The Sordid History Behind The Current News on Benzene

A long-term study of the effects of the solvent benzene on Chinese workers has shown health effects at levels below the legal exposure limit in the United States.

The researchers said counts of certain protective white blood cells in 250 Chinese shoe factory workers exposed to small amounts of benzene - less than one part per million in the air - were 15 percent to 18 percent lower than counts in a similar group of 140 garment workers who were not exposed. The lower blood counts were not in a range deemed harmful, but independent experts said the findings strongly hinted that benzene was one of a small group of chemicals for which no safe threshold exists.

The study was conducted by scientists from the National Cancer Institute, China's Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the University of California, Berkeley, and several other institutions. It was published yesterday in the journal Science. The first study of a large group of workers breathing air with very low levels of benzene suggests that the chemical may harm the bone marrow, the body's main factory for blood cells, even in amounts below the threshold deemed safe under American law.

For more than a century, benzene has been one of the most heavily used solvents in the world, with applications in many products, like tires, drugs, paper and refined sugar. It makes up about 1 percent of gasoline and is also produced when coal and other fuels are burned. Benzene has long been identified as a cause of leukemia and other blood ailments in people exposed to significant amounts over many years, so regulations have steadily tightened in most industrialized countries, and increasingly in poorer nations as well.

OSHA's exposure limit is 1 part per million of air. NIOSH, on the other hand has recommended an exposure limit of .1 ppm, 10 times lower.

On one hand, there is nothing terribly astonishing here. This is information that public health experts have always known - that there is no safe level of exposure to a cancer-causing substance, and that OSHA limits are set too high. (You can find more detail on the study at Industrial Hygienist/blogger John Lowe's site, Impact Analysis.)

But this might be a good opportunity to bring up some of the history of OSHA's benzene standard and how it changed the way chemicals are regulated in this country, with significant implications for worker (and public) safety today.

OSHA's benzene standard, finally issued in 1987, was more than just another chemical standard; it was a watershed in OSHA rulemaking. It was industry's first major success, using the its new strategy of "paralysis by analysis," to obstruct the intent of the Occupational Safety and Health Act which authorized OSHA "to set mandatory occupational safety and health standards" protect American workers. And the benzene standard offered a useful early lesson in the lengths to which industry (in this case the chemical industry) would go to distort the scientific record that formed the basis of protective standards.

A little history

Based on a study showing a a five fold elevated risk of leukemia among workers exposed to benzene, and that workers exposed for more than 5 years were 21 times more likely to have leukemia, OSHA issued an 1 ppm Emergency Temporary Standard in 1977, shortly after President Jimmy Carter put Eula Bingham in charge of the agency. The chemical industry immediately challenged the standard and the courts stayed it. OSHA then held hearings and in 1978 issued a "permanent" standard of 1 ppm. Again, the industry sued and won a stay in the standard. It was to be ten more years before workers received the protection they deserved.

The benzene standard then went to the Supreme Court which issued the famous "Benzene Decision" From that point on, OSHA was required to conduct "quantitative risk assessments" for all health standards.

Benzene is a carcinogen - a chemical that causes cancer. OSHA had originally used its carcinogen policy to regulate benzene. As most experts believed that there was no safe exposure limit for cancer causing chemicals, OSHA's policy was to set the standard at the lowest feasible level. The limit had to be technologically feasible, which meant that the technology had to exist to get the exposure down to a certain level, and it had to be economically feasible, which meant that the cost of getting the exposure down to a certain level couldn't bankrupt the industry (economic feasibility).

But the Supreme Court said that feasibility wasn't an adequate criteria to set an exposure limit. The benzene decision, issued in 1980, said that if OSHA was going to issue the standard, the agency also had to show that there was a "significant risk" of developing cancer at the current exposure level, and then that the risk could be "significantly reduced" by the new level. OSHA was required to do very time consuming, sophisticated analyses of the health effects of exposures at a variety of different levels. The standard, with its "significant risk" analysis, was finally issued in 1987.

According to Dr. Philip Landrigan, chairman of the Department of Community and Preventative Medicine at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York and formerly director of the Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations and Field Studies of NIOSH, the Supreme Court's benzene decision

was profoundly important because it changed absolutely the way in which health agencies in this country are permitted to set public health standards. Prior to the Supreme Court benzene standard, public health agencies were allowed to act prudently on the basis of good qualitative evidence showing that a chemical could cause cancer in humans or in animals.

After the Supreme Court benzene decision, agencies had to go through a much longer, much more tedious, much more comprehensive process that often took many years to complete in which they were required to trace out in detail the relationship between a given level of exposure and a given level of risk of disease. That is the essence of quantitative risk analysis. It often constitutes lovely science, incredibly detailed, but it also frequently constitutes very poor public health because it delays for many years the enactment of good health protective regulations.

The bottom line, according to Landrigan, "is that there has been a long-standing tradition in this country that in the law, chemicals had been considered innocent until proven guilty. The Supreme Court benzene decision made it much harder than previously to prove a chemical guilty."

The benzene standard was finally issued in 1987, ten years after the first standard was issued. According to Landrigan, 492 workers died unnecessarily from leukemia caused by their exposure to benzene during those ten years.

The benzene standard was also one of the early illustrations of how far the chemical industry would go to keep OSHA from issuing standard that would effectively protect workers. Dr. Peter Infante, a toxicologist with OSHA for over 20 years until he retired last year, recalls that Dow Chemical testified at the 1977 hearings, but did not reveal that its own study had shown chromosomal damage at low levels of exposure until after the hearings were over.

Of course, covering up evidence that exposure to substances could kill workers was nothing new. The asbestos industry's decades-long cover-up of the fact that the substance causes cancer is well known, as are industry coverups of the health effects of lead, the pesticide DBCP and many others. In fact, journalist Bill Moyers in an excellent PBS show, Trade Secrets, about the crimes of the chemical industry, revealed an internal memo about the health effects of benzene, sent in 1958 from Esso Oil's medical research division that said that "Most authorities agree that in light of present knowledge, the only level which can be considered absolutely safe for prolonged exposure is zero."

So we're left with a situation not only where chemical are considered innocent until proven guilty, but the industry has largely succeeded in raising the bar so high that the toxic effects of a chemical have to be proven beyond a shadow of a doubt before the government is allowed to protect people.

As Infante says: "If we have to wait until there's confirmation in humans, we're not practicing public health. We're not protecting the workers."

And, of course, ultimately, those with the most money -- to pay for their science and their own personal politicians -- have the most influence over the regulatory process. Infante again:

The more resources you have to represent your view, the stronger that view is. In other words, whoever has the most resources, can dominate, at least for a long period of time....With money, you can buy analyses, economic analyses, scientific analyses. You can do lots of things to participate in the process and also to delay the process.

Aftermath

Since the benzene decision, paralysis by analysis has only gotten worse: the Paperwork Reduction Act, Regulatory Flexibility Act, Unfunded Mandates Reform Act, Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act have all added years and millions of dollars to the process of issuing worker protections. OSHA veterans remember the early days when the text of an OSHA standard was longer than the preamble that contained the scientific and economic information justifying it. Compare that with the repealed ergonomics standard. The regulatory text was 8 pages long. The preamble was 600 pages long.

According to AFL-CIO health and safety director Peg Seminario, OSHA's standard setting process is failing to protect workers from serious recognized hazards.

Today, many serious hazards are not regulated at all or subject to weak and out-of-date requirements. For example, OSHA has been unable to update permissible exposure limits for toxic chemicals. The levels that are in place are largely 1968 ACGIH limits that were adopted as 6(a) standards in 1971. Most of these limits were set by ACGIH in the 1940's and 1950's based upon the scientific evidence then available. Moreover, many chemicals now recognized as hazardous were not covered by the 1968 limits. OSHA's 1989 attempt to update these limits was overturned by the courts because the agency failed to make the risk and feasibility determinations for each chemical required by the Act.

So what is to be done. Clearly, if we are to even begin to catch up on protecting workers from the chemicals they are exposed to, the OSH act must be changed to make it possible to update permissible exposure limits on a regular basis. OSHA has not issued a single new chemical exposure standard since 1997.

Second, we need to look across the Atlantic to the European Community which is considering changing its entire regulatory system for chemicals into a framework that requires chemicals to be proven safe before they are brought into commerce. The REACH (Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals) initiative puts the burden on industry to demonstrate that the products they sell are safe, rather than on the beleagered regulatory agencies to prove that they are harmful

Meanwhile, back at the ranch.... the Times reports that we don't really know what workers are being exposed to in this country:

In the United States, overall air concentrations have dropped sharply in recent decades, although many workers are still exposed. There is no good current estimate of workplace exposure in the United States, mainly because of a lack of money for surveys, officials at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health said. The last thorough federal survey of exposure, released in 1987, estimated that more than 200,000 workers were chronically exposed to some benzene.

Safety Pays? Not According To Table Saw Makers

John Henshaw's OSHA says that "Safety Pays."

Turns out he's wrong, at least according to table saw manufacturers.

According to a National Public Radio story, a couple of entrepreneurs have developed a system called "Sawstop" that will stop table saws from cutting through flesh. (You can watch it not cut through a hot dog here.) Being as table saw accidents send 40,000 people to the E.R. every year, cause 3,000 amputations and cost the economy over $2 billion according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, you'd think that sawmakers would be jumping on this technology, even if the safer saws cost more.

And you'd be wrong.

Not one table saw manufacturer has bought the technology. "We've concluded that safety doesn't sell," according to one manufacturer, even though a woodshop owner figured that one prevented workers comp claim would pay for two of the safer saws.

The inventors have petitioned the CPSC to require "Sawstop" technology. The saw manufacturers are opposing it.

Calling John Henshaw.

Behind The Great Bhopal Hoax

If you were living in Europe or Asia, or were up very early in the U.S. on the morning of December 3, the 20th anniversary of the Bhopal disaster, you may have heard the astonishing announcement by Dow spokesperson "Jude Finiseterra" in an interview with the BBC that Dow Chemical had finally agreed to take full responsibility for the 1984 Bhopal catastrophe that killed as many as 20,000 persons. According to Finiseterra, Dow would set up a $12 billion compensation fund for the victims and clean up the site.

Unfortunately, there was no Jude Finiseterra, nor was there a compassionate and repentant Dow. The statement traveled over the wires for two hours before the hoax was revealed.


The rather ingenious plot began with the name of the mysterious Dow spokesman, Jude Finiseterra. Finiseterra, who in real life calls himself Andy Bichlbaum, explained that "Jude is the patron saint of impossible causes, and Finiseterra means 'end of the earth,' which kind of represents the situation there."

Dow, which continues to argue that the Bhopal disaster was caused by sabotage, bought Union Carbide, the plant's owner, in 2001. Carbide had previously paid a whopping $470 million to Bhopal residents in 1989, which came to a grand total of around $500 a person. But that was plenty of money according to a (real) Dow spokesperson Kathy Hunt, who in 2002 assured the world that ?$500 [in compensation] is plenty good for an Indian.?

In an interview with Democracy Now, Bichlbaum expressed surprise they didn't get caught much sooner. In fact, interview ran twice on BBC World and was picked up by the major news wires before the BBC determined that no man named Jude Finisterra worked at Dow and he was an imposter.

And after reading the transcript, it is a bit surprising that the BBC was so completely taken in. According to Finisterra in the interview,

Today is a great day for all of us at Dow, and I think for millions of people around the world, as well. It is twenty years since the disaster, and today I?m very, very happy to announce that for the first time Dow is accepting full responsibility for the Bhopal catastrophe. We have a $12 billion plan to finally, at long last, fully compensate the victims including the 120,000 who may need medical care for their entire lives and to fully and swiftly remediate the Bhopal plant site. Now, when we acquired Union Carbide three years ago we knew what we were getting, and it is worth $12 billion. $12 billion. We have resolved to liquidate Union Carbide, this nightmare for the world and this headache for Dow, and use the $12 billion to provide more than $500 per victim, which is all that they have seen. A maximum of just about $500 per victim. It is not plenty good for an Indian as one of our spokespersons unfortunately said a couple of years ago. In fact, it pays for one year of medical care. We will adequately compensate the victims. Furthermore, we will perform a full and complete remediation of the Bhopal site, which, as you mentioned, has not been cleaned up. When Union Carbide abandoned the site twenty years ago, or sixteen years ago, they left tons of toxic waste which continues ? the site continues to be used as a playground by children. Water continues to be drunk from the ground water underneath.

Finiseterra also promised to support the extradition of former Union Carbide president Warren Anderson for trial in India.

The beauty of the hoax was that Dow was forced, on the 20th anniversary of the tragedy, to once again publicly remind the world that it would do no more to help the victims or clean up the site. But because Dow responded to the hoax by issuing only a short press release stating that Finiseterra was not a representative of the company, the spoof website Dowethics, decided that Dow needed a little assistance to illuminate the whole situation for the world. They issued another press release on Dow letterhead, explaining that the whole thing was an elaborate, sophisticated, idiotic hoax, and that in fact Dow will not commit any funds to compensate and treat 120,000 Bhopal residents who require lifelong care, will not clean up the Bhopal plant site, will not urge the US to extradite former Union Carbide CEO Warren Anderson to India, will not release proprietary information on the leaked gases, nor the results of studies commissioned by Union Carbide and never released, will not fund research on the safety of Dow endocrine disruptors (ECDs) considered to have long-term negative effects, and

Most importantly of all:

• Dow shareholders will see NO losses, because Dow's policy towards Bhopal HAS NOT CHANGED. Much as we at Dow may care, as human beings, about the victims of the Bhopal catastrophe, we must reiterate that Dow's sole and unique responsibility is to its shareholders, and Dow CANNOT do anything that goes against its bottom line unless forced to by law.

On the other hand, some of the Bhopal victims were not pleased with the hoax, according to the Daily Grist:

At least one advocate for the victims saw the prank as malicious. Said Rachna Dhingra of the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal, "It is a cruel, cruel hoax to play on the people of Bhopal on the 20th anniversary of this tragedy." And to the extent that it raised and then dashed the hopes of these horrifically abused people, she has a point.

But according to Bichlbaum, they hadn't imagined that the hoax would go on so long and get so much worldwide press:

That is the most difficult thing about this. And, in fact, we didn't expect it to run as long as it would. We really thought that the BBC would catch on pretty much immediately or Dow would react even more likely immediately. They didn't react for at least an hour, so there was a much longer time when people thought it was real....Two hours later it was still a story. So that was sad. Also, but at the same time we are talking about two hours of false hopes versus 20 years of unrealized ones.

The whole thing was the brainstorm of the "Yes Men" The "Yes Men" is a group that impersonates famous people, engaging in "Identity Correction" as opposed to "Identity Fraud." As their website explains, identity fraud is where "Small-time criminals impersonate honest people in order to steal their money. Targets are ordinary folks whose ID numbers fell into the wrong hands."

Identity Correction, on the other hand, is where "Honest people impersonate big-time criminals in order to publicly humiliate them. Targets are leaders and big corporations who put profits ahead of everything else."

Postscript: One of legendary organizer Saul Alinsky's rules for effective action is "Ridicule is man's most potent weapon." And indeed, when they're kicking the shit out of you, a little ridicule -- that also effectively makes a point -- can sometimes go a lot farther than demonstrations, faxes and letters to the editor.

Let's get creative out there.

Holiday Shopping? Books are Good

Tonight is the first night of Hanukkah, with Christmas and Kwanza soon to follow. Are you in the holiday shopping mood? Can't figure out what to get that special someone?

How about books? Lots of books.

If you buy your books at Powells (one of the few unionized bookstores in the United States), I get a (small) commission.

Go to the main Powells website here.

The Confined Space workplace safety & health bookshelf here.

The Powells labor library here.

Go crazy.

Schwarzenegger Delays California Nurse Staff Ratios

According to Kim Belshé, secretary of the California Health and Human Services agency, "Patient safety is a top priority for this administration."

Hmm. Funny way to show it.

In a recent post about the nursing shortage, I noted that California had recently mandated a ratio of no more than six patients to every nurse. The new staff limits were supposed to take effect January 1, 2005. Several readers wrote to point out that Governor Schwarzenegger had in fact given hospitals a three year "reprieve" from meeting stricter staffing rules on general medical wards.

And it gets worse.

DHS also would allow hospitals to suspend temporarily compliance with nurse staffing rules for EDs [emergency departments] in the event of an "unforeseeable influx" of patients. In addition, DHS proposed reversing a requirement that hospitals replace nurses on bathroom breaks.

California Nurses Association President Deborah Burger, accuses Schwarzenegger of caving into the powerful health care industry. Rejecting accusations that the ratios will worsen the nursing shortage and cause hospitals to close down, Burger wrote in a San Diego Union opinion piece:

In its first year, the law produced safer conditions in over 70 percent of California hospitals and the first real progress in stemming a seemingly intractable nursing shortage.

Since the law was signed, the number of actively licensed registered nurses in California has grown by over 43,000; seven times the number the state said would be needed for the ratios. For the first time in a decade more registered nurses are coming into the state than leaving. Hospitals that comply with the law have seen huge drops in registered nurse vacancy and turnover rates.

Unions are putting their money -- and their feet -- where their mouths are:

In a day of protest, as many as 6,700 workers at nine Sutter Health hospitals in the Bay Area went on strike Wednesday, while about 2,000 nurses marched on the state Capitol over changes to a hospital staffing law.

The workers aimed to spotlight alleged unfair labor practices and a governor who supports those practices.

As many as 4,000 nurse's aides, technicians, housekeepers and other hospital staff represented by Service Employees International Union locals 250 and 707 participated in the 24-hour strike.

In addition, about 2,700 registered nurses who are members of the California Nurses Association struck at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco, where their contract has expired, and at Alta Bates Summit in Berkeley and Oakland and Sutter Solano in Vallejo.

UNITE HERE! Looking for a Health & Safety Rep

If you're interested and experienced in workplace safety issues and organizing, then there's a job for you at UNITE HERE!

The union is looking for "highly-qualified applicants for a unique opportunity that combines seasoned organizing skills with a long-term commitment to worker and environmental safety and health." The job is based in NY City, but lots of travel required. Click here for more information.

Don't Worry, Be Happy: Bush supporters are all going to shrivel up and die

So I'm reading Maureen Dowd this morning about about how "having a president and vice president who scared us to death about terrorists to get re-elected" is going to cause us all to age prematurely as shown in the recent study that showed that "the stress causes the DNA in our cells to shrink, and sort of curl down on itself, until the cells can no longer replicate." and then I'm reading America Coming Together Director Steve Rosenthal's column today about how it wasn't moral values that won the election for Bush Version 2.2, but fear of terrorism.

And then I realized that everything will be OK. Because people who voted for Bush did so because he succeeded in terroizing them about terrorism, and causing bad dreams about gay marriage and nighmares Teresa Heinz Kerry (and Ted Kennedy and Hillary). In other words, he won the election on raw fear.

Democrats, on the other hand, are centered people brimming with life-prolonging optimism and hope.

Which means that stressed out Republicans will shrivel up and die much earlier than us mellow Democrats.

Unless of course, we get more stressed out at the prospect of four more years of W....

Nah!

They've got Tom Coburn in the Senate now stressing people out about lesbians in the bathroom and South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint stressing people out about unmarried cohabiting pregnant teachers corrupting their children and Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum spreading fear that gay sex will lead to sex with animals. And then there's Kentucky Senator Jim Bunning who's convinced that Osama himself is hiding out in some small town in Western Kentucky plotting to do him in.

No, I think they've got a lock on the fear factor. The future is ours.

The Weekly Toll (Minus a few)

I often make the point that, despite fairly thorough internet searches, The Weekly Toll misses around 75% of all workers killed in workplace "accidents" every year. Of course, if you're interested in the whole workplace death scene, I'm doing much worse than that.

Revere at Effect Measure points out that by the most conservative estimate, 75 people die each week due to work-related cancer.

If 75 people died in a train wreck or 75 people died in a building collapse or 75 schoolchildren in a school shooting it would make headlines in every newspaper in the country. But we won't read about it.

Not only will 75 workers die today. But they did yesterday, too, and will tomorrow and so on, day after day after day. Bhopal in slow motion.

And, of course, even those numbers don't include people who die of other work-related illnesses like silicosis, liver disease and black lung. Almost none of their names will ever be known.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled carnage. (And thanks again to Tammy Miser for putting this together.)


Columbus Police Officer Killed in Collision

Columbus, OH -- Columbus police officer responding to a prowler call was killed in a head-on crash with another motorist early Saturday.

Melissa M. Foster, 35, was driving her police car south on Gender Road , behind another cruiser, about 1 a.m. when a northbound motorist swerved across the center line.

The driver of the lead cruiser avoided the collision, but Foster's was struck head-on.


Worker Electrocuted

The electrocution that claimed a young man’s life Thursday at a substation being built on Achord Road was the first-ever employee death on the job for the company.

According to Tommy Muse, president and CEO of Albrey Silvey Enterprises of Carollton, the 23-year-old electrocution victim was Kyle Holcombe, of Fruit Hurst, Ala., a community about 20 miles from Carollton. Holcombe had worked for the company since October 2004, but Muse said he was experienced after having worked for a Florida company and others.

Holcombe “was working in a man-lift changing washers on a de-energized buss bar when his man-lift made contact with an energized switch.”


Taxi drivers growing marks for armed robbers

She called herself "Cristal' and asked for a cab to pick her up by a grocery store in Baldwin Park. Manuel Antonio Arevalo, who went to the call for his tired brother, was later found carjacked and shot in the 13500 block of Hamburger Lane on Nov. 15. The 46-year-old was pronounced dead the next day at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center.


Worker crushed at warehouse construction site

SOUTH DAYTONA -- A 55-year-old Geneva construction worker died Monday when the lift he was on crushed him against a beam, police said. Paul Galati was a subcontractor working on a doorway at a warehouse at 3100 Opportunity Court when the accident occurred shortly after 8 a.m., said police Cpl. Joe Curatolo.

Galati was on a scissor lift and police do not yet know how Galati got caught between the lift's rail and the doorway beam. He was crushed in the chest area, Curatolo said. The worker was pinned for about 15 minutes and died at the scene, Curatolo said.


Witnesses describe frenzied attack, shock that followed

Detroit -- The workers at the Peerless Metal Powders & Abrasives plant in southwest Detroit would soon learn exactly what their coworker James Flemons had fashioned 24 hours earlier.

It was a sword.

They say Flemons, 30, attacked a 43-year-old colleague, Anthony Williamsof Detroit, with the weapon, killing him. That night, Tabb recalls standing mesmerized as Flemons chased Williams through the plant, striking him repeatedly. "James was hitting him in the back of the neck with that sword," he said. "He just kept doing it and doing it. Then he reached down and rolled him over on his back and again started hitting on his neck." At one point, Tabb tried to intervene with a shovel. "Man, what are you doing?" Tabb screamed to Flemons. Flemons turned around and calmly uttered: "Stay out of my business." Police said by the time Flemons finished, Williams was nearly decapitated. The vision of the attack keeps Tabb, 45, up at night. When he recounts it, he cries.


Carnival employee charged with murdering co-worker

Palm Beach, FL -- The final conscious minutes of carnival worker Glenn Stahl's life were spent shielding himself from a barrage of fatal punches and kicks delivered by four fellow workers, according to sheriff's investigators, who arrested the men late Saturday. Palm Beach County sheriff's investigators say the killing was instigated by a fight over racial slurs and one of the alleged attackers urinating around Stahl's trailer.


Skokie cab driver killed by passengers, police say

SOUTH SIDE, IL -- Chicago police were questioning two men Monday in connection with the fatal shooting of a Skokie cab driver who was found dead Saturday on the South Side. Karim Ally, 57, of the 8300 block of South Kimball Avenue in the north suburb died of a gunshot wound to the head, according to a spokeswoman with the Cook County medical examiner's office. Ally's body was found in the 6300 block of South Calumet Avenue about 11:10 p.m. Saturday, said Carlos Herrera, a Chicago police spokesman.


Cab driver killed in head-on collision

MATAWAN — A two-car collision involving an alleged drunken driver on High Street was fatal for one man, and injured all other parties involved on Sunday. Rajal Brooks, 30, of Matawan Avenue, Aberdeen, was reportedly driving east on High Street in a 1993 four-door silver Plymouth when he moved into the westbound lane and struck a 1993 four-door red Ford Crown Victoria taxicab, owned by Holmdel-Aberdeen Car Service, in a head-on collision, police said. The taxicab was being driven by Carl A. Mottey, 63, of Old Bridge, who was pronounced dead at the scene due to internal injuries, Matawan Detective Sgt. Ben Smith said.


U.S. agent dies in wreck with Tampa tour bus; no injuries on bus

TAMPA, Fla. - An on-duty federal agent died Monday when his car was pushed by another vehicle into the path of a tour bus ferrying passengers to a cruise at the Port of Tampa. No one on the tour bus, which was taking passengers to the Carnival Cruise Line's ship Inspiration for a Caribbean cruise, was injured. Tampa Police said the 2:30 p.m. accident occurred as the bus was headed south on a downtown street toward the cruise terminal when the man driving a Ford Mustang hit a Mercury Grand Marquis driven by the agent and pushed it head-on into the bus. The agent was killed instantly. Police did not immediately release his identity or identify the agency for which he worked.


2 men killed during construction of silo

GREAT FALLS, MT -- Two workers were killed Monday when they fell more than 100 feet into a silo being built at a $70 million malting barley plant near Great Falls, authorities said. James Miller, 22, and Andrew Sievertson, 18, were working on a platform at the top of the silo Monday morning, but it was not immediately clear how they fell, sheriff's Capt. Ray St. Onge said. It looks like they were working on some type of platform and it gave way," St. Onge said. Their bodies were taken to Missoula for autopsies, he said.

Worker dies in fall from scaffold

OCEAN TOWNSHIP, NJ — A construction worker died last Thursday after he fell from a Sunset Avenue building he was working on. Sergio Bustamente, 57, Harrison, was pronounced dead at 11:30 a.m. at Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, according to police reports. “He received a serious head injury,” said Ocean Township Chief Robert E. Swannack.


Burn victim dies of injuries

http://www.yorkdispatch.com/Stories/0,1413,138~10023~2555996,00.html
Severely burned over most of his body, Alan Brambling of York died at 4 this morning at the Lehigh Valley Medical Center, according to the Lehigh County Coroner's Office. Brambling was injured in an explosion and fire yesterday morning at the Jack Giambalvo car dealership in Springettsbury Township, said township Police Chief David Eshbach. The fire broke out as Brambling used an acetylene torch to cut an empty 55-gallon steel drum in half, said Springettsbury fire Capt. John Shire.

The drum, used for windshield-washer fluid, had contained alcohol fumes.

The fumes exploded and blew off the lid, which in turn cut the hoses feeding oxygen and acetylene gas, Shire said.

The flash fire spewing from the severed hoses set Brambling on fire and was spreading in the shop when an employee coming to work spotted flames and found Brambling, Shire said.


Frederick Co. man killed in accident at Taneytown business

Frederick County, MD -- A Frederick County man was killed in an industrial accident yesterday morning at a Taneytown business when a truck rolled over him, according to state police at the Westminster barracks. Earl Richard Vaughn, 77, was working behind the truck at Dougherty's Ice Co. in the first block of Church Road, police said, when the brakes apparently failed on a box truck weighing more than 30,000 pounds and it rolled back over him. Vaughn was pronounced dead at the scene.


Myer staff stop for shot employee

Retailing came to a halt in the Myer city store in Adelaide today as staff and shoppers paid their respects to an employee gunned down there last week. The one minute of silence coincided with the funeral of 61-year-old employee Carole Schaer, fatally shot as she worked in the store's handbag and shoe section on November 17. About 300 people attended her funeral. A murder charge has been laid against 69-year-old Simon Schaer, who was not required to enter a plea during a brief court appearance last week. Schaer will reappear in the Adelaide Magistrates Court in January.


Man charged with killing co-worker in a fight

SEATTLE -- King County prosecutors charged a man with manslaughter Wednesday for the death of a co-worker in a fight outside a fast-food restaurant in Kenmore. Nicholas Kevin Morrow, 45, of Kent, beat Michael Bender to the ground at the Jack in the Box parking lot Sept. 23, charging papers said. The two were contractors at work on a nearby construction site. Bender had called Morrow a "rat" for telling the foreman another worker was smoking marijuana at work, a witness told investigators. During their lunch break, Morrow followed Bender to the restaurant and confronted him. Morrow told investigators that he was defending himself because Bender had threatened his life, the King County Superior Court documents said. He didn't know Bender had died until he was told by the detectives. Morrow was scheduled to be arraigned next Wednesday. If convicted as charged he could be sentenced to more than six years in prison.


Cab Driver Stabbed To Death

Memphis, TN - A cab driver is killed and a suspect on the loose after a cab ride turns deadly. It happened this morning in southeast Memphis. Police have been busy interviewing witnesses trying to get a description of the suspect. A suspect who took the life of 62-year-old Robert Adams in the parking lot of Foxwood apartments around 10:30 this morning. Police say when Adams pulled up to the complex, the passenger jumped out - stabbed and robbed Adams of all his cash, then took off heading towards Mt. Moriah.


GAS STATION WORKER KILLED IN ROBBERY

A gas station worker was shot and killed yesterday during what detectives believe was a robbery, the authorities said. The victim, a 40-year-old man who the police believe was from Nigeria, had not been identified last night. He was killed about 8:30 a.m. at the gas station at 187-47 Jamaica Avenue in Hollis while a co-worker was out getting coffee, the police said. William K. Rashbaum (NYT)


Ambulance crash cause undetermined

HAGERSTOWN - The cause of an ambulance crash in Howard County, Md., last week that resulted in a local paramedic's death and the death of an unborn baby has not been determined as of Wednesday, Maryland State Police Sgt. Thornnie Rouse said. A Mid-Maryland Medical Transport ambulance was taking a pregnant woman from Washington County Hospital to a medical center in Baltimore on Nov. 18 when the crash occurred at 12:40 p.m. on Interstate 70 west of St. John's Lane in Howard County, Maryland State Police said. The ambulance driver, Jeanette M. Roseberry, 27, of 18036 Herr Lane, west of Boonsboro, was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident. Three others inside the ambulance, including the patient, were injured. Roseberry's funeral was Tuesday.


Taxi Driver Killed

Anchorage, AL -- On Wednesday, November 17, police in Barrow found 33-year-old cab driver Sangkhom “Sam” Promdongloiv dying of a gunshot wound in his taxi. Police say he was a Thai man whose driver's license listed an Anchorage address. Promdongloi later died at Providence Alaska Medical Center.


Oil Worker Killed in Accident

Bismarck, ND -- Authorities say a 44-year-old Burke County man has died in a work-related oilfield accident. Divide County Sheriff Lauren Throntveit says the incident happened Wednesday afternoon in northeast Divide County, between Crosby and Noonan. The sheriff says the victim was trying to get into a piece of loading equipment when he became pinned between the machine and its bucket.


ACCIDENT KILLS MAN AT MILL NEAR ALTO

ALTO, TX - A Tuesday afternoon industrial accident claimed the life of a Jacksonville man as he repaired electric wiring on a sawmill motor.
Cherokee County Sheriff James Campbell said Timothy Shawn "Tim" Treadwell, 24, was killed when he was electrocuted about 4 p.m. at the Crosscut Hardwood Lumber Mill, located one mile north of Alto on U.S. Highway 69. "A witness stated Mr. Treadwell was in the process of repairing some wiring on a large electric saw motor when he apparently came in contact with high voltage," he said. "I think they said he was working on wiring that was 440 volts."


Man charged with killing boss

Benton, AR -- A Thanksgiving day shooting leaves on man dead and another is behind bars. It happened just before noon at the ArkLaTex Nexus Bar north of Benton. Deputies tell us 58-year-old Charles Williams shot his boss, 55-year-old Larry Broome, in the chest. Broome owned the bar and Williams had been working there for about four months. Broome was pronounced dead at LSU Health Sciences Center. Williams is charged with manslaughter.


Cop killed helping driver on I-55

Before Patrick Barnard headed back home to see his family in Tremont for Thanksgiving, his mother left him a message. "I'm a mother, so I had left him a message and said the weather is not so good down here and to be careful," said Catherine Barnard. "He called at 10:30 [Wednesday] night to say, 'I'll be careful. I'm on my way.'" But Barnard, 30, an off-duty Burbank Police officer, never made it home for Thanksgiving. He died Thursday after a car struck him when he stopped to help a stranded motorist on I-55 -- about 20 miles from his destination.


Cab driver killed in $150 robbery

Jersey City, N.J. — A cab driver working his way through medical school was shot and killed while being robbed of $150, authorities said. Investigators said Rady Khella, 25, was shot sometime after he picked up his last official fare early Thursday. There were no suspects. Police found only small change in his pockets.


Wisconsin man to stand trial in Lincoln woman's death

MADISON, Wis. — A Wisconsin man charged with the murder of Jennifer Hitchcock told police he killed the Lincoln woman because she might serve as a witness against him and because he could not face prison thinking of her with another man, Wisconsin police said recently. "He said he wanted her to himself," said Detective Charles Foulke of Middleton, Wis. "He said it was important that he was the last person to have her." Foulke made the statements while testifying at a Nov. 18 preliminary hearing for Bennie Frier, Mason's 24-year-old nephew. Both men are charged with kidnapping Hitchcock, 22, and killing her on Nov. 3. Mason told police Hitchcock also saw the Nov. 2 shooting death of Baraboo, Wis. cab driver John Romberg, 55, Foulke said. Mason has been charged with Romberg's death, which he said was an accident. But just as important to Mason, Foulke said, was that Hitchcock not be with any other man while he was in prison.


Runaway truck kills man

Honolulu, HA -- One man was crushed to death and another seriously hurt yesterday when a runaway garbage truck hurtled down Makakilo Drive, plowed through the eastbound H-1 off-ramp, catapulted a 20-foot embankment, flipped on its side and slid to within 15 feet of the back wall of Chili's Bar & Grill in the Kapolei Shopping Center. George Damon, Honolulu Disposal Service's operational vice president, made a preliminary identification before the body was taken to the medical examiner's office. He said he believed the man to be Mark Roben, who had recently joined the company.


Man killed by forklift accident

PIERRE, S.D. - A central South Dakota man has died of injuries he suffered when a forklift ran over him, according to the Hughes County sheriff. Rick Metzinger, 24, of Blunt, was loading and unloading materials with another employee of Kroeplin Ag Service of Blunt. He was riding on the front of the forklift when he apparently fell in front of it. Sheriff Mike Leidholt said. The accident happened Wednesday.


Oxnard man killed in fall

Oxnard, CA -- A 70-year-old Oxnard man died after an industrial accident this morning in Camarillo, authorities said. Julian Romero fell off an unknown structure at Rio Farms in the 600 block of Laguna Road, where he was working, Ventura County coroner's officials said.


A Bristol Tennessee Police Officer Dies in the Line of Duty.

Parishners at Kingsport’s Salvation Army try to comfort Captain Steve Terry over the death of officer Mark Vance. “He just loved police work and I knew him for many years”, says Steve Terry. Terry retired several years ago from Bristol P.D. to serve a higher calling, he remembers Vance, who was a former marine, as a man who made a difference in so many lives. It was with this compassion for others that Vance answered last night's domestic violence call. But a gunshot to his head ended any chance of a peaceful outcome. Police say Nickolus Johnson shot Vance at point blank range.


Worker dies in garage collapse

Bethesda, MD -- A construction worker was crushed to death under a 35-ton concrete slab yesterday morning, when the top two floors of a six-story parking garage being built for the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda collapsed. About a dozen other workers were uninjured after being trapped in the wreckage, but had to be rescued by county firefighters. Ronal Alvarado Gochez, 25, of Falls Church, who had been on a ladder on the fourth floor, apparently was killed instantly. He was employed by Virginia-based Williams Steel Erection Inc., a subcontractor on the project.


Worker slain on walk to campus

Police didn't know victim had restraining order against husband. The slaying of a UNC Chapel Hill employee as she strolled to work Monday, followed by her husband's turning the gun on himself, left police probing and some workers wondering how to make the campus safer. UNC police were called about 7:40 a.m. after shots were fired. They discovered the victim, Shennel R. McCrimon McKendall, 37, of nearby Pittsboro. And they found her 34-year-old husband, Randy Leverne McKendall, whom witnesses saw shoot himself with the 9 mm handgun, police said.


Cargo Trains Collide, Killing a Conductor

RICHLAND, FL -- Two CSX cargo trains crashed head-on in the early morning fog Monday, killing the conductor of one train and injuring three other CSX employees, including a conductor from Bartow. C.J. Jones, 28, a conductor from Carol City in South Florida, was killed in the 2:30 a.m. crash in Richland, east of Zephyrhills and about five miles west of North Polk County. A total of 16 cars derailed, 15 on a southbound train and one on a northbound


Armored-car guard shot, killed

An armored-car guard was ambushed and killed Monday during an armed robbery in Ahwatukee Foothills in which the shooter escaped on a bicycle. Robert Keith Palomares, 24, was carrying the weekend deposits out of the AMC Ahwatukee 24 theater at Ray Road and 50th Street. The shooter lay in wait near a ticket booth.


Man dies in trench collapse

DANBURY, CT — The young father stood in the trench, perhaps measuring its depth. Two other workers operated large, earth-moving machines at the edge of the 12-foot-deep excavation. Then came disaster. The trench walls caved in, burying Frederico Barbosa Fernandes underneath tons of dirt. City officials believe he died instantly. They also suggested that his death was unnecessary. Fernandes was part of a crew installing underground drainage pipes at Westville Commons, a condominium complex under construction on Scuppo Road. Federal law calls for dirt walls to be braced when workers are in trenches, but no supports were in place in this case, city officials said.
“That’s a no-no,” said Danbury assistant fire chief Phil Curran. He said the lack of supports and the rain-softened soil both contributed to the cave-in on the city’s west side.


Bridge mishap kills one

NEW TOWN, ND -- One man died and three were injured Tuesday morning when a steel support structure for pier nine of the new Four Bears Bridge collapsed west of New Town. Tex Hall, chairman of the Three Affiliated Tribes, said the worker killed was Levi Grant, 21, of Mandaree. Those injured are Gaylord Grant, brother of Levi Grant, and Jacob Fettig, both 19 and from Mandaree, and Clifford Mossett III, 24, Twin Buttes, according to Hall. All are in Trinity Hospital in Minot.


Grain truck driver killed when caught in auger

FRANKFORT, Ind. -- A grain-moving device crushed and killed a delivery truck driver as he was working on a farm, police said. Derek F. Blough, 24, of Rossville, was making a delivery Wednesday for United Feeds to a farm when he got caught in the auger of a grain storage compartment on his truck, the Clinton County Sheriff's Department said. It was unclear how Blough fell into the auger as no one saw the accident, Sheriff Mark Mitchell said.


City worker killed in wreck

SHELBY — A Shelby City sanitation worker died Wednesday afternoon when the garbage truck he was driving flipped while going around a curve. Three other workers inside the truck cab were taken to Cleveland Regional Medical Center with minor injuries. The truck’s load shifted while rounding a sharp curve on Airport Road about half a mile from the Cleveland County landfill, said N.C. Highway Patrol troopers investigating the wreck. When the load shifted, the vehicle overturned and the top of the truck dug into the ground before the entire truck rolled over, landing on its wheels with the mangled trash container on its side, said Trooper B.C. Sanders. The driver of the truck, Richard McCombs, 50, of New House Road, was killed.


Oakdale trucker killed in accident

A divers' team on Wednesday recovered an Oakdale man's body from a dump truck that plunged into the California Aqueduct south of Tracy, the California Highway Patrol reported. The San Joaquin County coroner's office identified the man as Miguel Ramirez, 29. He had been a driver for Magnum Trucking of Lathrop for about a year.


Island terminal service resumes after accident

A spokesman for Kinder Morgan River Terminals said the Presidents Island materials handler had resumed "limited operations" Thursday in the wake of an accident that killed two workers. The men killed Wednesday while off-loading a railcar were Sylvester Bolton, 43, and Timmy-Durell Jones, 36, both of Memphis. They died when a clogged hopper chute suddenly gave way, burying them under a load of ammonium sulfate.


Construction worker killed by falling tree

OLD ORCHARD BEACH, ME - A 32-year-old construction worker from Old Orchard Beach was killed Thursday morning -- and two of his co-workers injured -- when a 70-foot tree fell on them as they worked at an Old Orchard Beach business. Lt. Keith Babin said Jean St. Amand died from his injuries at Southern Maine Medical Center in Biddeford late Thursday morning.


Construction worker dies in trench collapse

Kansas City, MO -- A Northland construction worker died Monday when the walls of a 15-foot-deep trench collapsed on him, Kansas City fire officials said.The man's name and age were not available, pending notification of relatives.

Workers with the WMI Construction Co. of Riverside were working in a trench dug to connect the house to utilities, Battalion Chief Germane Friends said. One worker managed to escape, but the other did not.


Bright Wood worker killed in forklift accident State begins investigation of woman's death

MADRAS, OR – The Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division (OR-OSHA) is investigating a fatal industrial accident at the Madras plant of Bright Wood Corp., in which a 29-year-old Madras woman was struck and killed by a forklift. Madras police and Jefferson County paramedics responded at 8:10 p.m. Tuesday to the reported accident at Bright Wooda secondary wood remanufacturer with 1,100 employees in Madras and other facilities in Redmond and Bend. Police, assisted by Bright Wood employees, tried to resuscitate Susanna M. Parish, without success, Officer Frank Kerr said in a news release issued Thursday. Jefferson County EMS arrived shortly thereafter and pronounced the woman dead.


Taxicab driver killed in shooting

A taxicab driver was shot to death Wednesday in the Arcadia neighborhood of east Phoenix during an apparent robbery, said Phoenix police Sgt. Lauri Williams. James Barker, 46, was found slumped over the steering wheel of the Discount Cab car he was driving near 39th Street and Clarendon Avenue, Williams said. Several neighbors heard gunfire and called 911 about 11:40 p.m. Some went outside and saw a person running away from the cab, Williams said.

Trench Warfare

I write quite bit about trench fatalities and as my faithful readers know, there is little that makes me madder than a worker getting killed in an uprotected deep trench that's in clear violation of well-recognized OSHA standards. Furthermore, most of the stories you see in the news make no mention of why a trench caved in or that there are very strict and clear OSHA standards that have been violated. OSHA inspectors, even if they’re staring down into a 15 foot deep unprotected trench, will rarely comment on the problems with a trench until the final report is finished some months later.

So this article in the by Eugene Driscoll in the Danbury (CT) News Times is a pleasure to read.

Driscoll, who wrote about the trench death of Frederico Fernandes (listed in the Weekly Toll below) obviously "gets it." He’s got some good information about scope of the problem:

There were 48 trench deaths reported to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics in 2003, up from 34 deaths in 2002.

Another federal agency, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, put the 2003 trench death toll at 53. More than half of the workers killed were Hispanic.

Industry experts say the true number of annual deaths might be twice the officially reported total. They say the reason for the carnage is simple: too many employers, especially owners of small construction companies, ignore safety rules.

And that

Trenches in Connecticut generally aren’t safe, according to OSHA statistics.

Officials inspected 44 excavation sites in the state from Oct. 1, 2003 to Sept. 30, 2004. Of those, 28 trenches — or 64 percent — were found to be in violation of federal regulations.

(This isn't too hard to believe. While there have been several trench deaths reported over the past few weeks, there have been an unusually high number of trench collapse rescues (here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here)as well. These are very lucky people, as a cubic yard of soil can weigh as much as a car, leaving little chance of surviving a collapse.)

So why do employers continue to put their employees' lives at risk?

Experts said it can take several man hours to prepare a trench. A backhoe or an excavator is needed to drop in a Dumpster-sized trench box.

“With construction, everything is about the cheapest bidder, so they gamble with their employees’ lives,” said Vincent A. Ettari, a Yorktown, N.Y., engineer who has testified for insurance companies in lawsuits triggered by trench accidents.

***

The chances of an OSHA inspector coming to the job site are slim, [a Danbury Connecticut construction company owner] said. Following the rules to the letter slows progress on the job, which costs contractors money.

There is a competitive issue as well, the contractor said. A company that breaks the rules works faster and cheaper than a company that follows them. That allows some companies to underbid competitors and get more work.

Most of the problems happen in small construction companies, according to Laborers International Union health and safety director Scott Schneider:

Of the trench collapses that killed people last year, 81 percent involved companies with fewer than 50 workers and 42 percent involved companies with less than 10 workers.

“What we’ve found is that a lot of these are on very small (construction ) sites,” Schneider said. “They figure they’ll only be in and out in a minute and the chances of an OSHA inspector coming are slim.”

Adding to the problem: 60 percent of the workers who were killed had never received trench safety training. They didn’t know the dangers heading in.

Schneider is on an OSHA committee studying trench safety. The committee made a number of suggestions to OSHA:

The committee called for more training for OSHA inspectors; a greater effort to reach small companies, a marketing campaign to make contractors pay attention; and the creation of trench safety seminars for immigrant workers.

Another idea is to rely more on local officials to be OSHA’s eyes and ears in the field.

Phoenix, for example, has a program in which firefighters inspect construction sites and work with bosses to make sure trenches are safe.

Schneider’s committee also suggested that companies found with unsafe trenches be put on a sort of probation. The bosses would be required to tell OSHA about every job the company takes for at least a year.

“We need a better way for OSHA to find these little jobs,” Schneider said.

Probation would be good, but personally I think there's nothing like the threat of a little jail time to focus the mind.

Tired Of Being Forced to Register on Newspaper Websites?

One of the best thing about blogs is you're able to link to so many things all over the web. You can get a summary by reading the blog and then click on the hotlink for more details. As my loyal readers know, most of my links go to local newspapers. And as many of my loyal readers also know, more and more newspapers are requiring people to register before viewing any articles beyond the home page....which is a major pain in the ass.

As I read every newspaper in the country at least once a week, I've probably registered for almost all of them. Most of you are not as crazy as I am and probably give up in frustration when you hit a registration page.

Now, thanks to BugMeNot.com, there's a way to short-cut the registration. Bugmenot.com has pre-registered at almost every newspaper in the country. When you hit a registration page, just call up BugMeNot.com, paste in the URL of the offensive registration page, and they'll give you a login and password. Pretty cool.

They even provide a way to add BugMeNot to your right-click menu.

Try it. Then click on those links. You'll be glad you did.

20th Anniversary of Bhopal

Twenty years ago today, at 5 minutes past midnight, water leaked into a tank containing 40 tons of methyl isocyanate at a Union Carbide pesticide plant in the city of Bhopal, India. Every mechanism that could have controlled the resulting gas cloud had been shut down, disconnected or was otherwise in use.

The result:

"The Hiroshima of the chemical industry."

The "worst corporate crime in history."

It's surprisingly hard to know what to write about this seminal event of the 20th century. Even the above characterizations hardly do justice to this catastrophe whether you're looking at the raw numbers, the individual stories or the aftermath.

How to mark this day? After reading about the continuing suffering in Bhopal and the continuing refusal of those responsible to hold themselves accountable for these crimes, I think perhaps a day of rage may be more appropriate than a moment of silence.

Clear your mind and try to think about what happened tank release You can start by looking at the devastating statistics.

• Dow Chemical (which bought Union Carbide, the Bhopal plant's original owner) claims that "only" 3,800 people were killed. (Carbide had originally claimed that exposure to methyl isocyanate was no worse than tear gas)
  
  
• Indian officials say 10,000 to 12,000 people were killed.
  
  
• Bhopal activists and health workers say more than 20,000 people have died over the years due to gas-related illnesses, such as lung cancer, kidney failure and liver disease.
  
  
• Indian officials estimate that nearly 600,000 more have become ill or had babies born with congenital defects over the last 20 years

Or, if the statistics are too much to comprehend, you can listen to just one of the many thousands of individual stories:

On the night her world changed forever, Rashida Bee was 28 years old and had already been married for more than half her life. Her parents, traditional Muslims, had selected her husband for her when she was 13. He worked as a tailor, and they lived together in her parents' modest home in the industrial city of Bhopal, in central India. Bee hadn't learned to read or write, and she ventured out of the house only when escorted by a male relative. It was nevertheless a full life; her extended family of siblings, nieces and nephews numbered 37 in all.

The fateful night came on a Sunday. Bee and her family had gone to bed after sharing a simple supper. But shortly after midnight, in the early hours of Dec. 3, 1984, Bee was awakened by the sound of violent coughing. It was coming from the children's room. "They said they felt like they were being choked," Bee later told the online environmental magazine Grist, "and we [adults] felt that way too. One of the children opened the door and a cloud came inside. We all started coughing violently, as if our lungs were on fire."

From out on the street came the sound of shouting. In the light of a street lamp, Bee saw crowds of shadowy figures running past the house. "Run," they yelled. "A warehouse of red chilies is on fire. Run!"

A few blocks away, a woman who would later become a dear friend of Bee's was also running for her life. Champa Devi Shukla, a 32-year-old Hindu, lived down the street from the pesticide factory owned by Union Carbide. She knew better than to believe the rumors about a warehouse fire. "We knew this smell because Union Carbide often used to release these gases from the factory late at night," Shukla later told me. "But this time it went on longer and stronger."

Shukla was right. An explosion inside the Union Carbide factory had sent 27 tons of methyl isocyanate gas wafting over the city's shantytowns. "The panic was so great," said Shukla, "that as people ran, mothers were leaving their children behind to escape the gas."

In the pandemonium, Bee too was separated from most of her family. She found herself running with her husband and father, but they didn't get far. "Our eyes were so swollen that we could not open them," she recalled. "After running half a kilometer we had to rest. We were too breathless to run, and my father had started vomiting blood, so we sat down."

The scene around them was apocalyptic. There were corpses everywhere, many of them children. Those people still alive were bent over double or splayed on the ground, retching uncontrollably or frothing at the mouth. Some had lost control of their bowels, and feces streamed down their legs.

Exactly how many people died that night will never be known; many corpses were disposed of in emergency mass burials or cremations without documentation. Bee remembers that as she searched for family members in the following days, "I had to look at thousands of dead bodies to find out if they were among the dead."

(Bee and Shukla later became activists and earlier this year received the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize, as well as an award from the Occupational Health Section of the American Public Health Association. For years, they've been organizing protests and demanding that Dow and Union Carbide be held responsible for the cleanup and compensation. )

So where are we now, twenty years later? In the United States, home of Union Carbide (and Dow, which bought Union Carbide in 2001) we have established the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board to investigate chemical incidents and make recommendations designed to prevent them. Congress has passed the 1986 Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know-Act which requires companies to disclose details of the types and amounts of chemicals stored at their facilities, better planning by industry and local officials to respond to chemical leaks, and it created the Toxics Release Inventory, the successful program to force reductions in chemical emissions by publicizing emissions data from local plants. In 1992, OSHA has issued the Process Safety Management standard which requires companies using dangerous quantities of highly hazardous chemicals to implement management systems to prevent catastrphic releases.

So have we resolved all the of issues raised at Bhopal? Charolyn Merritt, Chairman of the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investgation Board isn't so sure:

The same kinds of backup failures and lack of disaster preparedness that contributed to Bhopal still exist, said Carolyn Merritt, chairman of the chemical safety board.

"Over and over again, we see companies _ even those covered under process safety rules _ committing the same kind of management errors, mechanical errors and process errors that set up the facility at Bhopal for the accident that occurred," she said.

"Bhopal was not a technical unknown. It was because of failures to maintain systems and employees not knowing what to do and having backup and systems that actually worked to prevent this. We have that same thing here. We investigate it every single day," Merritt said.

Dr. Gerald Poje, who just ended his second five-year term on the chemical safety board, agrees:

He said the U.S. chemical industry, as well as the Occupational Health and Safety Associaton (sic) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have taken monumental steps to improve safety since Bhopal _ but far less than needed.

He said a 2002 CSB study found that uncontrolled chemical reactions _ like the mixture of water and methyl isocyanate that, with failed safety measures, led to the Bhopal release _ caused 167 accidents in the U.S. from 1980 through 2001 that killed 100 people. The board recommended that OSHA and the EPA expand regulations to cover chemical reactions in addition to listing chemicals based on their individual properties _ such as whether they are toxic, corrosive or flammable _ but no such action has been taken.

"I wish I could tell you that was 20 years ago and everything has worked out well since (Bhopal)," Poje said. "I've seen all too often the same underlying situations result in tragedies here in the U.S. They involve big and small corporations, and communities seem unaware of hazards in their midst."

Poje notes that even with the leak, the cloud of deadly methyl isocyanate fumes could have been controlled before killing thousands:

Poje said the disaster began shortly after midnight when water entered a storage tank containing the gas, causing a heated reaction.

The unit containing methyl isocyanate was supposed to be refrigerated, but it was turned off and refrigerant had drained -- so when the mixture heated up, nothing cooled it down, he said.

Pressure built. A storage tank designed to relieve such pressure by accepting some of the mixture was already full, against all safety operations and protocol, Poje said. A scrubbing unit to catch the flow of dangerous material wasn't working.

A flare unit designed to burn off any toxic gas if those previous safety measures failed also was out of operation, he said.

Workers at the plant had little to no training regarding how to handle such a chemical reaction, Poje said. Nearby residents were equally unaware of what to do once the gas was released.

***

And the thousands of unsuspecting residents who lived near the plant should have been trained as to what to do when the unthinkable happened, he said.

"Some who had the ability to put wet rags over their mouths fared better than those who ran out into the night with no protection, no way to avoid continued exposure," Poje said.

The Culture of the Chemical Industry?

Gary Cohen, executive director of the Environmental Health Fund in Boston points to other lessons from Bhopal

Bhopal has rightly been called the Hiroshima of the chemical industry. Bhopal not only represents the stark story of the human fallout from a chemical factory explosion but offers up important lessons about the culture of the chemical industry and its approach to security and public health.

The sad reality is that we continue to learn about chemicals by allowing industry to expose large numbers of people to them and seeing what happens.

In this way, we have learned about dioxin contamination by letting Dow, Monsanto, and other chemical companies expose American soldiers and the entire Vietnamese population to Agent Orange. We have learned about asbestos by killing off thousands of workers with lung disease. And we have learned about the long-term effects of methyl-isocyanate after Union Carbide gassed an entire city in India.

Since the Bhopal disaster, we've learned that we all carry the chemical industry's toxic products in our bodies. Every man, woman, and child on the planet has a body burden of chemicals that are linked to cancer, birth defects, asthma, learning disabilities, and other diseases.

Since Sept. 11 we have also learned that in addition to our routine chemical exposures, chemical factories are perfect targets for terrorists. According to federal government sources, there are 123 chemical facilities nationwide that would put at least 1 million people at risk if they accidentally exploded or were attacked by terrorists. Some of these chemical factories are located in major cities. Yet the chemical industry continues to resist any meaningful regulation that would require them to replace the most dangerous chemicals with safer alternatives.

Bhopal Today

Meanwhile, in India thousands of demonstrators are planning a march and public meeting

Thousands of demonstrators planned to march through the main streets of Bhopal, the capital of the state of Madhya Pradesh, on Friday before holding a public meeting outside the abandoned Union Carbide plant.

U.S. chemical company Union Carbide Corp., which was bought by Michigan-based Dow Chemical Co. in 2001, paid $470 million in compensation under a settlement with India's government in 1989. But only part of that amount has reached the victims.

"We will burn effigies of Union Carbide and Dow Chemical to voice our protest. These two companies have betrayed the victims of Bhopal," said Rashida Bee, a disaster survivor who heads a women victims' group.

Bee said the protesters would conclude Friday's rally with a mass pledge to keep up the fight until victims' demands for compensation, medical care and rehabilitation are met.

The protesters also called on Dow Chemical to clean up the plant site, where rusted pipes and pesticide storage tanks have collapsed or ruptured in the years since the plant was abandoned after the disaster.

A Second Disaster Brews

Twenty years later later, the site still hasn't been cleaned up and Bhopal residents continue to sicken due to contaminated water and air:

Two decades later, studies show a second poisonous onslaught brews underground.

The warm rain of 20 monsoon seasons has washed an assortment of toxics left at the decaying Carbide factory into the groundwater of the same slums that bore the brunt of the gas leak, according to government and independent studies. Lawsuits aimed at getting the site cleaned up, and compensation to victims of the contamination, continue to inch through Indian and U.S. courts.

On a recent afternoon in Atal Ayub Nagar, a polluted slum, a circle of women waited their turns to fill plastic jugs at a well, while two grimy boys hunched shin-deep in a tiny black pond fished out discarded food. Studies have shown the neighborhood's water contains a mix of such poisons as lead and mercury and volatile organic compounds known to attack the liver, kidney and nervous system.

Inam Ullah, crouching on the porch of his burlap-roofed hut, says his body has shrunk by 30 pounds since he moved to the area 12 years ago. A searing pain in his stomach finally sapped the strength he needed to push his vegetable cart, so the 50-year-old was forced to pull his two boys from school and put them to work as day laborers.

He says he believes it is the water that plagues his stomach and killed his wife last year.

"My wife has died," says Ullah, his dark eyes glassy. "We will die also."

Bhopal, a city of more than one million once famed for its glistening lakes and jungles, as well as the resplendent Taj-ul-Masjid, one of the country's biggest mosques, is better known now as the city of poison.

In the years after the gas leak, as Bhopal sought to grasp its epic toll, few paid close attention to the toxic mess at the abandoned factory. Some cleanup was done - Carbide says $2 million was spent on waste removal in the first 10 years after the disaster - yet it remains today a hulking industrial sore. Strewn among the ghostly, 90-acre landscape of rusted pipes and crumbled warehouses lie hundreds of tons of pesticides and other toxic elements stored in open drums and heaps of splitting, white sacks.

Responsibility and Accountability

Meanwhile, Dow Chemical, which bought Union Carbide in 2001, continues to evade responsibility for the lingering fallout of the tragedy:

Union Carbide blames a disgruntled employee who it says sabotaged the plant. Indian investigators accuse Carbide of faulty safety mechanisms.

Carbide calls the accident a "terrible tragedy which understandably continues to evoke strong emotions even 20 years later."

The company, based in Danbury, Conn., and bought by Dow Chemical Co. of Midland, Mich., in 2001, says it spent more than $2 million to clean up the plant from 1985 to 1994, when it sold its stake in Union Carbide India Ltd. It rejects notions that the plant and its surrounding area are contaminated.

But the environmental group Greenpeace and the government of Madhya Pradesh (of which Bhopal is the capital) both found contamination of the soil and groundwater, which Greenpeace says would cost $30 million to detoxify. The government owns the property but has done little to clean it up.

In 1989, the Supreme Court of India ordered Union Carbide to pay a final settlement of $470 million in compensation for gas victims and agreed to drop criminal charges against the company's then-chairman Warren Anderson.

But the court reinstated charges of manslaughter against Anderson in 1991; the charges still stand. The U.S. State Department rejected India's extradition request.

"Union Carbide has contributed significantly in providing aid to the victims and has fulfilled every responsibility and obligation it had in Bhopal," says the company's Web site.

But Rajan Sharma, the attorney representing plaintiffs in the lawsuit in New York, said Union Carbide put little value on the lives of people in the developing world. He said the company cut costs in India and did not observe the same safety standards it used in a similar plant in Virginia.

Dow Chemical — one of the world's largest chemical manufacturers, which recently posted quarterly sales of $10 billion — says the responsibility for Bhopal now falls to the Madhya Pradesh government.

"Bhopal is the worst corporate crime in history," Sarangi said. "Bhopal sent an ominous message that foreign corporations can come in and get away with whatever they can. Dow Chemical should face trial in India."

Cohen, of the Environmental Health Fund, said the United States would never allow a foreign company to get away with a Bhopal on American soil.

"Bhopal is etched in people's memories the way 9/11 is etched in people's memories in New York," Cohen said. "If you go to New York today, people are going on with their lives . . . but you know ground zero is still there. The difference is ground zero was cleaned up in nine months. Union Carbide is as it was."

Victims of the gas leak are still awaiting their due. Because of legal maneuvering and what Cohen calls the "Kafkaesque" Indian bureaucracy, only part of the $470 million paid by Union Carbide has gone to the people who need it.

The rest has been sitting in a government bank, accruing interest. It is now worth $330 million.

Even Amnesty International has come out with a major report, called Clouds of Injustice, emphasizing the the massive violation of human rights -- taking away peoples lives and health -- and charging Union Carbide with ignoring basic safety precautions and avoiding legal and financial responsibility.

As environmental journalist Mark Hertgaard describes it:

Amnesty International has urged Dow Chemical, as Union Carbide's new corporate parent, to take a series of actions to make amends. Those actions include paying for a full cleanup of the Bhopal site and its contaminated groundwater, standing trial as requested in India, and paying full economic, medical and environmental reparations to the victims. More broadly, Amnesty echoes activists' call for tougher regulation of chemical production, especially in impoverished communities and countries. "Clouds of Injustice" proposes that the United Nations adopt an "international human rights framework that can be applied to companies directly" to ensure "transparency and public participation in ... the operation of industries using hazardous materials."

Meanwhile, in Bhopal, people continue to suffer and die:

Activists want Union Carbide to release the exact chemical composition for MIC, which they say has been like asking Coca-Cola for its secret formula. If they had that information, the activists say, health experts could then work on a viable antidote for those who still have MIC in their bloodstream.

Another problem is a lack of proper monitoring of patients. It's not there now; it wasn't there at the time of the accident, said Jeffrey Koplan, the former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who led one of the few foreign medical investigation teams in Bhopal five days after the disaster.

"At the time, people were fleeing. Bhopal became a ghost town," Koplan said. "You could tell where the cloud of gas had been. It looked like fall. There weren't any leaves left on the peepal trees."

Many Bhopalis exposed to the gas were not identified properly, Koplan said. The dead had been buried or cremated before identification.

Koplan called the immediate medical response in Bhopal "heroic." But he questioned actions taken in the years that followed. Where was the documentation of deaths, of survivors? Where was the proper care?

"Bhopal was unique in a lot of ways," Koplan said. "After all, here was this new, toxic substance in a heavily populated area. We had not dealt with something like that before."

So what message can we take away from Bhopal? In a sense, Union Carbide's actions were not unusual, cutting a few corners, slacking off on recognized safe procedures, hoping for the best. We see it every day, except that usually not much happens or maybe one or two workers get killed. What we're talking about here is responsibility -- corporate responsibility, and the responsibility of governments to make sure that corporations act responsibly. In this era of expanding globalization, however, the task becomes much more difficult.

Amnesty may sum it up best:

The Bhopal case illustrates how companies evade their human rights responsibilities and underlines the need to establish a universal human rights framework that can be applied to companies directly. Governments have the primary responsibility for protecting the human rights of communities endangered by the activities of corporations, such as those employing hazardous technology. However, as the influence and reach of companies have grown, there has been a developing consensus that they must be brought within the framework of international human rights standards.

And finally, look homeward. The issue of chemical plant safety is again being raised as homeland security concerns focus attention not only on the vulnerability of plants to terrorist attacks, but at the inherent dangers of the chemical industry, especially for plants located near highly populated areas. I point you to a little noticed incident last June when Gene Hale and her daughter, Lois Koerber died from exposure to chlorine fumes over a mile away from where two trains collided releasing a deadly cloud of chlorine gas. Sometimes late at night I think about this accident as I listen to the freight trains passing less than half a mile from my home. Tonight, at five minutes after midnight, I'm thinking about Bhopal, as well.


Additional Bhopal articles and websites:

SORROW IN DANBURY:Twenty years ago, Union Carbide executives had a really lousy week Article about the pathetic press coverage of Bhopal.

Bhopal's poisonous legacy, Op Ed by Gary Cohen, executive director of the Environmental Health Fund in Boston

Bhopal: A living legacy of corporate greed

Bhopal remembers toxic gas leak

"Clouds of Injustice: Bhopal disaster 20 Years on" Amnesty International Report: (Warning: Large .pdf file)

Revisiting the Bhopal disaster

20 years later, Bhopal victims say they're still seeking justice

Chemical concerns: Institute, WV, still home to MIC stockpile

National Public Radio: After 20 Years, Effects of Bhopal Tragedy Linger
The Bhopal generation: young, bitter and politicised

Justice for Bhopal survivors This Salon article by environmental journalist Mark Hertsgaard is one of the best I've read. If you're not a Salon subscriber, you'll need to sign up for a free one day membership. It's worth it. Update: Now available on Alternet without the hassle.

BBC Tells of Bhopal Hoax

Greenpeace: Bhopal disaster still unresolved 20 years on
Dow in denial

Interview with Rashida Bee on the Daily Grist

Students for Bhopal

And check out The International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal.

What Color Is That Cloud Over The Chemical Plant?

Something to think about as we commemorate the 20th Anniversary of Bhopal.

My Bhopal Story

The thing about having your own blog is that you get to retell all the tired stories that your family and friends are tired of hearing...

About 15 years ago, I was summoned for jury duty. "Luck" was not on my side. All of the cases except one were expected to last one or two days. But I was chosen to be screened for an estimated 2-week medical malpractice case, and through some inexplicable momentary lapse of judgment, the defendant's attorneys actually allowed me onto the jury. (Even though I admitted that I was a union health and safety activist.)

The case: A women had been suffering from uterine bleeding. After a short examination, her gynecologist did a D&C (dilation and curetage). The problem was that she was pregnant, and he had failed to do a pregnancy test. The baby was born several months later with cerebral palsy. And now we were in court.

To make a long trial short, the woman had lousy legal representation and the OB had the best that considerable sums of money could buy. Her attorney's were miserable, totally failing to make the case that the child's illness could be blamed on the D&C.

Although we knew the doc had screwed up, being highly civilized and highly educated citizens, we didn't feel that we could find in favor of the woman -- at least in terms of causation. But then I had an idea. What about finding in favor of the mother for the pain and suffering she endured from the time she found out she was pregnant until she gave birth? The judge gave us the green light, and we were off and running. Or at least eleven of us were.

One juror, who happened to be of Indian origin, didn't want to go along. "People can make honest mistakes," she argued. "They shouldn't be punished for them."

We argued with her for over an hour, but it was getting late and tempers were getting short after two long, emotional weeks.

On the verge of giving up, I had a brainstorm. "Oh yeah," I asked her. "Well what about Bhopal? I suppose Union Carbide shouldn't be punished for their "innocent mistakes" either?"

Yeah, it was a bit underhanded. But it worked. Mom got the money. Justice was served, sort of.

Job Openings in Philadelphia

The Philadelphia Area Project on Occupational Safety and Health (Philaposh) is looking for a new director.

Philaposh is one of a national network of COSH groups (Committees on Occupational Safety and Health). COSH groups are private, non-profit coalitions of labor unions, health, legal and technical professionals, and others interested in promoting and advocating for worker health and safety and for injured workers’ rights. Philaposh provides training, education, and advocacy on a wide range of related topics, and has been instrumental in the passage of important protective legislation at the City, State and Federal levels during our almost 30 year history. Philaposh organizes two major public events each year, including the local commemoration of Workers’ Memorial Day in April.

(Philaposh is also looking for a Part Time Bookkeeper/Support Staff)

For more information, contact:

Search Committee
Philaposh
3001 Walnut Street, 5th floor
Philadelphia, PA 19104

For more information, contact Jim Moran, 215-386-7000, philaposh@aol.com, or Kathy Black, 215-893-3770, kblack@dc47.org