if the Assistant Secretary determines that "employees are <span style="font-weight: bold;">exposed to grave danger</span> from exposure to substances or a<span style="font-weight: bold;">gents determined to be toxic </span>or physically harmful or from new hazards." OSHA also has to show that the ETS is "necessary to protect employees from such danger." The ETS serves as a proposed standard until the final standard is issued, which must be done within six months.<br /><br />Sounds like diacetyl would be a prime candidate.<br /><br />OSHA has rarely used this provision of the act, even in the rare case that the agency has issued an ETS, the courts have often overturned it. No successful ETS has been issued in over 25 years. Nevertheless, as UFCW Health and Safety Director Jackie Nowell told the CalOSHA Board, "If this doesn't rise to the need for an emergency standard, I don't know what does."<br /><br />More insulting to workers afflicted with <span style="font-style: italic;">bronchiolitis obliterans </span>are the excuses the Board members used to chicken out, according to the <a href="http://www.cal-osha.com/articles/COR06-20070120-000.htm.aspx">Cal-OSHA Reporter</a>. <p></p><blockquote><p>Board occupational health representative Jonathan Frisch, Ph.D, said "doing the speedy thing isn't necessarily the right thing." He and the other board members backed the decision to send the petition to advisory committee, which DOSH Acting Chief Len Welsh said would meet the first or second week of February. Frisch commented that<span style="font-weight: bold;"> it takes courage to "step back, even when people are hurt," if it's the right thing to do. "Let's take a hard look at the exposures that are going on."</span></p><p>Board Chair John MacLeod agreed. "We're in a groundbreaking situation," and it's important to develop good information, he said.</p></blockquote><p></p>No, Doctor Frisch, it actually takes courage to do the right thing -- take immediate action to protect workers. Developing good information is important. But in this case it's possible to protect workers at the same time you develop good information. Isn't it better to err on the side of overprotection if the alternative is more dead workers?<br /><br />As Dr. Michaels explains in the <a href="http://thepumphandle.wordpress.com/2007/01/17/how-much-evidence-is-enough-the-limits-to-epidemiology/#more-89">Pump Handle</a>,<br /><p></p><blockquote><p>Regulators cannot wait for complete information before issuing rules to limit exposure to potentially toxic substances. Diacetyl poses the classic (but easily addressable) regulatory dilemma. The evidence for the toxicity of diacetyl is limited by an obvious problem: we do not have (and cannot have) controlled studies of humans exposed to diacetyl but to no other potential toxins. There are multiple chemical exposures at factories where diacetyl is used. Regulators must rely on these studies of the patterns of disease in workplaces, in addition to evidence gathered in experiments with laboratory animals.</p><p>It is hard to imagine what additional evidence could still be gathered on diacetyl. We will never find a workplace in which only diacetyl is present. The Dutch study comes close, since it deals with a diacetyl production plant rather than a plant producing multiple flavorings, but reluctant regulators could still argue for the presence of other confounding factors. The animal evidence is very strong. It is time to assume that diacetyl causes obstructive lung disease at extremely low levels and prevent all exposure – probably by banning it.</p></blockquote><p></p>Meanwhile, OSHA has still not bothered to respond to the unions' petition -- almost 8 years after learning of the first cases of <span style="font-style: italic;">bronchiolitis obliterans</span>.<br /><br />Like I said, after all these years, there are still some things I just don't get.<br /><br />More information on popcorn lung <a href="http://spewingforth.blogspot.com/2004/05/popcorn-lung-index.html">here in Confined Space</a> and <a href="http://defendingscience.org/case_studies/A-Case-of-Regulatory-Failure-Popcorn-Workers-Lung.cfm">here from SKAPP</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5218538.post-1169182550375519592007-01-18T23:45:00.001-05:002009-02-12T15:37:36.096-05:00No Mercy For Alaska Governor Who Pardoned Company Convicted Of Killing WorkerThe <a href="http://www.adn.com/opinion/view/story/8568724p-8462308c.html">Anchorage Daily News</a> was as upset as we were by (former) Governor Frank Murkowski's pardon of a company convicted of negligent homicide in the 1999 death of a backhoe operator on a Cordova hydroelectric power project job site (which I wrote about <a href="http://spewingforth.blogspot.com/2006/12/company-pardoned-mother-nature-guilty.html">here</a>). The company had also stiffed the state on a quarter-million-dollar fine and interest resulting from the death of Gary Stone who was killed in an avalanche. State job safety officials had warned the company about avalanche dangers at the job site.<br /><br />In response to the pardon, granted just before Murkowski left office, the state legislature is considering a bill that would <blockquote>require governors to submit pardon applications to the state Parole Board for review. The existing law makes that optional for governors. The former governor did not bother to ask the Parole Board for its opinion on the pardon that he issued just a few days before leaving office. Nor did Gov. Murkowski or his staff bother to ask whether Whitewater Engineering Corp. of Bellingham, Wash. had ever paid its fine to the state in the case. It hadn't paid a dime.</blockquote>According to the <span style="FONT-STYLE: italic">NewsT</span> <blockquote>the legislation would not interfere with a governor's constitutional prerogative to issue a pardon, but would shine a much brighter light on the process.<br /><br />It's good that Rep. Samuels and his colleagues see the need for this legislation, which already has picked up bipartisan support. But it's sad that there is a need for this legislation.<br /><br />BOTTOM LINE: It's too late to fix what's been done, but Alaska can do better next time.<br /></blockquote>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5218538.post-1169179989968932442007-01-18T22:53:00.000-05:002007-02-05T22:36:55.630-05:00What’s it like to live near a refinery?The Baker Panel's report on the safety culture at BP's North American refineries prompted Lisa Margonelli to discuss in the<span style="font-style: italic;"> NY Times</span> <a href="http://pipeline.blogs.nytimes.com/">Pipeline</a> blog (<span style="font-style: italic;">Times Select</span> required) what its like for Texans to live in the midst of the refineries that supply the nation's gasoline<blockquote> Winifred J. Hamilton, the director of environmental health at Baylor College of Medicine, in Houston, described it to me like this: “When I go to Texas City, people tell me about the incredible sound of the flares and the smell that they say gives them headaches. They say that being told to ’shelter in place’ when there’s an emergency, particularly when they don’t know what’s going on, makes them anxious. And if the children are in school and the family members are home, putting wet towels under the doors, they’re separated from their children, and the stress and fear is immense. Even day-to-day life involves unusual worries — Is it safe to eat the vegetables in my garden?”<br /><br />Hamilton said that despite the pollution produced by the refineries, many people in the area are ambivalent about leaving. “People have block parties and old trees,” she said. “They don’t want to move.” When I asked her about the Texas City accident, she said, “Well, headlines are about people who die, but the survivors often lose their fingers, toes, noses or ears, and they spend years in pain and at risk of infection. Some of them have to wear a ski mask. They’re lost in the statistics, basically, but their lives are deeply changed.”<br /><br />While Californians vehemently oppose offshore drilling, and American environmentalists protest drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, residents of Texas can’t afford a not-in-my-backyard attitude. Texans sometimes excuse the odor of chemicals in their neighborhoods with the remark that it “smells like money.” To some extent they’re struggling to balance their livelihoods against unknown health risks. For the rest of us who drive, or for that matter, use lipstick, floor wax, plastic, antihistamines or any of the other products derived from petroleum at Gulf Coast plants, Texas is so far away we don’t associate it with our backyards at all. </blockquote>And Texas, being Texas, makes things just a bit worse than other parts of the country:<blockquote>local emissions standards are extraordinarily loose, partly because of the petrochemical industry’s influence in local politics. A 2004 investigation by the Houston Chronicle found levels of toxic chemicals in some neighborhoods high enough to trigger a federal investigation — if they were found at a hazardous waste dump. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is now rewriting its allowable limits of toxic emissions, but has stated that the acceptable cancer risk is likely to end up at around 10 times the guidelines set by the Environmental Protection Agency.<br /><br />The level of carcinogens released in the processing of a barrel of oil is higher in Texas than anywhere else in the country, said Eric Schaeffer, a former regulator for the E.P.A. who’s now with the Environmental Integrity Project. “A release of chemicals in L.A. gets a strong reaction from California regulators,” he told me. “The same release in Corpus Cristi doesn’t — there just isn’t the same tradition of enforcement.” </blockquote>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5218538.post-1169092441917394622007-01-17T22:08:00.000-05:002007-02-05T22:37:20.137-05:00Straw Men: More Thoughts On The Baker BP PanelI reported <a href="http://spewingforth.blogspot.com/2007/01/baker-panel-report-blasts-bp.html">yesterday</a> on the release of the Baker Panel's 374 page report on the sad state of BP's safety system at its North American refineries. I want to go back and discuss on aspect of the report and the panel's press conference: The assertion that BP <span style="font-style: italic;">deliberately </span>endangered workers by cutting costs in its safety budget.<br /><br /><a href="http://money.cnn.com/2007/01/16/news/companies/bp/?postversion=2007011614">CNN-Money.com</a>, for example, argued that the report <blockquote>found no evidence that BP <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">intentionally </span>scrimped on safety in order to cut costs - a charge that has been disputed by the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board.</blockquote><a href="http://today.reuters.com/news/articlebusiness.aspx?type=tnBusinessNews&storyID=nN16202452&imageid=top-news-view-2007-01-16-072646-RTR5ZR5_Comp%5B1%5D.jpg&cap=Flags%20fly%20at%20half%20mast%20outside%20the%20British%20Petroleum%20refinery%20in%20Texas%20City,%20Texas%20on%20March%2024,%202005%20the%20day%20after%20an%20explosion%20rocked%20the%20plant.%20%20BP%20Plc%20will%20be%20accused%20on%20Tuesday%20of%20failing%20to%20provide%20the%20resources%20to%20ensure%20safety%20at%20its%20U.S.%20refineries,%20two%20newspapers%20reported.%20REUTERS/Richard%20Carson&from=business"> Reuters</a> reported that: <blockquote>A panel investigating the 2005 deadly explosion at BP's Texas City, Texas refinery (sic) said on Tuesday that the oil major did not <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">purposely </span>withhold spending for safety programs at its U.S. oil refineries<br /><br />***<br /><br />"We could not determine that BP ever <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">purposefully </span>withheld resources with respect to safety-related practices," Baker said at a press conference in Houston.<br /></blockquote>The <a href="http://www.bp.com/liveassets/bp_internet/globalbp/globalbp_uk_english/SP/STAGING/local_assets/assets/pdfs/Baker_panel_report.pdf">report</a> itself stated diplomatically:<blockquote> During the course of its review, the Panel did not develop or identify sufficient information to conclude whether BP ever <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">intentionally </span>withheld resources on any safety-related assets or projects for budgetary or cost reasons. The Panel believes, however, that the company did not always ensure that adequate resources were effectively allocated to support or sustain a high level of process safety performance.</blockquote>But all of this talk about <span style="font-style: italic;">intentionally </span>cutting safety is what's known as "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man">setting up a straw man</a>" -- creating a position that is easy to refute, then attributing that position to the opponent. It's an argument frequently heard when employers defend themselves against being blamed for workplace accidents, and to fight calls for criminal prosecutions: "No one <span style="font-style: italic;">intended </span>to hurt anyone, we just didn't know," or "We may have overlooked some things, but we never <span style="font-style: italic;">meant </span>to hurt anyone." Drunk drivers don't intend to kill families on their way home from the party either. But try telling that to the judge.<br /><br />And no one, including the Chemical Safety Board, has accused BP of <span style="font-style: italic;">intentionally </span>cutting safety or <span style="font-style: italic;">deliberately </span>trying to hurt workers. The CSB did <a href="http://www.csb.gov/index.cfm?folder=news_releases&page=news&NEWS_ID=315">present convincing evidence</a> that the company cut back on maintenance and infrastructure that "caused a progressive deterioration of safety at the Texas City refinery" and that company officials knew about many of the safety problems at the plant.<br /><blockquote>"BP implemented a 25% cut on fixed costs from 1998 to 2000 that adversely impacted maintenance expenditures and infrastructure at the refinery," she said. Maintenance spending fell throughout the 1990?s at the then-Amoco refinery, and following the merger with BP further cuts were imposed. "Every successful corporation must contain its costs. But at an aging facility like Texas City, it is not responsible to cut budgets related to safety and maintenance without thoroughly examining the impact on the risk of a catastrophic accident."<br /><br />By 2002, an internal BP report had identified the cost reductions as contributing to a decline of infrastructure in Texas City that would require significant investment to correct. These findings were corroborated in a survey of the refinery's safety culture in 2005 just prior to the accident, known as the Telos study. The survey interview with the Texas City refinery manager identified a history of decapitalization and a culture of "things not getting fixed."<br /><br />"The refinery manager was not alone in this candid assessment," Chairman Merritt said. "Large majorities of the survey respondents reported significant maintenance backlogs that were harming safety. Disturbingly, most employees agreed that 'production and budget compliance gets recognized and rewarded before anything else at Texas City.'"<br /><br />Economic pressures were evident in numerous decisions that were causally related to the March 23, 2005, accident. </blockquote>The <a href="http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/special/05/blastarchive/4475824.html">Houston Chronicle</a> summarized some of the results of the failure to ensure that adequate resources were provided for vital safety-related functions:<br /><ul><li>In the Texas City, Carson and Whiting plants, known equipment problems such as thinning pipes and vessels went unrepaired for months, even years. In Texas City, nearly 200 thickness defects were unaddressed for up to eight years, for example.<br /></li><li>In all refineries except Texas City, the consultants found that BP's tests of critical alarms and "emergency shutdown devices" were either improperly conducted or overdue.<br /></li><li>"Action items" resulting from audits or near-miss investigations intended to improve safety often went uncompleted for months or even years, or were overlooked altogether at all five refineries. For example, in Carson about half of the action items generated between 2001 and 2004 remained open at the time of the team's visit last spring. At Toledo and Whiting, some items were left uncorrected for more than a year.<br /></li><li>At all refineries, BP did not adequately inspect important refinery process equipment, resulting in extensive backlogs. "Some of these backlogs included hundreds of items overdue for long periods (i.e years)," the report said. In Texas City, nearly 400 pressure vessels, piping, relief valves, storage tanks and other pieces of equipment were overdue, for example.<br /></li><li>After discovering dangerous problems in the pressure relief systems in Whiting, the team found similar problems in Carson, Texas City and Toledo, as well as a lack of understanding of the risks involved.<br /></li><li>Near misses at all five refineries were not properly investigated, and in some cases not even reported. The team found that "BP was systematically missing opportunities to learn from near misses."</li></ul>All of which makes me a bit skeptical about outgoing BP CEO Lord John Browne's <a href="http://sg.biz.yahoo.com/070116/1/460g2.html">statement</a>: <blockquote>Brown defended the company's record. "We've never focused on profits above safety -- safety has always come first" he said.</blockquote>As <span style="font-style: italic;">Houston Chronicle</span> business columnist <a href="http://search.chron.com/chronicle/openDocument.do?docRef=01_17_2007_2_steffy17.x1&selectedPath=">Loren Steffy</a> summarized the company's actions: <blockquote>That's not to say it didn't care about safety or maintenance. It merely had other priorities.</blockquote>And despite their protests, worker safety really wasn't one of them.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5218538.post-1169088877599166532007-01-17T21:39:00.000-05:002007-02-05T22:37:50.464-05:00Jewish Organizations Fight For Worker Safety In Kosher Slaughterhouses: "Thou shalt not rule over him with rigor."I wrote last July about <a href="http://spewingforth.blogspot.com/2006/07/meatpackers-treatment-of-workers-and.html">serious workplace safety hazards</a> in an Iowa Kosher meatpacking plant, revealed in an article in <span style="font-style: italic;">Forward</span>. In response to the allegations, two Conservative Jewish organizations, the Rabbinical Assembly and the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, launched fact-finding studies.<br /><br />One of those organizations has now decided that <a href="http://www.insidebayarea.com/argus/ci_5012623">something needs to be done</a>:<blockquote><span style="font-weight: bold;">The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism is drawing up standards for a proposed hekhsher tsedek, or righteous certification, attesting that employees worked in safe factories and weren't exploited, among other things. </span>The new certification would supplement, not replace, the kosher certification.<br /><br />"No one in the Jewish world has ever really tried to marry the socially responsible laws of how we treat workers with the laws of how we should eat," said Rabbi Morris Allen, who chairs the committee studying the new certification.<br /><br />"We were so concerned that the animal is slaughtered in the most humane way," he said, "that we overlooked the person standing right next to it." </blockquote>Allen argues that the bible mandates that workers be treated humanely:<br /><p></p><blockquote><p>Just as the Bible dictates how Jews should eat, it also outlines how they should treat workers, Allen said, quoting from Leviticus: "Though shalt not rule over him with rigor." </p><p>Rabbi Ari Cartun of Congregation Etz Chayim in Palo Alto applauded the proposed certification and it would "absolutely" influence his grocery shopping. </p><p>"You're not able," he said, "to benefit from oppression."</p></blockquote><p> </p>Some conservative Jewish organizations aren't convinced, however, preferring to keep their heads in the sand and rely on the government to enforce workplace safety conditions:<br /><p></p><blockquote><p>The Orthodox Union has no plans to create a workplace certification. </p><p>"It's not that we don't care about those issues, but we rely on the federal government," said Rabbi Menachem Genack, rabbinic administrator for the OU's kashrut division. He noted that agencies like the Department of Labor and OSHA already keep a watchful eye on workers' pay and working conditions. </p><p>"We don't want to impose more on those companies than are required by law," said Genack.</p></blockquote><p> </p>No, of course not. The law and OSHA are doing such a good job.<br /><br />Rabbi Allen remains skeptical (and well informed):<p></p><blockquote>But legal standards can fall short of religious ones, argued Allen. For instance, is it morally proper to require minimum-wage workers to buy their own mandatory safety equipment? he asked.</blockquote> <p></p>Allen is referring to proposed standard that would require employers to pay for personal protective equipment which the Bush administration has delayed issuing for six years. The AFL-CIO and UFCW <a href="http://spewingforth.blogspot.com/2007/01/egregious-delay-unions-sue-osha-for.html">sued OSHA</a> earlier this month to force the agency to issue the regulation.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5218538.post-1169009009130055152007-01-16T23:33:00.000-05:002007-02-05T22:38:06.295-05:00Baker Panel Report Blasts BP<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/5823/164/1600/604862/BP.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/5823/164/400/784197/BP.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />The Baker Panel, investigating the "safety culture" at BP's five North American refineries, issued its <a href="http://www.bp.com/liveassets/bp_internet/globalbp/globalbp_uk_english/SP/STAGING/local_assets/assets/pdfs/Baker_panel_report.pdf">374 page report</a> today blasting the giant oil company for putting production targets, operational goals and budgets ahead of workplace safety.<br /><br />The report's origin was an urgent safety recommendation <a href="http://spewingforth.blogspot.com/2005/08/chem-board-tells-bp-to-form.html">issued by the Chemical Safety Board</a> which is conducting an extensive investigation of the March 23, 2005 Texas City refinery explosion that killed 15 workers and injured 180. It was the biggest American workplace disaster in a decade.<br /><br />The panel found serious problems throught BP's facilities: <blockquote>While some refineries are far more effective than others in promoting process safety, significant process safety culture issues exist at all five U.S. refineries, not just Texas City. Indeed, the refineries show some similar process safety cultural weaknesses, even though they do not share a unified process safety culture. <span style="font-weight: bold;">The Panel found instances of a lack of operating discipline, tolerance of serious deviations from safe operating practices, and apparent complacency toward serious process safety risks at each</span><br />refinery.</blockquote>Among the findings of the report were BP's emphasis on "personal safety" (a.k.a. slips, trips, and falls) over process safety<blockquote>BP has not provided effective leadership in making certain its management and U.S. refining workforce understand what is expected of them regarding process safety performance. BP has emphasized personal safety in recent years and has achieved significant improvement in personal safety performance, but BP did not emphasize process safety. BP mistakenly interpreted improving personal injury rates as an indication of acceptable process safety performance at its U.S. refineries.<span style="font-weight: bold;"> BP’s reliance on this data, combined with an inadequate process safety understanding, created a false sense of confidence that BP was properly addressing process safety risks.</span></blockquote>The panel emphasized the importance of process safety over personal safety<blockquote>Not all refining hazards are caused by the same factors or involve the same degree of potential damage. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Personal or occupational safety hazards</span> give rise to incidents—such as slips, falls, and vehicle accidents—that primarily affect one individual worker for each occurrence. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Process safety hazards</span> can give rise to major accidents involving the release of potentially dangerous materials, the release of energy (such as fires and explosions), or both. Process safety incidents can have catastrophic effects and can result in multiple injuries and fatalities, as well as substantial economic, property, and environmental damage. Process safety refinery incidents can affect workers inside the refinery and members of the public who reside nearby. Process safety in a refinery involves the prevention of leaks, spills, equipment malfunctions, over-pressures, excessive temperatures, corrosion, metal fatigue, and other similar conditions. Process safety programs focus on the design and engineering of facilities, hazard assessments, management of change, inspection, testing, and maintenance of equipment, effective alarms, effective process control, procedures, training of personnel, and human factors. The Texas City tragedy in March 2005 was a process safety accident.</blockquote>One of the more interesting parts of the report dealt with the resources that BP invested in safety. Preliminary findings of the Chemical Safety Board determined that<a href="http://spewingforth.blogspot.com/2006/10/us-agency-says-cost-cutting-ignored.html"> cost cutting</a> had led to safety problems at the Texas City plant. Yet BP claimed vindication in this area, citing the Baker Panel's conclusion that <blockquote>it did not develop or identify sufficient information to conclude whether BP ever <span style="font-weight: bold;">intentionally withheld resources</span> on any safety-related assets or projects for budgetary or cost reasons.</blockquote>The report went on to say, however, that <blockquote>The Panel does not believe that BP has always ensured that the resources required for strong process safety performance at its U.S. refineries were identified and provided.</blockquote>At the Texas City refinery, for example<blockquote> From 1992 to the 1998 merger with BP, Amoco consistently and significantly cut costs in the Texas City refinery. Between 1992 and 1999, total maintenance spending fell 41 percent; from 1992 to 2000, total capital spending fell 84 percent.24 Notwithstanding this sustained period of budget cutting, after the merger BP issued a company-wide challenge to each of the refineries to cut their budgets an additional 25 percent without jeopardizing the integrity of the facility. According to at least one senior manager, progress toward meeting that challenge to cut costs 25 percent became a milestone in each refinery plant manager’s performance contract. Pursuant to that corporate challenge, Texas City continued to cut costs, 25 and some data indicate the refinery came close to meeting the 25 percent target.</blockquote>The report accused BP of eliminating thousands of critical jobs after its merger with Amoco, , not replacing experienced workers who retired, losing engineers and other personnel with with valuable operating and technical expertise. There were also serious understaffing and fatigue problems at BP's North American refineries.<br /><br />The panel also found safety management problems: <blockquote>BP has not demonstrated that it has effectively held executive management and refining line managers and supervisors, both at the corporate level and at the refinery level, accountable for process safety performance at its five U.S. refineries.</blockquote>In a <a href="http://www.bp.com/genericarticle.do?categoryId=2012968&contentId=7027577">response to the report</a>, BP's Chief Executive, Lord John Browne announced that the company will implement the panel's recommendations. The BP response noted that the report did not put blame on any individuals, that no one acted in anything but good faith, that BP's not the only company with serious safety problems, and that the company has already implemented a number of the recommendations. And in a not necessarily unrelated development, Lord Browne <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2007/01/16/news/companies/browne_downfall.fortune/?postversion=2007011617">announced last week</a> that he will retire 18 months earlier than expected. Browne claimed that his early retirement was <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uklatest/story/0,,-6349540,00.html">unrelated to the report</a>.<br /><br />The panel also made a number of recommendations focused around improving its process safety management system, and to improve its methods of measuring safety performance. The panel also recommended an independent monitor to report to the company’s board over a five-year period.<br /><br />The Baker panel will not have the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/16/AR2007011600208.html">last word</a> on the Texas City disaster. <p></p><blockquote>The Chemical Safety Board expects to issue a report in March. Daniel Horowitz, a spokesman for the board, said yesterday that the Baker panel's report showed that many things contribute to accidents like the one in Texas City. "It is a very significant finding that BP does not effectively investigate incidents throughout the corporation," he said. "If you're not learning from near misses, you're not in a position to prevent major disasters like the one in Texas City."</blockquote><p></p>More BP stories <a href="http://users.rcn.com/jbarab/BP%20Stories">here</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5218538.post-1168924037016957322007-01-15T23:47:00.000-05:002007-02-05T22:38:32.513-05:00Miners Gave Their Lives For The Last Little Bit Of CoalI wrote yesterday about the death of two coal miners, <span style="font-weight: bold;">James D. Thomas</span>, 48, of North Tazewell, Va., and utilityman <span style="font-weight: bold;">Pete Poindexter</span>, 33, of Rock. in a roof collapse at the at Brooks Run Mining Co.’s Cucumber Mine in McDowell County, West Virginia.<br /><br />The company, as you might imagine, <a href="http://www.wvgazette.com/section/News/2007011421">is feeling bad</a>: <blockquote>In a prepared statement, Brooks Run said a “localized section of the mine roof <span style="font-style: italic;">unexpectedly collapsed<span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></span> and fell on the miners.”<br /><br />“We’re extremely saddened by this tragic accident,” said Randy McMillion, Brooks Run’s president. “Right now our full attention is directed toward attending to the miners’ families and their coworkers, as well as providing our full cooperation to the ongoing investigation.”(emphasis added)</blockquote>These "unexpected" tragedies are just so...unexpected. After all these centuries, gravity never ceases to surprise.<br /><br />It turns out, of course, that while Brooks Run hadn't "expected" the roof to crush Thomas and Poindexter that day, like most workplace hazards, the hazards of "retreat mining" were anything but unknown or unexpected.<blockquote>In a November 2001 report, then-Gov. Bob Wise was encouraged to closely examine — and possibly ban or much more tightly restrict — “retreat mining.”<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">During this especially dangerous procedure, miners remove the last bits of coal possible from pillars meant to hold up the mine roof, or remove entire pillars.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">This is done as miners are moving out of a section, and mine roofs are expected to fall as miners pull the pillars.</span><br /><br />Miners were pulling pillars Saturday morning at Brooks Run Mining Co.’s Cucumber Mine in McDowell County when a roof fall killed two employees.</blockquote>So just how "unexpected" were these deaths?<blockquote>Between 1978 and 1986, 67 roof-fall deaths — about one-third of the total — occurred during retreat mining, according to a government study.<br /><br />Between 1989 and 1996, pulling pillars accounted for 10 percent of underground coal production, according to a report from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. At the same time, the practice accounted for 25 percent of underground coal mining deaths, the NIOSH report said.<br /><br />Between 1996 and 2005, at least 13 of the 63 roof fall deaths nationwide occurred during retreat mining, according to a <span style="font-style: italic;">Gazette </span>analysis of MSHA records. Seven of those 13 deaths occurred in West Virginia, the analysis showed.</blockquote>The 2001 report was written by former Clinton Administration MSHA director Davit McAteer. (McAteer also headed up current West Virginia governor Manchin's investigations of last year's Sago and Alma mine disasters.) McAteer <blockquote>cautioned that pillaring is “an especially dangerous extraction practice which should be critically reviewed and/or significantly revised, with adequate requirements and criteria drawn up to provide protection to the miners engaged in such techniques.<br /><br />“New standards of safety and health precautions need to be developed, including engineering criteria for mining in previously disturbed coal beds and seams, and these new standards must be applied before such methods are approved by state or federal regulations,” wrote McAteer, who headed the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration during President Clinton’s administration.<br /><br />McAteer went on to recommend that retreat mining be “very carefully reviewed and critically examined” to determine whether its approval should be continued.<br /><br />Wise acted on some of McAteer’s recommendations, such as more closely scrutinizing coal contractors and increasing fines for safety violations. But Wise took no action on retreat mining.<br /><br />Gov. Joe Manchin has also not addressed the issue in his mine-safety reform efforts, either in a bill passed in one day last year or in his latest legislation proposed last week.</blockquote>More on mine safety problems <a href="http://users.rcn.com/jbarab/Mine%20Stories.htm">here</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5218538.post-1168815330556476402007-01-14T17:35:00.000-05:002007-02-05T22:38:52.399-05:00Two West Virginia Miners Killed In Roof FallTwo miners were <a href="http://www.wvgazette.com/section/News/2007011323">killed in a roof collapse</a> in a West Virginia mine yesterday. The deaths occurred at the Brooks Run Mining Co.’s Cucumber Mine, in the town of Cucumber, about 25 miles south of Welch near the Virginia border<blockquote>both said the miners were apparently performing “retreat mining,” a dangerous process where miners remove the last bits of coal possible from pillars meant to hold up the mine roof before abandoning that section of the mine.</blockquote>These were the first two coal mining deaths in West Virginia this year. Another coal miner, Jeremy Garcia, 26, was <a href="http://www.montrosepress.com/articles/2007/01/10/local_news/2.txt">killed in a Colorado coal mine</a> last week.<br /><br />The mine didn't exactly have a steller safety record, according to Ken Ward at the <span style="font-style: italic;">Charleston Gazette</span>.<blockquote>Last year, the Cucumber Mine recorded an injury rate that was twice the national average for similar mines, according to MSHA data.<br /><br />Mine officials reported seven nonfatal injuries in 2006, including one machinery accident that left a worker with permanent total or permanent partial disabilities, according to MSHA records.<br /><br />In 2006, MSHA inspectors cited the mine for 65 violations, assessing it $5,051 in fines, and the company paid the total amount, the records show.<br /><br />During the last two quarterly inspections in 2006, MSHA inspectors found 32 violations, including six related to roof-control problems, according to federal data.<br /><br />***<br /><br /><p>In late October, a 49-year-old continuous-mining-machine operator, Thomas Channell, was killed in another Alpha subsidiary’s mine in Preston County.</p><p>Channell died when a mine wall fell, pinning him against a shuttle car. Federal officials issued no citations in that death at Kingwood Mining Co.’s Whitetail Kittanning Mine near Fellowsville.</p>Last month, MSHA chief Richard Stickler visited a Brooks Run coal preparation plant in Webster County to celebrate the operation’s receiving a prestigious Sentinels of Safety Award in 2005 for having no reportable accidents during its employees’ 122,000 hours worked that year.<br /><br />But in 2004, two Brooks Run miners were killed in a five-week period, one at the preparation plant Stickler visited and another at a nearby underground mine. MSHA cited the company in both deaths, and Brooks Run paid a total of $66,000 in fines.<p>After his visit, Stickler said in an interview, “They had those two fatalities and they made a commitment that they were going to do something drastically different. Obviously, this company has made a commitment to safety. That’s the way they’re running their business.”</p><br /></blockquote>Or not.<br /><br />47 coal miners were killed on the job last year, <a href="http://www.msha.gov/stats/charts/chartshome.htm">according to MSHA</a>, the most since 1995. 22 coal miners were killed in 2005. 25 metal/non-metal miners were killed on the job last year, compared with 35 the year before. One metal/non-metal miner has been killed on the job so far this year.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5218538.post-1168706132154452102007-01-13T11:34:00.000-05:002007-02-05T22:39:18.259-05:00Maryland County Moves On Workplace SafetyOne of the major problems with ensuring the ssafety of workers in the country is the lack of staffing and resources that federal OSHA or OSHA state aplans have to enforce the law. The AFL-CIO calculates that at its current staffing and inspection levels, it would take federal OSHA 117 years to inspect each workplace under its jurisdiction just once.<br /><br />But Montgomery County, Maryland seems to be strongly considering launching a new initiative that could effectively leverage Maryland OSHA's limited resources. On Thursday, December 14, the Montgomery County Commission on Health issued a long-awaited <a href="http://groups-beta.google.com/group/confinedspace/web/MontgomeryCoWorkerSafety1.htm">report</a> calling for county action to combat occupational hazards in the region's workplaces.<br /><br />The seven point plan includes proposals which range from making the issuance of building permits contingent on contractors providing safety training, to publicizing businesses with exemplary safety records. However, the key recommendation in the plan is a proposal to train health inspectors, building inspectors and others to identify workplace hazards and file charges with MOSH, Maryland's state OSHA program. The proposal would also funnel money to immigrant rights groups and other community groups to do the same.<br /><br />The principal author of the plan is Commission member Jim Grossfeld, a member of the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild / CWA. Despite the fact that Montgomery County is one of America's most liberal counties -- and among its wealthiest -- he anticipates a tough battle to win approval of the plan by the County Council and County Executive.<br /><br />Grossfeld points out that some have claimed that county action is unnecessary since Maryland's new, Democratic governor, Martin O'Malley, will revitalize MOSH. But he and others argue that, even with added support from Annapolis, MOSH "cannot be effective absent involvement by local government and community groups." He notes the recent study by the International Labor Organization (ILO) which found that, in order to make jobs safer, developed countries like the U.S. ought to have one health and safety inspector per 10,000 workers. "That means Maryland ought to have roughly 300 inspectors, but MOSH has fewer than a quarter as many today."<br /><br />Supporters of the plan, led by organized labor and Casa of Maryland, say their approach could be used to extend MOSH's reach in other Maryland counties, too. However, they also warn that county officials shouldn't assume that the approach they're recommending is cost-free. "Any time you give a county employee additional responsibilities you need to be prepared to hire additional workers to help carry them out."<br /><br />In addition to Grossfeld, the proposals have been backed by two other labor members of the Commission on Health: Silvia Casaro, who is the client services coordinator for the Metro Washington Council; and Lee Goldberg, policy director of SEIU's Long Term Care Division.<br /><br />You can also see and hear Jim elaborating on the program <a href="http://www.archive.org/stream/coffeehouse_TCH_116_Jim_Grossfeld/TCH_116_Jim_Grossfeld.mp4">here</a> on <a href="http://coffeehousetv.org/">The Coffee House</a>, a cable TV magazine of public affairs and the arts.<br /><br />Those seeking additional information on the effort in Montgomery County are invited to contact its supporters at: <a href="mailto:saferjobs@att.net">saferjobs@att.net</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5218538.post-1168705951827924832007-01-13T11:09:00.000-05:002007-02-05T22:39:49.844-05:00Where Do They Find These Guys?Curiouser and <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/13/washington/13gitmo.html?ex=1326344400&en=66a211cdfa5534da&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss">curiouser</a>: <blockquote>The senior Pentagon official in charge of military detainees suspected of terrorism said in an interview this week that <span style="font-weight: bold;">he was dismayed that lawyers at many of the nation’s top firms were representing prisoners at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and that the firms’ corporate clients should consider ending their business ties. </span> <p>The comments by Charles D. Stimson, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee affairs, produced an instant torrent of anger from lawyers, legal ethics specialists and bar association officials, who said Friday that his comments were repellent and displayed an ignorance of the duties of lawyers to represent people in legal trouble.</p></blockquote><p> </p> Where do they come up with this stuff? Oh, here: <blockquote>The same point appeared Friday on the editorial page of The Wall Street Journal, where Robert L. Pollock, a member of the newspaper’s editorial board, cited the list of law firms and quoted an unnamed “senior U.S. official” as saying, “Corporate C.E.O.’s seeing this should ask firms to choose between lucrative retainers and representing terrorists.”</blockquote>The <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/13/opinion/13sat1.html?ex=1326344400&en=b93e4fd814c236b1&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss">New York Times</a> was not amused, calling the administration's latest attack "contemptable."<br /><br />Stimson went on: <blockquote>He said, “I think, quite honestly, when corporate C.E.O.’s see that those firms are representing <span style="font-weight: bold;">the very terrorists who hit their bottom line back in 2001</span>, those C.E.O.’s are going to make those law firms choose between representing terrorists or representing reputable firms, and I think that is going to have major play in the next few weeks. And we want to watch that play out.”</blockquote>This is why were fighting the "decisive ideological struggle of our time?" Because those dasterdly terrorists hit the corporate bottom line?<br /><br />It's all starting to make sense now.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5218538.post-1168580825690377502007-01-12T00:23:00.000-05:002007-02-06T22:18:25.833-05:00Of Foxes, Chickens and Chickencoops<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/5823/164/1600/822690/fox.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; float: right;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/5823/164/400/798442/fox.jpg" border="0" /></a>In the continuing spirit of bi-partisanship, President Bush has <a href="http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2007/01/11/still_hiring_treehaters.php">renominated</a> some of the worst of the worst nominees to head safety, environmental and regulatory agencies.<br /><br />Former coal industry executive <a href="http://www.hillnews.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Frontpage/011107/jud.html"><strong>Richard Stickler</strong></a> was renominated for the -- hell, I can't even remember <a href="http://spewingforth.blogspot.com/2006/11/stickler-rererenominated-to-head-msha.html">how many times </a>the White House has sent him to the Senate (only to have him sent back again.) Stickler received a recess appointement last Fall.<br /><br />Along with Stickler came the return of former Wal-Mart lawyer <strong><a href="http://spewingforth.blogspot.com/2006/08/bush-foxes-overrun-chicken-coop.html">Paul DeCamp</a></strong> as wage and hour administrator at Labor. DeCamp has a record urging the weakening of the Fair Labor Standard Act’s (FLSA’s) overtime pay and other protections.<br /><br />Also returning from the bureacratic dead is right-wing anti-regulatory zealot <strong>Susan Dudley</strong>, who we've written about <a href="http://spewingforth.blogspot.com/2006/07/bush-to-appoint-anti-regulatory-zealot.html">here</a> and <a href="http://spewingforth.blogspot.com/2006/09/susan-dudley-and-bushs-war-on-public.html">here</a>.<br /><br />And then there's former mining industry executive <strong>John Correll</strong> who was re-nominated as director of the Interior Department’s Office of Mining Reclamation and Enforcement. Correll, <a href="http://spewingforth.blogspot.com/2006/05/bushs-surface-mining-nominee-up-to-his.html">you may remember</a>, was involved improper contracting while at MSHA, and was instrumental in the firing of an MSHA whistleblower.<br /><br />Needless to say, it's highly unlikely that any of these nominations will be confirmed by a Democratic Senate. (They were too controversial to even make it through a Republican Senate.)<br /><br />But there is one piece of good news for the chickens. <strong>Steven Griles</strong>, a former mining lobbyist who was appointed Deputy Secretary of the Department of Interior (the number 2 position in the Departmetn) until he resigned in 2005, has apparently been notified by federal prosecutors that he will most likely <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/11/washington/11griles.html?_r=1&oref=slogin">be indicted</a> for lying about his relationship with the corrupt lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Apparently Abramoff referred to Griles as “our guy” at the Interior Department.<br /><br />Score one for the chickens.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5218538.post-1168578168361495702007-01-11T23:46:00.000-05:002007-02-05T22:41:28.156-05:00Change Is In The Air; And In The HouseYes, it's true, the House of Representatives is doing some real things for the American worker, like passing a minimum wage bill. But <em>real</em> accomplishments are so boring. In these heady days, now the the Dems are back in control, it's the <em>symbolic</em> changes that most stir the spirit.<br /><br />For example, when the Republicans took power in 1995, they changed the name of the House "Committee on Education and Labor" to<br /><p><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/5823/164/400/278917/Ed_and_WF%5B1%5D.jpg" border="0" /><br />"Workforce?" Ugh! Can you get any more sterile and bureacratic?<br /><br />But now a new day has (re)dawned on Capitol Hill: </p><p><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/5823/164/1600/87601/Ed%20and%20Labor.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/5823/164/400/682191/Ed%20and%20Labor.jpg" border="0" /></a> Of course, the National Association of Manufacturers isn't very happy. According to their <a href="http://blog.nam.org/archives/2007/01/whats_in_a_name.php">"Shopfloor" blog,</a> they kind of liked the word "workforce," </p><blockquote>a long-overdue modernization of the name to reflect the lexicon of the modern-day work place.</blockquote>Uh, right.<br /><br />"What's in a name?" NAM asks. <blockquote>In this case, it is a great leap backward and a clear sign to anyone who may have doubted it that the unions are firmly back in charge of the committee's agenda.</blockquote>"Backward" to the future, that is.<br /><br />I say Hallelujah; it's about time.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5218538.post-1168486355356899552007-01-10T21:57:00.002-05:002009-02-23T18:04:34.309-05:00Throwaway TruckersChicago Tribune reporters Steve Franklin and Darnell Little have continued their series on <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-workplace-special,0,580858.special">Throwaway Workers</a> with two more articles about trucking and truckers.<br /><br />Most of the goods that our society buys from overseas comes in through the nation's ports, and then is transported -- mostly by trucks -- to warehouses and then around the country. Last month, Franklin and Little told the story of a <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-061210truckers-story,0,5182121.story">long haul driver</a> and difficult it is for them to make ends meet.<br /><br />Franklin and Little now go on to tell the story of the drivers who <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0612170281dec17,0,5768019.story">pick up the products from the ports</a> and move them to warehouses, generally less than 50 miles away. Over 90% are hispanic. On average, they earn less than $30,000 a year for working days that stretch past 11 hours. They're driving aging, decrepit trucks that pollute the air.<br /><br />Many of the drivers are undocumented immigrants -- which will soon become a problem for American consumers as well as the drivers themselves: <blockquote>They may soon find themselves out of work. So, too, freight may begin backing up across the country.<br /><br />That's because the federal government, in its drive to boost port security, is on the verge of issuing guidelines for checking identities of the nation's 750,000 port workers, including 110,000 or so who work as haulers.<br /><br />***<br /><br />Shippers could transfer their cargoes to ports other than Los Angeles and Long Beach or the New York area, where it is estimated that most of the undocumented drivers work. Trucking companies, already struggling with high turnover rates and a dearth of drivers, could be forced to pump up their pay to find new drivers.</blockquote>The exploitation the drivers has roots in a development that is common to a number of formerly high paying industries in this country:<br /><blockquote><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Not so long ago many port drivers in Southern California were Teamster union members with pay and benefits. When the government deregulated the industry in 1980, small, non-union companies flooded in. Rather than hiring employees, however, they turned to mostly independent operators.</span><br /><br />Fierce competition between the workers, and the companies that hire them, has kept wages depressed.<br /><br />"I've been working here for 17 years and I can't even buy a house," said David Mendoza, 42, who was taking a break at the spot where treads were being carved in bald tires. Though safety officials say only some tires can be grooved, and only by professionals, drivers contend that it's safe to use their cheap roadside system, and it's the only method they can afford with their stagnant wages.<br /><br />Mendoza, who drives a 1976-model truck that he bought 10 years ago for $12,000, pulled out one company's rate sheet and compared the rates to those from a sheet several years old: There was little difference between the two.<br /><br />If anything, the quoted rates are often the ceiling price. Firms often whipsaw haulers against one another, pushing wages much lower. Many haulers are no different than day laborers who gather on streets and bid on jobs, except that they have trucks.<br /><br />"[Drivers] have tried to organize walkouts to get higher wages, but they can never get enough drivers to agree to anything because somebody else always comes in and does the work," said Art Wong, a spokesman for the Port of Long Beach.</blockquote>But there's always hope: <blockquote>In the closely-knit Latino communities near the ports it is also a matter of people helping each other to get into the business, and then to survive.<br /><br />One of these is Salvador Abrica, 35, who served eight years as a U.S. Marine ready for combat in Somalia and other places around the globe.<br /><br />Not long after his military service, he began driving a truck at the port, yet he didn't like it and often took work as an over-the-road driver. But he returned to the ports because he preferred not being away from his wife and three children.<br /><br />Having grown up blocks from the ports and refineries, it seemed natural to Abrica to become a port driver. It was the kind of work done by men from his neighborhood.<br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"><br />He refused to put in the long hours like others, however, and he says he has earned only about $25,000 a year. It was a sacrifice he was willing to make. But it angered him to see friends push themselves into exhaustion or go broke trying to make a living at the ports. As a result, Abrica, a massive man with the physique of a battle-ready soldier, recently decided to become an organizer for the Teamsters.<br /><br />"I learned in the Marines what it means to defend myself and to stand up for the rights we have," he said.</span></blockquote><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Fraudulent Trucking Licenses</span><br /><br />Franklin and Little then moved on the the disturbing and dangerous problem of <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0701010115jan01,0,787277.story">unskilled truck drivers with illegal and fradulent licenses</a>: <blockquote>Commercial driving license fraud has been a growing headache since the industry began to deregulate more than two decades ago. Since 1980, the number of interstate trucking firms has shot up to 564,000 from 20,000. Today there are more than 1.5 million truckers, up 200,000 from 2002, according to trucking industry estimates.<br /><br />Lured by the image of good-paying jobs, people have scampered to obtain commercial driving licenses. And entrepreneurs and crooks sprang into action to help would-be drivers sidestep obstacles.<br /><br />A grasp of the depth of the problem came when federal and state investigators in 1998 began looking into the licenses-for-sale scandal in Illinois.<br /><br />Ultimately, their work led to a 6 1/2-year prison term for former [Illinois Governor George]Ryan on federal corruption charges, convictions of more than 75 people and the retesting of more than 1,000 truckers. The exams were completed by 2000.<br /><br />The probe also showed that unskilled drivers were on the highways. At least nine people, including one trucker, have died in crashes involving truckers who allegedly got their licenses illegally in Illinois, according to federal officials.</blockquote>And the problem, as we've seen with so many sectors of our economy today, is <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">deregulation</span>: <blockquote>Commercial driving license fraud has been a growing headache since the industry began to deregulate more than two decades ago. Since 1980, the number of interstate trucking firms has shot up to 564,000 from 20,000. Today there are more than 1.5 million truckers, up 200,000 from 2002, according to trucking industry estimates.<br /><br />Lured by the image of good-paying jobs, people have scampered to obtain commercial driving licenses. And entrepreneurs and crooks sprang into action to help would-be drivers sidestep obstacles.<br /><br />A grasp of the depth of the problem came when federal and state investigators in 1998 began looking into the licenses-for-sale scandal in Illinois.<br /><br />Ultimately, their work led to a 6 1/2-year prison term for former Gov. Ryan on federal corruption charges, convictions of more than 75 people and the retesting of more than 1,000 truckers. The exams were completed by 2000.<br /><br />The probe also showed that unskilled drivers were on the highways. At least nine people, including one trucker, have died in crashes involving truckers who allegedly got their licenses illegally in Illinois, according to federal officials.</blockquote>As well as <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">privatization of government services</span>: <blockquote>In 2002 federal investigators warned that nearly half the states were not properly monitoring third-party testing. This is an issue because the majority of states rely on a mix of state and private testers while just a handful use only state employees for testing. There are seven states where all truck licensing is handled privately.<br /><br />In Macon, Ga., for example, the owner of a truck driving school worked out a deal with a third-party tester to falsify tests for 623 students over several years, federal officials said in 2004. And when Georgia officials retested the drivers who already had been on the roads for several years, it determined that only 142 were qualified to keep their licenses.</blockquote>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com