Wither CalOSHA?

Most people don't realize that almost half of the states in this country run their own OSHA programs and that the effectiveness of these programs is dependent on both federal and state funding. Federal OSHA runs the rest. OSHA law allows federal OSHA to fund up to 50% of the program as long as the state runs a "fully effective" program. To determine whether a state program is fully effective, federal OSHA and the state agree to staffing level "benchmarks."

The California Association of Professional Scientists (CAPS), the union representing CalOSHA inspectors, has released a report questioning whether California OSHA (CalOSHA) is actually running a "fully effective" program. The report found CalOSHA's staffing level to be below its staffing commitment to federal OSHA and and far below what is needed to assure safe workplaces for California workers.

"It's a sorry picture," according to CAPS' Matt Austin.

California is one of 22 states to run its own OSHA program, covering both private and public sector employees. In 1980, when the CalOSHA program was first approved, the state agreed to a staffing level of 805 inspectors to cover over 11.6 million workers in half a million workplaces. CalOSHA never came close to that level and in 1994 renegotiated a much lower level with federal OSHA: 118 safety and 80 health inspectors. At that time, CalOSHA estimated that the safety inspectors would be able to inspect around 12,000 workplaces determined to be high priority, in addition to complaint, fatality and catastrophe inspections. Health inspectors would be able to inspect around 3800 workplaces.

In 1994, California was estimated to have just over a million workplaces, which meant that there was 1 inspector for every 82,822 workers and 1 inspector to for every 4,718 worksites.

Fast forward 10 years. California's labor force has grown 15% and the number of workplaces over 30% since 1994. How is CalOSHA doing keeping up?

Not well, according to CAPS.

Instead of growing in proportion with the number of workplaces covered, the official benchmark has remained at 198. The actual number of inspectors in the field, however, is much less: 176.5 (not including 7 who are on long term leave), making today's ratio of inspectors to workers 1 to 100,181 workers and 1 to 6,464 worksites.

Today, California has more fish and game wardens than workplace safety and health inspectors - 227 vs. 193.

If California was still operating under the 1980 federal OSHA benchmark ratios, the agency would have one inspector to every 15,000 workers and 625 workplaces.

CalOSHA also doesn't seem to be doing well compared to other western states. Washington State, for example, has a ratio of one inspector to 21,655 workers and 1,834 worksites, while Oregon has a ratio of one inspector to 22,286 workers and 1,239 worksites. And just for amusement, check out British Columbia which has a ratio of one inspector to 9,549 workers and 845 worksites.

There is currently a hiring freeze in California and the effect of the current round of budget cuts is not yet known.

CalOSHA is also failing to meet the challenge of keeping up with the changing composition of the state's working population. The non-English speaking workforce of California is estimated to be more than 6 million workers, over one-third of the working population. Yet CalOSHA has only 29 inspectors (or 16% of the total) who are fluent in a language other than English. Twenty of these speak Spanish.

According to Austin, there are several obstacles to fully staffing the program: budget problem, low pay for inspectors and lack of political will. CalOSHA has not been on top of the priority list for either the current or under Democrat Gray Davis. In fact, CalOSHA has not had a permanent Chief since July 2002 when former Chief John Howard was appointed by President Bush to head NIOSH.

It is not surprising, then, that Cal/OSHA staff members frequently complain of overwhelming caseloads. In November 2001 the California Senate Labor and Industrial Relations Committee held a hearing on Cal/OSHA’s response to workplace fatalities. In that hearing, Cal/OSHA was presented with a list of problems, ranging from a lack of bilingual staffing to delayed response times after worker injuries and deaths.18 Cal/OSHA representatives attributed many of the problems to staffing shortages; and they also cited noncompetitive salaries for state-employed engineers, namely, 20 percent lower than the salaries of state-contracted engineers from private consulting firms.

Even the conservative Sacramento Bee came to CalOSHA's defence in December following a fvorable article about CalOSHA in the NY Times:

At a time the state is reeling from a budget crisis of historic proportions, its worker safety law and aggressive enforcement sets California apart and above. That is something to be proud of and to protect. It also is a standard the rest of the nation would do well to emulate.

While most attention is paid to funding and program of federal OSHA, it is important to also focus on the status of workers in the 23 state plan states. Remember, it's not just a Presidential election year. Local elections are where state priorities are made. If you're in one of the other state plan states, check out your state OSHA budget and staffing.

OSHA Training Grant Program: Something Missing?

I wrote last week of OSHA's repeated attempts to replace the highly successful $11 million Susan Harwood Training Program with a $4 million web and electronic training program.

If that's not bad enough, check out OSHA's press release about it's FY 2005 budget.

Revised Training Grant Program

Under the President's proposed budget, OSHA would revise the Susan Harwood training grants program to focus on new technologies and emphasize development of training materials rather than delivery of training. The program would be open to colleges, universities and community colleges; faith-based and community-based groups; and professional organizations. Training products could be delivered through new technologies, such as the web. Developers would track and evaluate the use of the training.

Notice anything missing?

LIKE LABOR UNIONS?

OSHA has been phasing unions out of the worker training grants. Out of the 50 new grants that OSHA announced in 2003, only 4 (or 8%) go to unions or labor-management coalitions, while 14 (or 28%) go to businesses or business associations.

On the other hand, maybe it was just an oversight. Workers are so easy to forget about these days at the Department of Labor.

Four Workers Killed in Two Crane Accidents

Three workers were killed when a crane collapsed in Toledo Ohio, and another was killed when two cranes collapsed in Connecticut.

In the Toledo area’s worst construction accident in decades, three ironworkers died and five other workers were injured yesterday after a 2-million-pound crane collapsed at the southern end of the new I-280 bridge in East Toledo.

Rescue crews spent four hours recovering the dead as fellow construction workers held vigil in 20-degree weather and onlookers stood stunned at a construction project touted for its engineering ingenuity and safety record.

"It just looked like you pulling an erector set apart," witness Lee Timmons of East Toledo said.

Dead from the 2:22 p.m. accident were Robert Lipinski, Jr., 44, of Grand Rapids, Ohio, Mike Moreau, 30, of Lambertville, and Mike Phillips, 42, of South Toledo.

In Connecticut, the cranes collapsed at at the new Sikorsky Memorial Bridge on the Merritt Parkway.

The cranes were lifting a girder at about noon when one crane fell off its barge and into the Housatonic River, said Chris Cooper, a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation. The boom of the other crane snapped back, Cooper said.

Information on crane safety here.

Update here.

EPA Cuts Funding For Cleanup of Asbestos-Contaminated Libby, MT

We have frequently mentioned the tragedy of Libby, Montana, the town contaminated with asbestos-laden wastes from vermiculite mined by the Grace Corporation.

When Grace started losing lawsuits filed by sick residents, the corporation spun off its profitable assets and went bankrupt in 2001, leaving the town and taxpayers holding the bag.

The death toll is 200 so far in Libby, and nearly 2,000 locals have been diagnosed with asbestos-related diseases. Residents fear that the longer the cleanup takes, the more people will take ill.

More than 180 residential and commercial properties have been cleaned, including the mine's old processing plants and the school track. But this budget year, the Bush administration gave the Libby cleanup $4 million less than the $19 million dispersed the year before and $6 million less than the local EPA requested. That means the families of Libby will remain at potential risk -- not for five more years as originally promised, but for as many as 12, residents say.

And to add insult to injury,

In another slap at Libby last month, cleanup workers learned at 4 in the afternoon that their hourly wages would be cut starting the next day, from a minimum of $24 to $14. With workers complaining, the EPA now is considering raising their pay back to $19 an hour. Still, residents are afraid the pay cut will damage morale and undermine the quality of the cleanup.

At the peak of the cleanup last summer, 120 people were working for EPA contractors in Libby, and these were some of the best jobs in the economically depressed town.

“We have a very dedicated workforce,” Sullivan says. “These are people who really give a hoot. Why is the EPA hurting their pride?”

If you somehow missed the Libby story, check here, here and here.

"20 Tonnes of Death Coming out of the Darkness"

4 Railway Workers Killed in England

Four British railway workers were killed when a runaway train wagon weighing several tons and travelling 40 miles per hour rolled downhill for four miles and ploughed into them as they worked on the tracks. No lookout had been posted because the track was "closed."

The wagon is thought to have broken loose at 6am and gathered speed as it rolled down a four-mile sloping section of track, hitting the 10-strong gang at about 45mph.

It rolled another mile before coming to a halt.

The four were killed instantly and three were injured, one seriously. Three others managed to jump clear.

Their 40-year-old friend, too upset to be named, said: "This was the worst nightmare for any railman, an unmanned wagon coming straight at you out of the pitch darkness.

Meanwhile, the wife of one of the dead workers told of her husband's concerns about safety equipment before the accident:

The wife of one of four railway workers killed by a runaway wagon on Sunday has revealed how he had complained before the accident about safety equipment.

Christine Waters, 50, said her husband Chris had told her that he and his fellow workers could not hear when wearing new helmets and feared they were "more of a danger than safety".

Reports on Monday suggested the men could not hear the wagon approaching and also that they could not hear mobile phone calls from colleagues further up the line trying to warn them of the danger.

Travellers: On Vacation From Civility?

Violence Against Travel Industry Employees on the Rise

The New York Times addresses abuse of flight attendents and other travel industry service workers and the stress it causes. And it's not just isolated to the airlines.

In a survey of 875 airline, bus, train and highway employees late last year, the nonpartisan public opinion organization Public Agenda found that 54 percent of travel workers feel that passenger rudeness is a top cause of job-related stress and tension. Nearly half said that they had seen a situation where disrespectful behavior threatened to escalate into a physical confrontation, and 19 percent said they had observed violent acts.

Often, employees don't feel they are getting the support they deserve from management.

"Sometimes it seems like the enemy is not the passengers but senior management," said Ms. Terry, the US Airways customer service agent and union local president. "On the issue of passenger disrespect, management does not want to support us. They prefer to avoid conflict and possible litigation and put their heads in the sand."

Amy Kudwa, a spokeswoman for the airline, disputed that assertion. "We have had a history of supporting both our ground agents and our flight crews when it comes to instances of air rage," she said. "We rigorously pursue and prosecute passengers who engage in such activities."

In one case where an employee was physically attacked, however, the employee had to file charges with the police because airport management refused.

Worker-Owned Home Health Care

Interesting article in the NY Times about a worker owned home-health care company and the difference between the way it treats its employers vs. the traditional for-profit firms

"There were no benefits, no nothing,'' Ms. Pillot said. "They didn't care about you, and if you had a family problem, like my son having asthma, you had to take care of it yourself.''

But she is far happier since she landed a job with one of the nation's most successful worker-owned companies, a home health agency in the South Bronx that has won widespread acclaim for how it treats its 780 employees. Her agency, Cooperative Home Care Associates, is unusual not just because it is employee-owned - workers can buy one share of the company - but also because many management analysts and health care professionals are studying it as a model for other low-wage workers.

"The worker is at the center of everything we do,'' said Michael Elsas, Cooperative's president. "Everything else revolves around that."

Cooperative generally pays its workers 20 percent more than other New York home care agencies do. Its workers get $6.80 to $9.50 per hour, with the average at $8.60. It gives aides comprehensive health insurance and what is considered the best training program in the business, providing at least four weeks of training (most agencies provide two weeks).

Many home care agencies charge new employees $300 for training, while Cooperative provides it free, an important sweetener considering that two-thirds of its aides used to be on welfare.

Cooperative subsidizes its employees if they want to take college courses to become nurses. It guarantees aides at least 30 hours of work a week, while many other agencies give their aides only 15 or 20 hours, far too little for them to live on.

If Cooperative's workers arrive late to their home care cases because of child-care problems, the agency's counselors help employees track down child care. When workers have a complaint, they can easily arrange a one-on-one meeting with Cooperative's president.

And to top it off, they just organized with SEIU, which should prove "interesting."

So now the union representing health workers is supposed to bargain with the company owned by health workers. That makes management uneasy, and not only because Cooperative already provides better wages and benefits than most other agencies. [Board Chairman Rick] Surpin warns that it might be hard for Cooperative to adhere to multiyear pacts and to match percentage raises given by agencies that pay less.

"We present a problem for the union, and the union presents a problem for us,'' Mr. Surpin said. "But the union has come to see that we're dead serious about doing what's best for the workers.''

Officials at 1199 agree that it can be an awkward pas de deux.

Around The Blogs

Jeanne d'Arc trys to explain to her child about grocery store strikes and the evils of Wal-Mart (via The Mad Prophet).

The Yorkshire Ranter has more on the gangmasters who killed 19 (or more) Chinese immigrant cocklers in Britain. (And check out the comments at the bottom as well.)

rawblogXport has a tragic story about child slave laborers harvesting cocoa that goes into our M&Ms.

Nathan Newman about NY Times Columnist Frank Rich's exposure of the REAL scandal of the Superbowl Half-Time show. And it wasn't Nipplegate.

Tim Lambert writes about right-wing blogger Steve Malloy's definition of "Junk Science"

Unsuspecting visitors might think that Milloy’s site is devoted to criticizing shoddy science, but they would be wrong. If you look at what he “debunks” you will find that the real criterion for deciding what is “junk science” is not the quality of the work, but the political agenda that it might support. Studies that support a right-wing agenda are endorsed, while studies that don’t are harshly criticized.

(Via Chris Mooney)

OSHA Web Page Hours Conspiracy

I've written a couple of times about OSHA shutting down it's Inspection Data website (here and here) on weekends and between the hours of 6:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. weekdays.

So last night I'm trying to do a little research (yes, I do actually research some of my stories) and, of course, I got the same message again about the Inspection Data webpage being shut down at night and over the weekend. OK, I'll just do it some other time, like...... Wait a minute. When is the research staff at Confined Space (all of whom have day jobs) supposed to do any research on OSHA's web page? The OSHA webpage hours correspond to the exact times when Confined Space is not posting -- when I'm at work.

I had a comment after my first post on this topic from Sara Markle-Elder saying "They're on to you. They know you do this in your free time." I laughed at the time. But no more.

Coincidence you say?

I think not.

Trench Death an "Accident"

But What's An "Accident?"

The Fire Department of the City of Zanesville, OH, has determined that the death of James Carpenter in a trench collapse last November was "an accident." And they're right, as they define accident.

We handle the criminal portion of the investigation," [Zanesville Fire Chief David Lacy] said. "We determine if the accident was caused intentionally -- such as an employee took a backhoe and intentionally threw dirt into the ditch to bury him. OSHA handles the civil portion of the investigation."

OK, so let's look at the definition of the word "accident." According to Webster, "accident" has several meanings:

1 a : an unforeseen and unplanned event or circumstance
b : lack of intention or necessity: CHANCE
2 a : an unfortunate event resulting especially from carelessness or ignorance

The city is clearly using definition 1b: "lack of intention or necessity." The problem is that the public perusing the headline would generally think of definition 1a: "an unforseen and unplanned event or circumstance." In other words, shit happens, too bad, bad luck, nothing could have been done to prevent it.

We here at Confined Space know better, of course. We prefer definition 2a: "An unfortunate event resulting especially from carelessness or ignorance."

...And punishable by a considerable fine and perhaps jail time, as opposed to the $4,500 penalty that OSHA has issued against the company.

They're Back....

OMB Again Calls For Review Of Regulations

The White House Office of Management and Budget's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs is once again asking "the public" to identify regulations (such as OSHA standards) that they believe impede competitiveness in the U.S. manufacturing sector.

This review is allegedly due to the White House's concern about job loss in the manufacturing sector. The White House is particularly concerned about small business.

The National Association of Manufacturers was quite pleased:

"Regulatory compliance costs faced by U.S. manufacturers are generally much higher than those faced by overseas competitors, so we very much welcome OMB's initiative," said Jerry J. Jasinowski, president of the NAM.

Translation: "if only we could run our businesses like they do in China."

(If you're really interested in NAM's reasoning behind this statement, you can check out their report "How Structural Costs Imposed on U.S. Manufacturers Harm Workers and Threaten Competitiveness" which complains about how much it is costing businesses to clean up (the environment) after themselves, assure the public that they are not stealing from their stockholders and employees, and keep their workers alive and healthy...all of which sound vaguely reminiscent of lessons that some of us learned in Kindergarten.)

The Small Business Administration was also quite pleased:

"You have to figure out any possible way to get rid of barriers to job creation," said Thomas M. Sullivan, chief counsel for advocacy at the SBA.

Sullivan, you may remember, was the former Executive Director of the National Federation of Independent Businesses before he was appointed to his current position by President Bush in 2002. He is also a winner of the coveted Confined Space Quote of the Week award for the following statement:

"I am doing the exact same thing as chief counsel for advocacy," Sullivan said, "only NFIB does not have to pay me now."

How nice for them.

OMB has not pleased everyone, however:

Critics of the Bush administration see the review as another attempt to roll back health and safety rules.

"It's an out-and-out appeal to the manufacturing sector to give OMB a wish list of regulations to be undone. It's a call for a new regulatory hit list," said Lisa Heinzerling, a professor at Georgetown Law Center who recently published a book, "Pricing the Priceless," which criticizes how cost-benefit analysis is applied to health and environmental policy.

Seattle Cab Drivers Stage Work Stoppage Over Safety

More than 200 Kings County, Washington cab drivers staged a two hour work stoppage yesterday to call for better safety conditions. The recent shooting death of a cab driver sparked the protest. Drivers report being routinely shot, threatened, bitten and ejected from their cars.

Some drivers want bulletproof shields, but many said the shields make them feel isolated. Other drivers want video cameras in the cabs. Some want police to investigate crimes against cabbies more thoroughly.

Deb Duggan, a cabdriver for more than 10 years, said she wants more training for drivers in how to defuse a potentially violent situation. She wants cabs to have a sign discouraging robbers, by saying cabbies carry only a certain amount of cash.

Cab drivers are 60 times more likely to be slain on the job than other workers, according to a 2000 study by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

On Jan. 31, someone got in the Yellow Cab of Hassan Farah shortly after he started his 4 a.m. shift and killed him near Boeing Field. Police have made no arrests.....[Duggan] said she heard that Farah, a 39-year-old husband and father, had gone to a dispatched call from a McDonald's parking lot at 4:30 a.m. With more training, she said, somebody might have red-flagged that call as suspicious.

"You got to wonder why they called from there," said Duggan, an organizer with the Cab Drivers' Alliance of King County, which arranged yesterday's work stoppage.

Minneapolis cab driver staged a protest action last summer following the shooting of a driver there.

Check here and here for more information on cabdriver safety.

Disneyworld Worker Killed

A worker at Walt Disney World in Florida was killed during a parade on Wednesday. Javier Cruz, 38, who was wearing a Pluto costume, was the father of two and had worked at the park since 1995.

Marin, his sister, said someone who worked with her brother told her that he tripped in front of the float and there wasn't enough time for him to move.

'It's not acceptable'

"We believe it could have been prevented. I believe they should have kept a distance between him as a character and the float," she said.

"OK, it's an accident, but it's not acceptable. They should have prevented this."

Employees later reported that

Cruz was facing forward when his foot got caught on the lower part of the float. When the vehicle began to move, his body was twisted around and he fell down. The third section of the vehicle ran him over and trapped him. Other Disney workers used a forklift and hydraulic lift to get the vehicle off Cruz, according to the report from the Orange County Sheriff's Office.

Norman Smith drove the vehicle by electric power from the first section of the float. Smith told investigators he couldn't see the other sections but relied on the guidance of another worker on foot to tell him when to move the vehicle. He also depended on radio contact with other parade marchers.

In 1999, an employee was killed at Disneyworld when he fell from the Magic Kingdom's Skyway ride. OSHA fined Disney $4,500.

Back Pain? Shut Up And Deal With It!

Sometimes you get a gift. I had missed this article about back pain in the New York Times on Tuesday. I finally read it after someone pointed it out to me, and noted that several of the experts quoted were leaders of the campaign against the ergonomics standard. Stanley Bigos and Norton Hadler who come up with gems like this:

Other studies have indicated that the development of abnormal disks is usually inherited. But there were no links to occupation, sports injuries or weak muscles, said Dr. Norton Hadler, a professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina.

Ah, another evening ranting and raving at my computer, I thought. But lo and behold, I was saved the effort by Darryl Alexander, Director of Health and Safety at AFT. She left a comment attached to my posting about the Detroit News column on ergonomics "science."

Interesting that the "scientists" used by the Chamber, NAM etc. recently surfaced in an article by Gina Kolata in the NY Times on the mystery of back injury cause and treatment. Dr. Hadler that well-credentialed expert was quoted as well as Stanley Bigos - both stating that we really don't know what is causing all these back problems and that "no treatment" seems to work as well or better than expensive treatment to getting workers back to work. Not a word in the article about work-related association of back injuries and returning workers to the same jobs that caused the problem in the first place.

We are in real trouble if these characters get front page exposure and credibility from the NY times.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Brought back memories of the OSHA ergonomics hearings where these so-called experts futilely tryed to explain how there was no association between back pain and jobs that required heavy lifting, as if the high incidence of back pain among nursing home employees was a product of pure coincidence. (Or maybe people with a previous history of back pain are naturally attracted to nursing, just as people with pre-existing neck and wrist pain are naturally attracted to chicken processing.)

And they complain about "junk science." Makes you want to scream.

OSHA Training Grant Program: The Unkindest Cut

I have written numerous times about OSHA's attempt to gut one of the agency's most successful programs, the Susan Harwood Training Grant Program. Under the program, millions of dollars are granted to unions, colleges, business associations, COSH groups and other non-profits each year to provide direct training to hundreds of thousand of workers. In recent years, the focus has been on Hispanic workers. The grant programs have spawned valuable training programs tailored to adult learners at the level and in the language that the workers could understand. The grant programs produced excellent publications and innovative train-the-trainer programs that have prepared a cadre of health and safety trainers who multiply the benefits of the program.

Every Bush budget has attempted to cut the program from $11 million to $4 million, changing the program from proven direct worker training to an internet-based creation. And every year, Congress has restored the full $11 million.

Once again, Bush is attempting to cut the program down to $4 million. But, in an interview in Inside OSHA, OSHA Chief John Henshaw, channeling the ghost of George Orwell

rebuked assertions that the administration is cutting the training grants program.

“I would not use the word ‘cutting',” Henshaw said referring to the proposed $6 million decrease in the training grant program. “We do not feel the training program should be based on one-on-one training. We are developing materials and technology to get information out to more people.”

We Interrupt This Program For a Short Musical Interlude

It rained so hard the day I left,
The weather it was dry,
The sun so hot, I froze to death,
Suzanna don't you cry.

I'm sorry. Now where was I?

Henshaw went on to extoll the virtues of internet based training, especially for Hispanic workers, "the fastest group entering the internet."

They'd better be fast. After working a 12-hour day in the poultry processing plant, they'll need to rush home on the bus to the trailer part, where, after making dinner, helping the kids with their homework, getting them to bed, then having the whole rest of the evening to relax in front of their Pentium XXVII computers with their high-speed internet connections, training themselves on how to prevent their necks and limbs and backs from disintegrating from hanging 20,000 live chickens above their heads every day.

Back in the days when we expected the federal government to follow the letter and the spirit of the law, health and safety training was done on worktime, with live trainers who could actually answer questions and engage the workers in learning instead of sticking them in front of a computer or expecting them to take a CD home with them.

And good workplace safety and health training is about more than just facts about hazards and how to prevent them. It's also about how to change the conditions in the workplace so that injuries and illnesses don't happen. And even if that information is accurate and understood, it isn't too useful for workers who have little knowledge of OSHA and little understanding of their rights. No matter how good the web page is, you can't do that kind of training over the internet.

John Henshaw and Elaine Chao will soon go before Congress and attempt once again to defend these cuts that are not cuts. They will try to argue that internet training is somehow better than face-to-face interactive training, and that all of this is particularly beneficial for Hispanic workers.

Let's just hope that Congress once again has the wisdom and courage to tell the agency they're full of crap.

Southern California Grocery Strike: A War for the Whole Country

Update in the NY Times about labor raising the pressure on the supermarkets in the Southern California strike over health care.

"This is not a battle about Southern California; this is a war for the whole country, particularly over health care," said Ron Judd, West Coast regional director of the A.F.L.-C.I.O. "This should be seen as the poster child of what employers are willing to do to take away health care."

The union, the United Food and Commercial Workers, describes its action as a goal-line stand against supermarket efforts to reduce benefits while having workers begin paying some of the premiums. Organized labor says that if the union loses here, corporate managers everywhere may be emboldened to cut back on health benefits.

And the hardship on the strikers is getting heavier. Carter Wright over at the Joe Kenehan Center has found some good first-hand information on the strikers' stories. "The courage shown by these people is astonishing."

OSHA Webpage Update

As I reported below, OSHA has closed off its very useful Inspection Data website from 6:00 P.M. to 8:00 A.M.

I've heard from several sources that it's due to budget problems. One theory is that they're paying an expensive contractor and the site has been too successful to afford. Another theory is that the Firewall costs too much to run 24 hours a day. I've also heard that OSHA intends to limit access for people who spend too much time on the site.

New York health and safety activist Trina Semorille suspects: "It's because they want to limit access. They know you don't want to do this research during the day, at work, where it can be tracked, allowing whistleblowers and "troublemakers" to be punished. Off the job, no access at all--the site is closed. "

And University of Connecticut Associate Professor Tim Morse suggests, "It is interesting that the times that they cut it back are the times when workers are most likely to access it."

Very interesting, but hardly surprising.

Maybe we should all let OSHA know how stupid this really is. You can do it through the web page or call the main number: (202) 693-2000.

Make Workplace Safety an Election Issue

Quiz: What was the first major piece of legislation signed by George Bush?

Buzzz, time's up. Readers of Confined Space know that answer: The bill repealing the federal ergonomics standard.

It was so long ago, -- pre-taxcuts, pre-deficit, pre-9/11, pre Iraq, pre-Overtime regs, that many have forgotten this first of this administration's many crimes against working people. Long ago, but not far away for the millions of workers who continue to suffer every year from musculoskeletal disorders.

Well, now it's time for payback. Let them know that we haven't forgotten.

The United Auto Workers has just issued its "trade union activist's toolbox filled with facts about the issues that matter most to workers, retirees, our families and communities." One issue sheet addresses workplace health and safety issues. The sheet deals with four main issues:

• Ergonomics: Bending to the wishes of the powerful corporate interests that opposed the ergonomics rule — who also happened to be major contributors to the election campaigns of George W. Bush and GOP congressional leaders — Congress for the first time invoked the Congressional Review Act to repeal the ergonomics rule.
  
  Upon repealing the rule, the Bush administration promised a “plan” that would protect workers. After more than a year, and 1.8 million ergonomic injuries, the administration announced it would not issue a mandatory standard. It promised to issue voluntary guidelines in several industries, but has so far ignored the auto and auto parts industries.
  
  
• GOP Attacks on OSHA: Corporate interests opposed to regulations have turned their attention to the executive branch. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is a part of the White House with authority to delay or block any OSHA standard. The Bush administration appointed a regulatory czar at OMB who favors phony cost-benefit analyses and otherwise obstructs health and safety protections.
  
  OSHA and the Department of Labor are headed by Bush appointees who see their role primarily as protecting corporations from “intrusive” regulations, rather than as protecting workers from on-the-job injuries. Funding cuts to OSHA enforcement personnel and to the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) have made the situation worse.
  
  
• Asbestos: Lawsuits by victims seeking compensation for asbestos-related illnesses are backlogged in the courts. Asbestos manufacturers have gone into bankruptcy, some of them phony, leaving many victims without recourse. The UAW supports efforts to develop national asbestos disease compensation legislation that will provide victims fair, timely and certain compensation.
  
  Insurance companies and some corporations supported by some Congressional Republicans, such as Dick Cheney’s former company Halliburton Corp., are trying to escape their liability under the compensation system. They are unwilling to pay enough into the fund to properly compensate all asbestos victims. The UAW, along with the rest of the labor movement, is insisting the fund be adequate to pay all claims.
  
  
• Chemical exposure limits, especially metalworking fluids: Most of the chemical exposure limits used by OSHA were set before 1970, when the agency was established. Since then, OSHA has been able to update limits for 15 agents, but for hundreds of others the standards permit exposures that will make workers ill. The most pressing example for UAW members is exposure to metalworking fluids. The UAW was forced to file suit in October against Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao to compel the Labor Department to resume action on this issue

There are, of course, many other issues that could make it onto union agendas this election year: withdrawal of tuberculosis rulemaking, failure to push for criminal penalties for workplace deaths, failure to issue the payment for personal protective equipment standard, OSHA's refusal to initiate the regulatory process for reactive chemicals, withdrawal of OSHA's nursing home initiatve, lack of action on workplace violence and on and on.

And while we're focusing on the all-important Presidential election, don't forget Congress where most evil is spawned. And while we're focusing on defeating Republicans, don't forget that some Democrats have also betrayed workers. Six Democratic Senators and sixteen Democratic Congresspersons voted to repeal the ergonomics standard. No Republican Senators and thirteen House members voted against repeal. (The Senate vote is here. The House vote is here.)

Workplace safety and health issues need to be raised every time you have a meeting with a candidate. We're pissed, we're hurting and they need to know about it, we need to put these issues on their radar screen no matter what party they belong to.

But there are plenty of other issues important to workers and unions: jobs, health care, pensions, minimum wage, labor law reform, taxes, privatization. In other words, we will need to fight within our unions to get health and safety issues on the election year agenda.... just as the UAW has done.

National Geographic Discovers Dangerous Jobs

Thirty years ago, the Devil's Wind—hurricane force southerlies—swept along the Southern Oregon coast. It was mid-August and many commercial salmon fishermen were baiting their lines miles from the safety of Brookings Harbor. With gusts pushing over 80 knots, every boat on the sea risked capsizing.

"I watched my best friend, John Crook, die when his father's fishing boat was swamped and rolled by the waves near the jetty off the Chetco River," said captain John Fraser, owner of the 42-foot (12.5-meter) wooden fishing boat Njord, based in Harbor, Oregon. "I was only ten years old then. But every time I cross that sandbar near the jetty I still think about it."

National Geographic has a new television series called "Dangerous Jobs." Most of the series seems to deal with the more "exotic" jobs -- underwater photographers, oil well fire fighters, test pilots, and bull fighters, but this article looks at a less glamorous job, hazards of commercial fishermen.

Throughout the 1990s, the fatality rate for commercial fishermen in Alaska was 28 times that of the overall U.S. work-related fatality rate of 4.4 per 100,000 workers a year, according to the Washington, D.C.-based National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

Between 1992 and 1996, Alaska commercial fishing suffered 112 fatalities according to the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, based in Washington, D.C. Massachusetts claimed second place with 32 deaths; Oregon was fifth with 21.

This one may have already been shown. Can't find it on the schedule.

For photos of deep sea fishermen, check out labor photographer Earl Dotter's exhibit here.

Asbestos: It's not just the old exposures

The book reviews of Andrew Schneider's book, An Air That Kills, makes clear, even as we deal with asbestos related disease caused by exposures that occurred decades ago, new exposures to asbestos are still wreaking havoc. Here is yet another story:

When Juan Jimenez traveled from Guatemala to Brooklyn in the 1990s, his reasons were simple: He wanted to be near his brother, Jose, and to make some money.

He earned $4.50 an hour when he started as a general laborer at Atlas Knitting, a now-defunct garment company near the Brooklyn Navy Yard. With the cash from his 70-hour workweeks, he rented a $400-a-month walk-up apartment and eked out a modest existence.

Then, in December 2000, the 33-year-old undocumented immigrant unknowingly put his health — and perhaps even his life — on the line.

In what federal and city investigators said was one of the most egregious incidents of its kind, Jimenez, his brother, Jose, 28, and several more Guatemalan immigrants were recklessly exposed to asbestos when their employer ordered them to use knives or scissors and their hands to remove crumbling insulation from heating pipes in the multistory Prince Street building where the garment company and other businesses were located.

The workers had nothing more than handkerchiefs and pieces of cloth to cover their faces as they pulled more than 2,000 linear feet of aging asbestos from pipes over several days that December.

And, as usual, it's immigrant workers who face the worst

For years, immigrant workers appear to have borne the brunt of illegal asbestos removal. In Guatemala, Equador and Poland, there are many repatriated migrants feeling the effects of asbestosis they actually contracted in the United States, said Lowell Peterson, a Manhattan attorney who represents Local 78 of the Asbestos, Lead and Hazardous Waste Laborers union.

The owners of the business, Marvin and Isaac Rubenstein, were convicted in October 2002 and went to prison ten days ago.