Human Resource Managers: Secret Weapon for Workplace Safety? Nah.

This is a bit bizarre. The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) reports that “In only two years, the number of employees who say feeling safe at work is a priority to their job satisfaction has jumped 28 percent..”

So far so good. Why do we think this is?

"Terrorist warnings in the US and the wars in the Middle East have put employees' concerns for safety at the forefront," said Susan R. Meisinger, SPHR, president and CEO of SHRM.

***

"With the increased prospect of terrorism in the United States, it's no surprise that employees are very concerned about feeling safe in the workplace," said Ken Jautz, executive vice president and general manager of CNN Business News. "Employers and their HR professionals must continually assess what makes employees feel safe at their organizations and implement programs that address these issues."

So workers’ concerns about workplace safety are all about terrorism? And what the hell do H.R. professionals have to do with making the workplace safe? Oh, wait, read that quote again: “HR professionals must continually assess what makes employees feel safe.:

I haven’t checked what colleges require HR majors to take, but I have a feeling there aren’t many industrial hygiene courses required. Maybe that’s why there’s not one mention in the press release about any other workplace conditions that workers might actually be concerned with.

Why am I so hard on these poor HR managers? There whole goal in life is to make employees feel happy. That can’t be a bad thing, can it? Happy employees are productive employees. And if you can make employees feel happy without actually doing anything, what could be better?

Maybe I’m so bitter because SHRM was a leading opponent of the Clinton administration’s ergonomics standard, joining the Chamber of Commerce in a lawsuit against the standard and organizing a massive fax campaign by human resource managers who were justifiably terrified that if the ergonomics standard was issued, they might actually have to do something other than give employees personality tests and play other games to make employees feel safe and happy.

I find it kind of hard to take them seriously.

Cintas Wrings Favors From Bush Administration

This is getting to be an old boring story, repeated over and over again over the past three and a half years, but maybe after enough of these stories, even Bush supporters will start to get the idea.....

The Washington Post today contains a long article about how major contributors to the Bush campaign are earning favors worth millions from the Bush administration. I've written before about the Cintas corporation and how the contributions of their owner, Richard T. Farmer, is succeeding in "encouraging" EPA to relax the regulation of solvent-soaked shop towels.

MASON, Ohio -- Richard T. Farmer is one of America's richest men and a Bush Pioneer by virtue of having raised at least $100,000 for the 2000 campaign. Over the past 15 years, he and his wife have given $3.1 million to Bush campaigns, the Republican Party and Republican candidates.

Farmer's family controls Cintas Corp., a $2.7 billion company that rents and launders uniforms and industrial shop towels. For years, Farmer's industry has been at odds with the Environmental Protection Agency over increased regulation of shop towels, particularly a Clinton administration proposal that, though not fatal, "would have cost us a lot of money," Farmer said.

In a recent interview at company headquarters here, Farmer said his campaign donations were made with no strings attached. He said he supports Republicans because they believe in "less government, more individual freedom, more individual responsibility."

"If you think I'm giving money to get access to [President Bush], you're crazy," Farmer said. "I'm just trying to get the right guy elected. That's all I care about."


***

After a series of telephone calls, e-mails, letters and meetings with representatives of the laundry industry, the EPA had provided industrial-laundry lobbyists with an advance copy of a portion of the proposed rule, which the lobbyists edited and the agency adopted.

That same opportunity was not given to the rule's opponents -- environmental groups, a labor union, hazardous-waste landfill operators and paper towel manufacturers who argue their product should be treated as environmentally equal to laundered towels. The opponents say industrial laundries send tens of thousands of tons of hazardous chemicals to municipal sewage treatment plants and landfills where toxics can get into groundwater, streams and rivers. Labor unions contend that the towels expose workers to cancer-causing fumes.

Cintas said in a statement that the rewritten rule will prevent pollution because "reusable shop towels are friendlier to the environment" than disposable paper towels.

The proposed shop towel rule is but one example of a policy change by the Bush administration that favors a company controlled by a Bush Pioneer or Ranger, who as a group have helped the president bank a record $200 million for the 2004 election campaign. The shop towel case reflects the subtle interactions between corporations and an administration determined to roll back what it considers to be regulatory overkill. For many big donors, getting "the right guy elected," as Farmer puts it, is an end in itself.

The labor union UNITE has been locked in a fierce organizing battle with Cintas, the nation's largest industrial laundry. The company supplies uniforms to over 500,000 businesses, and it employs 27,000 workers. Cintas has also received a number of OSHA citations.

New York Upgrades Fire & Building Codes

The New York Times has a major article on New York City's plan to upgrade its fire and building codes. The fire code has not had a major revision since it was issued in 1918 in the wake of the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaste fire.

The revision of the codes come out of the events of 9/11 and a report by the US Chemical Safety Board on the explosion at Kaltech Industries in 2002. That explosion was caused by the improper mixing of hazardous wastes. The CSB found that the city did not incorporate recent developments in hazardous materials safety, such as chemical identification, labeling, worker training, and separation of incompatible materials.

The process promises to be interesting:

Already, powerful groups representing both camps - developers and city officials who want to lower building costs and those who say there is no better time to tighten safety measures - are lobbying to ensure that their views prevail. And the process has become politicized in even more complex ways because of all the other interests represented on the 13 committees: those of unions, architects, environmentalists, disabled people and advocates for the construction of low- and moderate-income housing.

There are also a few occupational safety concerns:

The debate over safety extends even to matters like the array of new construction materials, including plastic pipe, that the national codes allow. Just as garbage disposals were banned in New York City until 1997 for environmental reasons, plastic pipe, used nationwide for 30 years or so, has been forbidden in New York buildings taller than three stories.

Some firefighters point out that the pipe gives off toxic fumes when it burns, while the local plumbers' union says that glues used to assemble it might pose a health hazard. But Julius A. Ballanco, an engineer and code consultant, countered at one Buildings Department hearing that the pipe was safe and that its opponents' underlying worry was that "plastic pipe typically takes less labor to install and is often less costly."

Another proposed code change would force developers to hire an additional structural engineering firm to provide a second opinion for buildings with particularly innovative designs. If the International Fire Code is adopted in its entirety, the storage and handling of chemicals will be far more restricted.

Terrorism in the American Workplace

I received this note from Michelle Marts, mother of Patrick Walters, who was killed in 2002 in an uprotected 10-foot deep trench. OSHA had cited the company, Moeves Plumbing Inc., only a couple of weeks before Walters' death for sending workers into unprotected 15-foot deep trench. Walters'case was reported by David Barstow in his three part New York Times series about how the federal government fails to prosecute most employers who willfully kill their workers.

I met her at a hearing last week.

In recent headlines in response to Americans torturing foreign prisoners, President Bush is quoted as saying he is "disgusted", "angered" and "Will hunt down the terrorist that beheaded Berg", etc... What would Mr. Bush have to say about Moeves Plumbing Inc, an American Company, if a copy of Patrick's body being recovered from the 10 feet of saturated mud, by the Montgomery County Rescue Workers, was televised to show America just how concerned Mr. Bush is with what is going on RIGHT HERE- RIGHT NOW for the AMERICAN WORKER.

Anything else I can do to further this necessary action, let me know.

Michelle Marts

CA Hospital Penalized by CalOSHA for Doctor's Murder

I have written several times about federal OSHA's failure to cite employers for workplace violence, the second leading cause of death in the workplace. CalOSHA seems to take a different point of view, even under Governor Schwarzenegger.

CalOSHA yesterday cited the John George Psychiatric Pavilion and levied $54,000 in penalties for the murder of Erlinda Ursua by a mental health patient last December.

In a report sent to the hospital this week, Cal/OSHA found that the examination room was too isolated from other employees who could have been alerted in case of trouble.

"The exam room was behind locked doors and physically separated from the work areas where other employees were located," the report said. A "panic alarm" on the wall of the room was functional but too far away for Ursua to reach, officials concluded.

Hospital staff also failed to follow an unwritten policy that doctors were never to be left alone with "potentially violent patients," the report said.

Employees also failed to follow a policy that staff members were not supposed to wear scarves or jewelry, the report said. Ursua apparently wore a scarf that could have been used to strangle her, authorities said.

John George staff also failed to determine why Pavon was in possession of medical paperwork after she allegedly killed the doctor, the report said.

Prior to Ursua's murder, the hospital had received $30,000 in penalties for failure to correction workplace violence-related hazards. Ursua's family is suing the hospital for failure to heed the earlier warnings.

More here.

Good News

Feeling down lately? Depressed, pessimistic, no energy. Read this and the ones before.

Charging My Batteries

Had drinks last night with New York Times reporter David Barstow (and his trusty sidekick Robin Stein), who wrote the Pulitzer prize winning series on the McWane corporation who willfully killed nine workers, injured scores and had been cited for more than 400 federal health and safety violations. Barstow's descriptions of working conditions at McWane, the plight of its workers and the failure of OSHA to bring criminal prosecutions down on a clear corporate criminal sum up this country's failure to ensure every worker a safe and health workplace as the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 requires.

In the last decade, many American corporations have embraced such a vision of capitalism — cutting costs, laying off workers and pressing those who remain to labor harder, longer and more efficiently. But top federal and state regulators say McWane has taken this idea to the extreme. Describing the company's business, they use the words "lawless" and "rogue."

The company's managers call it "the McWane way."

***

Employees describe simply stepping inside as an overwhelming experience. First is the heat, wave upon wave of it, sometimes in excess of 130 degrees. Then there is the noise — of pipe slamming into pipe, of pneumatic tools that grind and cut, of massive machines that shudder and shake, of honking forklifts and roaring exhaust systems. Dust and fumes choke the lungs and coat the lights, leaving the plant floor a spectral labyrinth of glowing pipes and blackened machinery.

Barstow went on to write another three-part series last December (which I covered here, here and here) about the failure of OSHA and the U.S. Justice Department to bring criminal prosecutions down on all but a tiny number of employers who willfully kill their employees.

If you haven't read the series, you can find them here. If you read the stories when they came out, it's about time to read them again -- and pass them on to someone who hasn't read them yet. (Preferably someone who is looking for a reason to vote for political leaders that see the need for government to take a strong role in forcing employers to provide safe workplaces.)

David and I lamented the sparse media coverage of the deaths of thousands of workers in this country every year -- a few formulaic paragraphs (at most) in the local newspaper, sometimes not even noting the worker's name. Most reporters never realize that there are gripping stories behind these deaths involving failures to take basic precautions, life and death, good vs. evil, employers' failure to take responsibility for actions or omissions that result in the preventable deaths of people whose only mistake was going to work that morning. And stories of children growing up without parents, and parents burying their young children. And most tragically, the missed opportunity to channel to sorrow and rage of the families into action that could literally save thousands of lives every year.

The first story of Barstow's second series began with the death of Patrick M. Walters, killed in an uprotected 10-foot deep trench, only a couple of weeks after OSHA had cited the same company for sending workers into unprotected 15-foot deep trench. Walters' parents were in Washington D.C. last week for a "hearing" organized by New York Congressman Major Owens. Michelle Marts and Jeff Walters testified in favor of legislation introduced by Senator Jon Corzine (D-NJ) that would increase the penalties for employers found guilty of willfully killing a worker. They were accompanied by the families of other workers killed on the job, including Jeff Davis Jr., whose father was killed in the explosion of a sulfuric acid tank after the Delaware company, Motiva Enterprises, had been warned that the tank was leaking. All that was left of Jeff Davis's father were a couple of pieces of his workboots.

I've been to a lot of hearings in Washington over the past 20 years and I've never been so moved -- or seen an audience so moved to tears at the tragic stories of the preventable deaths of these husbands, fathers and children. Although they all died in different ways, the stories their families had to tell had one thing in common: the employers all knew that what they were doing was life threatening. Nothing was done to prevent these tragedies, their loved ones died, and no serious action was taken to punish the companies beyond a meaningless -- and often insultingly low -- fine.

A second panel at the "hearing" addressed the plight of immigrant workers in this country and OSHA's failure to seriously address the issue by hiring enough non-English speaking staff and supporting effective training and enforcement programs.

Note in the previous paragraphs I've put the word "hearing" in quotations. That's because this wasn't an "official" hearing. Instead of being held in a Congressional hearing room, this "hearing" was held in a cramped basement room of the U.S. Capitol building. Why? Because the Republicans in control of Congress won't let the Democrats hold their own hearings. Why? Because they don't want to hear about workers dying on the job. They don't want to hear about the failure of this government -- all three branches of which are controlled by their party -- to comply with the mandates of the OSHAct. They'd rather put their heads in the sand, listen only to their contributors whining about the abuse of big government and pass bills that further weaken OSHA.

We need to be rid of them.

One of the witnesses at the hearing was SEIU Immigration Campaign coordinator Omar Henriquez. Omar, along with Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, AFSCME DC 37 health and safety staffer Guilermina Mejia, Transport Workers Union Local 100 President Roger Toussaint and the World Trade Center Worker and Vounteer Medical Screening Program were the recipients of awards at the NYCOSH Annual Awards Celebration.

If I was a real reporter, I would have taken careful notes about all that was said at the event and report them back to you. But at the event with me were 500 of my best friends -- brothers and sister -- many of whom I have worked with for the past twenty years and continue to go to work every day -- for unions, COSH groups, universities, law firms and government agencies -- with one mission in mind -- to help workers access the knowledge, tools and support they need to protect themselves when they go to work every day. None are well paid, all work far too hard against huge obstacles that shouldn't exist in a country as rich and "civilized" as ours. And as inspiring as the speakers were, it was the crowd that was most energizing.

We're living through one of the most difficult and terrible times in our nation's history -- beset by terrorism and faced with an administration that instead of building on the world-wide good will that resulted from the events of 9/11, has alienated the entire world and irretrievably damaged the image of America and Americans. At home, their arrogance, their mendacity, their blatent pettyness and cruelty have cast a pall over progressive people who are fighting every day to improve the lives of those who have been stepped on and left behind.

From the Washington perspective it's even more frustrating. In the heart of the beast we are cursed with the ability to see not only the obvious effect of the war, the tax cuts, and the rollbacks in environmental and workplace protections, but we are also "lucky" enough to witness the smaller crimes that never make the newspapers outside of Washington or New York-- the drip, drip, drip of small, almost unseen regulatory changes that favor some of the administration's friends, slices out of an agency's budget that the President has just publicly praised, favors that administration officials perform for the industries that employed them not long ago. We can clearly see that the Emperor has no clothes while too much of the rest of the country sees the canned, distorted, "fair and balanced" version of reality. While the media and pollsters are finally reporting the astonishing news that Bush and Kerry are roughtly tied right now, I can't believe that support for the joker living in Al Gore's house exceeds 12%. It's so completely clear that the guy lies every time he moves his lips, yet few are able (or willing) to look at what's behind the curtain.

But coming home from the celebration tonight, spending time with so many people fighting the good fight, it's possible to believe that we have the energy and ability to change things in this country -- in ways small and large. We're saving lives and we're making the world better. To quote that mighty activist Dan Aykroyd, "We're on a mission from God."

Let's do it.

Someone at Air America Has Good Taste

So, Majority Report Radio Blog, the blog for Janeane Garafolo's Majority Report show on Air America reports that Confined Space is one of the "Hot Blog Picks" of guest Bill Scher, author of the blog Liberal Oasis.

I didn't listen tonight. Does this mean he mentioned Confined Space on the show, or just on the blog? Did anyone out there listen? Leave a comment below.

Gap Shocked That Overseas Workers Making Their Clothes are Mistreated

In what the Associated Press calls "In an unusual display of corporate candor," clothing retailer Gap Inc. has announced that it has found that many of its overseas workers are mistreated and vowed to crack down on its suppliers. Gap is the largest U.S. clothing chain.

As the company strives to hold its overseas suppliers more accountable, Gap is uncovering thousands of violations at 3,009 factories scattered across roughly 50 countries. "Few factories, if any, are in full compliance all of the time," the report said.

Workplace activists who long have chided Gap for making its clothes at "sweatshops" praised the merchant for shedding light on abuses that have been haunting the clothing industry for years.

Gap's commitment is particularly significant because the factories supplying the merchant may employ 300,000 workers combined, estimated Bruce Raynor, president of the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees.

Gap's report provides a geographic breakdown on the workplace violations uncovered by more than 90 inspectors. The most frequent problems cropped up in China. Troubles included psychological or verbal abuse -- something that Gap said occurred at 10 percent to 25 percent of the China factories that supply the company.

Unacceptably low pay is an especially widespread problem, according to the Gap's statistics. U.S. labor and political leaders argue the country is losing thousands of jobs as cost-conscious companies export work to take advantage of cheaper wages.

Also of interest are implications for Wal-Mart

Discussions about the report put the spotlight on No. 1 retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc., commonly cited as leading the global cost-cutting trends blamed for many labor abuses.

"It does sound like more information is being released by Gap than we have released," Wal-Mart spokesman Bill Wertz said. "The question about what we should report, and how much we should report, is under review here at Wal-Mart."

Full report here.

Workers Afraid to Report Injuries?

Workers Comp Insider reports that The National Council on Compensation Insurance has announced 2003 workers' compensation results.

The find the results "both interesting and confounding."

For the sixth straight year, claim frequency, the total number of claims, has declined. Many industry people take great comfort in this. Safety efforts seem to be bearing real fruit. However, the declines in the past few years have mostly been in the less severe injury types. Moreover, BLS data show that frequency has declined in 6 of the last 7 recessions. Perhaps there's more going on here than successful safety. Maybe more workers than usual who suffer minor injuries are choosing to tough it out in the workplace, rather than go out on workers' compensation and risk being replaced. Something to think about.

What Money Buys

I continue to find it amazing that people can read things like this and still even consider voting to bring these guys back for another four years:

The 30 companies that own most of the dirtiest power plants in the country, and their trade association, have raised $6.6 million for President Bush and the Republican National Committee since 1999, and were given relief from pollution regulations that would have cost them billions of dollars, according to a new analysis.

***

Collectively these 10 people have raised more than $1.5 million since 1999.

"It is no coincidence that a wholesale assault on the Clean Air Act is taking place today," said Environmental Integrity Project Director Eric Schaeffer.

Schaeffer was head of enforcement at EPA before he resigned in protest in 2002.

Priorities

There are many reasons to criticize the war in Iraq, but that's not what this Blog is for. (For that, check out the list of labor and political blogs on the left)

One aspect of the war that I do want to write about is how it's distorting our economy, or more precisely, what the United States government thinks is important. Daily Kos helps put spending on the war in perspective

If Congress appropriates the $25 billion requested by the White House, the cost of the Iraq war will reach $174 billion. Compare that figure with another figure discussed this week:

The cost of fighting crime in the United States, for police, prisons and courts, rose to a record $167 billion in 2001, the latest year for which figures are available, according to a study by the Bureau of Justice Statistics...

In total, the criminal justice system accounted for 7 percent of all state and local government spending in 2001, roughly equal to the amount spent on health and hospitals, the report found. The criminal justice system employed 2.3 million people in 2001, 747,000 of them as jail or prison guards.

The next time Bush talks about the war in Iraq being the necessary cost of keeping us safe from Saddam Hussein, somebody should ask him what he thinks about the fact that it's cost more money to conquer and occupy Iraq than the yearly cost to police all the streets, administer the criminal laws, prosecutions and appeals, and incarcerate the prisoners in every jurisdiction--municipal, county, state and federal--in the entire United States. And the follow-up question, at a time when state and local governments are pleading with the federal government for sufficient resources to train and equip our first responders for dealing with emergencies, preparing our public health system to cope with epidemics or health crises, and patrolling our points of entry and securing vulnerable sites like chemical and utility plants from attack, should be, "Mr. President, can you explain how we've benefited from your war against Iraq, and why we're paying more for those paltry benefits than we pay to maintain civil order here in the United States?"

Oh, and one more detail. 5,500 Americans were killed in the workplace in 2002 and an estimated 50,000–60,000 died from occupational diseases.

The entire OSHA budget? About $461 million in FY 2004.

Asbestos Compensation Bill Crashes, Burns

Asbestos compensation legislation seems to be dead for this year, although Republican Senate Leader Bill Frist and Democratic Leader Tom Daschle said they would keep working on it.

Last month both sides invited federal appeals judge Edward Becker, to mediate talks between asbestos companies, insurers and labor to help find package that all sides -- labor, business and insurance -- could agree on. Those talks broke down last Thursday.

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney stated

The AFL-CIO is deeply disappointed that after more than a year of intensive efforts we have been unable to reach an agreement with asbestos defendants and insurers on legislation to establish a no-fault National Trust Fund to compensate victims of asbestos disease. Throughout this process we have made our position clear that legislation had to provide victims fair compensation and be adequately funded.

Unfortunately, the level of funding which business and insurers were willing to support was inadequate to fund fair compensation values for victims. Moreover, given the current and future extent of the asbestos disease crisis and likely claims, , we believe the fund could face financial insolvency and collapse within a few years at the levels of funding proposed by business. Such a result is clearly in no one’s interest.

There were several outstanding issues:

Sources said last week that business groups during the talks proposed an asbestos compensation fund of $116 billion, plus an additional $12 billion contingency fund in case the money ran out.

Labor officials, meanwhile, were urging a larger fund of $134 billion, plus a $15 billion contingency, said the sources, who were familiar with the discussions, but asked not to be named.

Asbestos: Back In The Workplace

"You know what I want? I want my husband back," Cheryl Blevins said. "I just want us to grow old and enjoy our grandkids. I want him back the way he was before he got sick. But I don't see that happening."

Meanwhile, away from the court rooms and the halls of Congress, a school maintenance worker in Texas is paying the ultimate price of the industry's criminal negligence:

The telltale white patches covered his left lung.

As Randall Blevins was recovering from surgery, doctors told his wife that the patches indicated exposure to significant amounts of asbestos. Presumably, they said, the right lung was the same.

That was May 2002, 25 years after Blevins began working as a heating and air-conditioning technician for the Fort Worth school district. He fixed boilers and repaired pipes -- products often encased in asbestos.

Blevins, 50, believes that his lung disease stemmed from his work for the district because he knows of no other contact with asbestos dust.

From 1977, when he was hired, until about 1982, when the district stepped up its precautions, he handled asbestos without thinking. Blevins said he and the district's other boiler-room workers hit it with their wrenches and ripped it off pipes with their bare hands while crawling under buildings. Each time, the white shards cascaded into their hair, eyes, noses and mouths.

***

Blevins' situation is dire. He has lost his school district insurance. He has been unable to find a doctor who will take workers compensation insurance and provide the long-term monitoring that he needs.

On April 21, Blevins filed a lawsuit in state district court against a long list of asbestos-product manufacturers in a last-ditch effort to find some way to pay his escalating medical bills.

Blevins' body and spirit are broken. Once a 250-pound man who could perform one-arm pushups, he can no longer lift his 17-pound grandson.

Uh Oh, Watch Out Georgie

And speaking of politics, George Bush may really in trouble now. Washington Post political columnist David Broder notes that

On Wednesday I was having breakfast with some business people who are leaders in an industry strongly supportive of the administration's regulatory and environmental policies. Many at the table had just watched Rumsfeld do a round of interviews on the morning TV shows.

They were, to use the president's word, "appalled."

Well, if he's losing the support of the anti-regulatory, anti-labor, environment, workplace safety crowd, he's really in trouble.

Next thing you know, he'll start losing the conservatives columnists, and then his poll numbers are going to go through the basement floor.

Read Much?

Do Washington Post writers ever actually read the Washington Post? Apparently Howard Kurtz doesn’t. In a dissection of political commercials by the two Presidential candidates, Kurtz discusses the negativity of the Bush campaign and then goes on to blast Kerry for being negative as well.

Kerry has aired a handful of ads painting Bush as a corporate toady who wants to foul the air and water, outlaw abortion, and export U.S. jobs overseas. These spots, which also [like Bush’s] contain exaggerations...

The interesting thing is one of the examples that Kurtz highlights. Kerry’s ads, says Kurtz, argue that Bush:

"Let corporate polluters rewrite our environmental laws. He wants to roll back the Clean Air and Clean Water acts."

Yeah, and so what's your point?

Kurtz explains that

An administration task force met privately with energy industry executives, but there is no evidence they rewrote pollution laws. And while Bush's proposed changes in air and water laws have drawn criticism from environmentalists, they hardly amount to a rollback.

Come again?

Oh really? I hardly know where to start. How about the January 1, 2004 Washington Post? Readers of Confined Space may remember this :

The Republicans may have stumbled upon an excellent way to cut government spending -- just eliminate the middleman -- e.g. bureaucrats, or maybe entire government agencies. The Washington Post reports today that

The Bush administration proposed new rules yesterday regulating power plants' mercury pollution, and some of the language is similar to recommendations from two memos sent to federal officials by a law firm representing the utility industry.

"Similar," hell:

A side-by-side comparison of one of the three proposed rules and the memorandums prepared by Latham & Watkins -- one of Washington's premier corporate environmental law firms -- shows that at least a dozen paragraphs were lifted, sometimes verbatim, from the industry suggestions.

No rollbacks, you say? What about this from the August 28, 2003 Washington Post?

The Bush administration yesterday approved a major rollback of clean air enforcement rules for the nation's oldest and dirtiest power plants in a move hailed by industry leaders but bitterly criticized by environmentalists and some lawmakers.

What an idiot.

It's Spring, and a Boy's Fancy Turns To...

Kevin Drum reminds me of what’s really impotant in life: the Dodgers are in first place with the best record in the National League.

And serendipitously, ESPN the other night showed the best game in the history of baseball -- the first game of the 1988 World Series – The over-achieving Dodgers versus the mighty Oakland A’s -- where a crippled Kirk Gibson (hero of the improbable Dodger playoff win over the much stronger Mets) limped improbably to the plate and -- even more improbably -- hit the bottom of the ninth, two out, full count home run sending him hobbling around the bases and the Dodgers to an improbable 4 games to 1 World Series victory. 16 years later it still gives me shivers.

I taped it to show to my son.

Election Year Goal: Get Beyond The Media

In case you haven't noticed, this is an election year, a time for all Americans to consider all of the important issues facing our country: war and peace, terrorism, jobs, the economy, and, of course, workplace safety.

So what are political reporter writing about? Where the candidates stand on the issues, or so-called "character issues: who's a "regulary guy," and who's a flip-flopper.

For much more on the subject of the media's failure to seriously cover political debate in this country, check out this essay in Orcinus, a small part of which is excerpted here:

The obvious aspect of this discussion is the way the entire framing of the debate -- as a question of "character" as opposed to such boring details as policy -- heavily favors the party that relies more on imagery and jingoism, wrapping itself in the flag and pounding its chest about moral superiority: in other words, conservatives.

But even beyond the bias is the way this framing really corrupts and trivializes the national debate, so that we find ourselves constantly arguing about the "morality" or "character" of politicians, an issue that is by nature a product of spin and propagandizing. This has never been more clear than in the current election, when the "character" of a pampered fraternity party boy who couldn't be bothered to serve out his term in the National Guard and who went on to fail miserably at every business venture he touched is successfully depicted as that of a sincere and patriotic regular guy, while that of a three-time Purple Heart winner who voluntarily left Yale to serve in Vietnam, and whose ensuing three decades of public service have been a model of principle and consistency, is somehow depicted as belonging to a spineless elitist.

If the press were properly reporting on this election, the public would have a clearer picture of how John Kerry's economic, environmental and education policies would affect their lives differently than those purveyed by the Bush administration. It would understand the significant differences in their approaches to national security, and it would be far clearer just who in fact has more serious and credible credentials when it comes to the "war on terror" and keeping the nation safe, particularly when it comes to matters of basic competence and knowledge. These are issues that affect us in concrete ways.

Coverage of the 2004 election has already begun to resemble the travesty of 2000, focusing on trivial (and mostly concocted) personality traits: Howard Dean is grotesquely portrayed as a maniacal and out-of-control Howard Bealesque loose cannon; John Edwards as a callow pretty boy; Wesley Clark as an egotistical martinet; and Dennis Kucinich as a whiny, limp-wristed socialist. Once he became the de facto nominee, the "French-like" John Kerry was given both barrels of this treatment, as his status as a war hero came under fire without any grounds whatsoever, while other reports focused on his being served peanut-butter sandwiches by a personal assistant. Meanwhile, patrician fraternity brother George W. Bush is depicted as a man of the people, clearing brush on his Texas ranch. Matters of substantive policy that actually affect voters' lives -- the administration's floundering in Iraq; an economic policy that deprived over 2 million Americans of employment and destroyed the nation's job-creation capacity; an environmental policy that ensured more polluted air and water and diminished wildlife, as well as the more rapid approach of global warming; an energy policy that ensured $2-a-gallon-and-worse gasoline and increasing dependence on oil; an agricultural policy that dooms forever the small family farm -- have not even crossed the media's radar

It is up to you, dear readers, to help others see through the media's obsessions to the real issues. You've got about six months. Get going.

REACH: What Happened and Why

I have written about the new European toxic chemical proposal and the strong opposition by the U.S. chemical industry and the Bush administration. Linked here is a new book (all of which is on-line), REACH: What Happened and Why: The Only Planet Guide to the Secrets of Chemicals Policy in the EU.

When raindrops, breast milk and human blood as a rule contain hazardous chemicals, something has gone wrong. Since 1998 the EU has been developing a chemicals policy to increase the safety of human health and the environment. However,he new policy is increasingly focusing on protection of the chemicals industry. How did this happen? Who made it happen? And most of all, why did it happen?

I haven't read it yet, but if anyone would like to write a book report, I'd be glad to publish it.

The Weekly Toll

Worker dies in fall; concert canceled

MIAMI · Rock star David Bowie's Reality Tour was cut short by a jolt of real drama Thursday night after a worker fell off a wire ladder above the stage at the James L. Knight Center, plunging about 50 feet to his death.

The worker, identified by a fellow stagehand as Wally Thomas, of Pembroke Pines, fell on the right side of the stage around 8:30 p.m., Miami Fire-Rescue spokesman Ignatius Carroll said.

Man electrocuted in work accident

MARBLETON, MT - A worker died when a metal pole he was using during a concrete job touched a power line, police said.

William Blair, 31, of Marbleton, was pronounced dead at a local clinic from accidental electrocution, according to Sublette County Sheriff Hank Ruland.

Third worker dies at McIntosh site

The first death at Southern Company's Plant McIntosh on Feb. 24 should have grabbed attention of safety inspectors for general contractor W.G. Yates and Sons Construction.

The second death, March 10, should have made prevention efforts the top priority at the Effingham County work site.

Glenn Bethany says he doesn't know what to make of the death of a third man Tuesday at the same location, where Mississippi-based Yates is overseeing the construction of two natural gas-powered electric generating units.

"There's got to be something wrong out there," said Bethany, whose brother, Joe Lynn Bethany, died in February after falling through an uncovered hole from an elevated construction platform. "I don't know what it is, but something needs to be done.

"I hate to hear about this. I hate it for the family that's now going through the same thing we did. You'd think after the second one they would have shut the job down. Maybe this one will do it."

Ryan Mackenzie, 21, of Newport, Maine, fell about 75 feet from scaffolding around 9:30 a.m., Effingham sheriff's Capt. Mike Bohannon said.

More here.

90-foot fall kills worker in Shelby Township

A 34-year-old Ohio man was killed Wednesday when he fell more than 90 feet to the ground from a power line tower he was painting in Shelby Township, authorities said.

Officials identified the man as Joseph Allen "Joey" Spahr, a resident of Kensington, Ohio. Kensington is located about 40 miles southwest of Youngstown, Ohio.

Spahr is the seventh person to die in Michigan in work-related accidents this year. Four of those fatalities happened in Macomb County.

Two Upstate workers die in separate incidents

GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Two workers have been killed in separate incidents in Greenville County in less than 12 hours.

Gary William Elliott, 48, of Greer died Wednesday morning when his company's dump truck rolled back over him, crushing him, the Highway Patrol said.

The brake was set incorrectly, said Highway Patrol Lance Cpl. Dan Marsceau.

Tuesday night, Ronald Magnani, 59, of Greenville, died after he became trapped in a piece of machinery while working at Sealed Air Cryovac in Simpsonville, said Ken Coppins, Greenville County deputy coroner.

Worker dies after steel beam strikes his head

HAMILTON TOWNSHIP, N.J. - A worker at a Hamilton Township steel plant died yesterday morning after being hit in the head with a steel beam.

Wayne Austin, 47, of Trenton, was struck shortly before 11 a.m. while working on the floor of a beam warehouse at a Certified Steel plant, according to township police. Cranes move beams at the plant, and Austin was in the way of a load, Lt. James Kostoplis said. Austin was wearing a helmet, authorities said. More here.

Worker Dies in Industrial Accident at S.L. Airport

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- A construction worker at Salt Lake City International Airport died Monday after falling off a paving machine, officials said.

The Granite Construction Company employee was working on a runway resurfacing project when it happened. Airport officials say the worker, whose name was not immediately released, was run over by another vehicle.

U.S. House Speaker's Cousin Killed In Construction Accident

CHICAGO -- Federal safety officials on Tuesday were investigating the death of U.S House Speaker Dennis Hastert's second cousin, who was injured in a construction accident in Plano.

Dennis Dale Hastert Sr., 62, was on a job site at 18 W. Main St. in Plano when he was apparently run over by a piece of equipment around 2 p.m. Monday, according to a news release from the DuPage County Coroner's Office.

Worker Killed At New Haven Construction Site
Car Rolls Into Hole

NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- Authorities are investigating a deadly construction accident Monday morning on Prospect Street in New Haven.

Police said Thomas Dardis, 63, was working inside a hole in the ground when a car rolled into the hole. The accident occurred near a school. More here.

Man crushed to death at paper plant

SOUTH GLENS FALLS -- A village man was killed Monday afternoon while repairing a paper machine at the SCA Tissue plant on River Street.

Francis P. McNaughton, 48, of 39 Saratoga Ave., worked for contractor Haanen Packard Machinery of Hudson Falls, South Glens Falls Police Chief Kevin Judd said.

McNaughton and a co-worker from Haanen Packard were repairing a hydraulic line on one of the paper machines at about 2 p.m. Judd said a paper reel spool weighing around 1,800 pounds fell on McNaughton, crushing him.

Worker falls from Fresh Kills Bridge

Statan Island, NY -- A 24-year-old construction worker was killed when he slipped and fell while removing panels from a platform under the Fresh Kills Bridge on Staten Island.

Police identified the worker as Bruno Diaz; the state Department of Transportation said he was an employee of RML Construction Inc. of Hasbrouck Heights, N.J., a subcontractor painting the bridge for the DOT.

Diaz fell while removing aluminum deck panels from the platform below the bridge at about 1:15 p.m. Friday when the last panel slipped out from the cable beneath it, causing him to fall into the water below, the DOT said.

Crew members said he had been wearing a safety harness; whether the harness was hooked onto a safety cable was under investigation, the DOT said. More here.

Officer Killed in Moving Van Wreck

Henry County, GA -- A Henry County police officer was killed Sunday morning when he crashed his car into the back of a moving van parked on the shoulder of Interstate 75 in Jonesboro, Ga.

Henry County police Sgt. James Gilbert, 41, was pronounced dead at the scene at 7:05 a.m. Police say Gilbert never hit the brakes before running into and under the Allied moving van parked just off the interstate in the emergency lane.

Deputy Killed In Overnight Crash

ST. AUGUSTINE, FL -- A St. Johns County Sheriff's Officer was killed in the line of duty early Sunday morning.

20-year old deputy Joshua E. Blyler was responding to a 911 hang-up call just after 3 a.m. He lost control of his patrol car on a rain swept curve on Palm Valley Road, spinning sideways before sliding and rolling into a draining canal. The roof of his patrol car slammed into a utility pole.

Worker killed at I-84 construction site

PLAINVILLE -- An industrial accident Friday morning claimed the life of a Kensington construction worker.

Scott Grajewski, 32, died at approximately 7:31 a.m. soon after being hit by a street sweeper at a closed section of the Interstate 84 ramp at Crooked Street, Connecticut state police said.

Grajewski was one of about 20 employees from Manafort Bros. Construction working at the site Friday morning, preparing the area for paving, saidcompany president James Manafort

State police said Grajewski was moving construction supplies across the closed roadway when the street sweeper backed up and hit him.

Ranch worker dies in fall from horse

Salinas, CA -- A 57-year-old King City man was killed Thursday when he was thrown from his horse at the Topo Ranch in Greenfield, the Monterey County Sheriff's Office said.

About 1:30 p.m., deputies responded to the ranch, where workers had found Heriberto Mendoza's body atop a canyon. Without checking whether he was alive, the workers sought help, Sgt. Kevin Oakley said.

Rock Springs construction worker killed

ROCK SPRINGS, Wyo. (AP) -- A construction worker run over by a forklift last week has died from his injuries.

Howard Lee Sikes, 59, died at a Salt Lake City hospital over the weekend, officials said. He was foreman of the Texas-based Sikes and Sons construction company.

According to police, Sikes was installing masonry at an Applebee's restaurant April 23 when he was run over by a 2,400-pound forklift.

The forklift was backing up. It was not immediately clear why Sikes did not hear its backing siren, police Sgt. Clark Robinson said.

Market Death Remains Under Investigation

GAHANNA, Ohio -- The investigation continues into the shooting death of a man whose body was found last week in the freezer of a local outdoor market, NewsChannel 4's John Ivanic reported.


Investigators said John Pauley, 66, was killed in an apparent robbery April 22 at Better Images Farms market in the Hunter's Ridge Shopping Center at the intersection of Hamilton and Morrison roads. The coroner said Pauley, a market employee, was shot three times. A customer found his body in a freezer.

State investigating fatal hangar accident

The Vermont Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the hangar door accident that killed a 19-year-old Burlington man.

Martin Prince died in the hospital Wednesday where he was taken after being hit by the door at the Burlington International Airport.

Tennille welder killed in accident

TEXAS CITY — The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating a death of Tennille Inc. worker who was killed Wednesday while on a job in Galveston.

Earl Johnny “Cowboy” Warren, 54, of Santa Fe died Wednesday at a work site on the Island. Warren was a welder for the Texas City metal fabrication company.

Ironically the accident occurred on the very day set aside to observe workers killed on the job. A worker’s memorial ceremony was held Wednesday in Texas City.

Accidents kill, hurt workers for Southwest Ambulance

Phoenix One Southwest Ambulance employee was killed and another hurt Wednesday afternoon in separate traffic accidents.

Tammy Mundell, 29, an emergency medical technician for the privately owned ambulance company, died from injuries sustained in a collision with three other vehicles including a gravel truck in Coolidge, said Josh Weiss, a spokesman for Southwest Ambulance.

Worker Dies at Gardens Park Site

WINTER HAVEN, FL -- A migrant worker died Thursday while doing construction work at Cypress Gardens Adventure Park.

According to the Polk County Sheriff's Office, about 6:30 p.m. on April 21, Gerson Garcia Gomez, 20, of Veracruz, Mexico, was doing roofing repairs on a building at Cypress Gardens Adventure Park when he tripped and fell through a plexiglas skylight on the roof of the former Village Fair restaurant