Union "Facts" -- NOT

I've writtten a couple of times about anti-labor kook Richard Berman's Union Facts (sic) website and its effort to kill "card check" labor organizing. (here, here and here)

The AFL-CIO Today blog reprints an "at times tongue-in-cheek" article about Berman's boondoggle ,posted by Fred Glass at the International Labor Communications Association (ILCA). Glass teaches at the San Francisco City College and is the Communications Director for the California Federation of Teachers/AFT.

A taste, wherein he congratulates Berman for his scam:

Not every PR consultant can convince his backers to come up with a quarter of a million dollars to run an ad for one day in four newspapers, and using a cheap, recycled image from a quarter century ago is what we call cost-effective. The commission on placing the ads brings in a tidy little sum. That’s financially very sound, for Mr. Berman, if not necessarily for his clients.

“And clearly his thriftiness extends to the anti-union website the ad extolled, since in a ninety second spot check I came up with about a dozen factual errors, including consistently calling the AFL-CIO a “union,” which is like calling the Chamber of Commerce a “business;” missing all 135 of the California locals of the American Federation of Teachers in its “comprehensive” national directory; and listing Sandra Feldman, who has been dead for five months, as president of the national AFT.

“Of course, Mr. Berman is no stranger to such work. He has been delivering campaigns every bit as good as this one for his clients for years. As noted in news stories the day after the ad appeared, he has represented the big tobacco lobby against anti-smoking efforts, claiming there is a “lack of evidence that second-hand smoke causes cancer;” the alcohol industry in fighting against Mothers Against Drunk Driving’s effort to hold the line on blood-alcohol levels; and cheap bosses in fighting increases to minimum wage laws, to mention a few.

“But the remarkable thing about Berman’s accomplishment this time is he convinced anti-union types to light a match to their money on these ads, instead of investing in something proven, like, say, lawyer fees for weathering the years of litigation that comes with illegally firing union activists during an organizing campaign. Sure, it takes longer, but it’s guaranteed; by the time the workers get reinstated in their jobs, even with back pay, it’s years down the road, the organizing campaign is long dead, and everyone in the corporate community agrees, it’s money well-spent.

Oy

OSHA Whistleblower Adam Finkel To Speak In New York

If you're in the neighborhood next Monday, OSHA whistleblower Adam Finkel will be speaking at the St Johns University School of Law, 8000 Utopia Parkway, Jamaica, NY.

Finkel, as you may remember, was removed from his job as OSHA Regional Administrator in Denver because he revealed that OSHA had abandoned its plan to screen its inspectors for beryllium disease. OSHA eventually agreed to the tests and several employees have been affected by exposure to the deadly metal.

Finkel will talk about his experiences as a scientist and advocate for worker and public health. He is currently Visiting Professor of Public Affairs,Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University and Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health, UMDNJ School of Public Health.

More details about the event here.

Related Stories

• Whistleblower Condemns OSHA's Response to Beryllium Exposures, June 20, 2005
• Ten OSHA Staff Test Positive For Beryllium Sensitization, March 24, 2005
• Washington Post on OSHA Inspectors' Beryllium Exposure, February 1, 2005
• Blowing Off Whistleblowers, January 26, 2005
• OSHA Inspectors: Left Twisting In The Wind, January 19, 2005
• OSHA Regional Administrator Accuses OSHA of Refusing To Test OSHA Inspectors for Beryllium Disease, October 12, 2003

More On Lord Browne's Very Bad (If Not Unprofitable) Year At BP

I'm not the only one who feels sorry for Lord John Browne, Chief Executive of British Petroleum who had his 2005 bonus cut because his company killed 15 workers at BP's Texas City refinery last March. The Houston Chronicle's business columnist Loren Steffy also feels for the guy.

As I wrote yesterday, Brown pulled down a cool $11.2 million last year, a significant raise over the $10 million he made the year before. But, as Steffy notes, his bonus was cut by almost $1 million due to the unfortunate events in Texas City:

That'll teach him.

Browne, by the way, is still ignoring my interview request, which I first made almost a year ago.

The problem is that Browne and other BP executives have spent the past year pledging their commitment to safety, to fixing the problems that caused last year's explosions.

Once again, BP says one thing and does another.

Steffy interviews Tara Hart, chief executive of the Houston-based Compliance Alliance, which develops workplace safety programs.

[Hart] convinced an industrial company to set up a suggestion box and allow employees to anonymously submit safety problems and possible solutions. In the first month, a senior vice president tried to analyze the handwriting to determine who wrote them. Workers stopped making suggestions when they realized management was using them for retaliation.

Workers, Hart says, know what the safety problems are. More companies should encourage them to speak up.

***

Hart hopes the government, the public, and corporate executives will begin to take notice.

"We don't have a demand at the top," she says. "It's really management that sets the culture and the pace and the response to safety."

When that management gets a 12 percent raise after presiding over the worst refinery accident in almost two decades, it's pretty clear what kind of response that is.

Indeed.

Killing Of Texas Social Service Worker Raises Workplace Safety Issues

The killing of Texas social worker Sally Blackwell, 53, is bringing attention to the hazards faced by social service workers. Blackwell, a program director with Texas Child Protective Services, was found dead in a field. The authorities have not said whether her death was related to her job, although she had received threats.

Threats and violence against social service workers is nothing new, but it rarely rises into the headlines until someone gets killed.

A study released last week by the National Association of Social Workers found that 55 percent of 5,000 licensed social workers surveyed said they faced safety issues on the job. Sixty-eight percent of them said their employers had not adequately addressed their concerns. A survey in 2002 of 800 workers found 19 percent had been victims of violence and 63 percent had been threatened.

In 1997, federal OSHA issued guidelines to assist health care and social service workers to prevent workplace violence, but Texas isn't exactly at the forefront of protecting public employees:

Currently, social workers in Texas receive a half day of safety training, and the issue frequently comes up in a 12-week course, said a spokesman, Chris Van Deusen.

The child services department has no way of tracking how many threats its roughly 3,000 caseworkers receive, said Patrick Crimmins, spokesman for the Department of Family and Protective Services. But even people who have spent their entire careers with the agency can remember only a few instances in which threats escalated to violence, Mr. Crimmins said.

Texas social worker Holly Jones stressed that "We don't have weapons, we don't have training in self-defense, we didn't go through a police academy and we're dealing with the same people they are."

After Marty Smith, a crisis responder for the Washington State mental-health system, was beaten to death last November while attempting to hospitalize a schizophrenic client who had not been taking his medication, Smith's union, SEIU 1199NW, began organizing to pass Marty's Law: Make Our Work Safer. (HB 2921). Marty's Law would provide funding so clinicians can work in pairs when they are sent to evaluate a client in a private residence. The bill also requires clinicians to be provided with cell phones, prompt access to patient records, and training on violence prevention.

In addition,

In 2001, Michigan lawmakers toughened the penalties for people who threaten or attack social workers after a child welfare caseworker was beaten, bound, gagged and suffocated while checking on a family. The law also required safety training for workers who make home visits.

The death of a Kansas mental health social worker prompted Representative Dennis Moore, Democrat of Kansas, to introduce a resolution last fall that would encourage state and local agencies to improve the safety of social workers. The resolution is pending.

Hey, I have another idea. Being as workplace violence is a serious workplace safety problem across the United States, and there are feasible ways to prevent attacks, maybe a federal government agency responsible for workplace safety should issue an enforceable standard.

Related Stories

• Case Worker's Death Spurs Safety Campaign in Washington, January 29, 2006
• Conducting The Public's Business -- And Dying For It, November 11, 2005
• Precautions Save the Life of Child Protective Services Worker, February 17, 2005
• Social Worker Killed In The Line Of Duty -- What's Being Done?, September 14, 2004
• Workplace Violence in Health Care on the Rise, April 26, 2004

British Petroleum CEO Takes Hit For 2005 Explosion Fatalities

Poor Lord Browne. Tragedy upon tragedy.

The performance bonus of Lord John Browne, chief executive of British Petroleum, has been cut due to the catastrophic explosion last year at the company's Texas City, TX refinery that killed 15 workers and injured 170 .

But don't worry about how Lord Browne is going to make it through the year; his overall compensation went up.

Browne will receive a bonus of £1.75 million, or $3 million, for the year, compared with £2.28 million in 2004, according to the company's annual report. His total pay, including salary and long-term remuneration, was £6.49 million, up from £5.7 million a year earlier.

The remuneration committee at BP considered "both positive and negative" events during the year when setting bonuses, the report said. "Safety performance was impaired by the incident at Texas City" last year, which killed 15 people and injured 170.

Yes, I guess you could call 15 deaths and 170 injuries "impaired" safety performance.

And one small question. Why is he receiving any bonus? Time off for good behavior or a cushy job in the prison library, maybe, but a bonus?

Might have something to do with the record $22.34 billion dollar profit BP made in 2005.

Weekly Toll

A partial list of workers killed on the job over the past two weeks.

Martinsville man dies on the job in Henry County

Martinsville, VA -- Local and federal authorities are investigating a fatal industrial accident in Henry County. It happened around 8:00 p.m. Friday, March 17 at Knauss Snack Food in the Beaver Creek Industrial Park. Officials say 19-year-old Francisco Alejandro Garcia fell into a processing machine and died. Garcia was a contract employee responsible for cleaning the machines that night.


Worker Dies After Electrocution At Gravel Pit

FORT LUPTON, Colo The Occupational Safety and Health Administration will investigate the death of a man who was electrocuted while working at a gravel pit north of Fort Lupton.

Weld County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Margie Martinez says 30-year-old Christopher Carder of Littleton was pronounced dead at the scene yesterday, but his heart started beating again.

Coroner's officials say he was flown to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Martinez says Carder was walking beside an industrial-sized piece of equipment when it got close enough to a power line, causing it to arc and send electricity to the ground. He was nearby and was electrocuted.

The gravel pit is owned by Compass Environmental Incorporated.


Oil field roustabout dies in fall

Mobile, AL - Federal and local authorities are looking into incident that claimed life of Carey Clemons. A man died after falling 75 feet from a Clarke County oil rig as rescue workers struggled to get to the scene, hampered by washed-out roads. A LifeFlight helicopter based in Mobile was initially called for Carey Clemons, 23, but he died on the scene before it arrived, said Virgil Chapman, chief investigator with the Clarke County Sheriff's Department. The incident occurred Friday. The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration is also investigating to see if any workplace violations contributed to the incident, Ken Atha, lower Alabama's area director for OSHA, said on Monday. The investigation could take months.


Worker in Brooklyn Dies as a Wall Falls

Brooklyn, NY - A construction worker was killed yesterday morning when a garage wall collapsed at a building site in Brooklyn, investigators said, and the city has cited the building's owner for three violations. The worker, Anthony Duncan, 46, was removing wooden molds for an underpinning meant to buttress a garage wall next to the construction site at 733 Ocean Parkway when the wall collapsed. Firefighters worked quickly to remove the debris covering Mr. Duncan. But investigators believe he was killed by the impact of the collapse, said a Fire Department spokesman, Deputy Chief David Jakubowski. A woman who answered the phone at the A-1 Construction Expo Corporation, a Brooklyn-based general contractor at the site, said Mr. Duncan worked for a subcontractor, but she would not provide its name. Mr. Duncan was helping to excavate the property to make way for an eight-story residential building.


Dairy Worker, Son Found Dead

Grangevile, CA - A dairy worker and his 8-year-old son died in a manure pit after going out at night to feed calves at the dairy where they lived, authorities said Tuesday. Luis Gutierrez, 27, and his son, Luis Armando Gutierrez, left their home Saturday night to check on the animals, investigators said. When they didn't come back, worried family members contacted authorities and the owners of Contente Dairy in Grangeville. During an all-night search, investigators found Luis Gutierrez's stalled pickup truck. Deputies believe the father and son got out of the truck and tried to take a shortcut home, stumbling across the manure pond. Footprints and signs of slipping near the edge of the 10-footdeep pit indicate that one of them may have fallen in, said Kings Country Sheriff Allan McClain.


Worker Dies In Accident At Building Site In Muskogee

Muskogee, OK - A Vian man was killed in an industrial accident in Muskogee Wednesday morning. It happened at the Dal-Tile plant in Muskogee. Authorities say 30-year-old Steven Tracy Conrad was trapped in a conveyer-belt chute. Conrad was freed, but showed no signs of life. No one else was hurt. Conrad was a temporary worker for Express Personnel Services in Muskogee. He worked at the plant for about two months.


Riverside woman killed in crash - Police seek driver, may issue warrant

Riverside, IL - Police Tuesday morning were still hunting for the driver of an SUV that slammed into a Berwyn train platform last Friday, killing a Riverside woman who worked for the Burlington Northern-Santa Fe railroad. The crash occurred at approximately 5:45 a.m. on March 3, shortly after Kathleen Talmage, 58, arrived for work at the train platform located at 7135 W. Windsor Ave., a half block east of Harlem Avenue. Talmage was a long-time Riverside resident. According to one eyewitness account, the 2004 Range Rover sped past him westbound down Windsor Avenue, flew up an earth berm on the station’s east side and rammed through a brick wall without the driver ever applying his brakes. "I was on my way to work when I saw him coming westbound," said a man named Phil, who lives in the 7100 block of Windsor Avenue. He declined to give his last name.


Robbers killed 2 for 'less than a couple hundred dollars'

El Cajon, CA - “Less than a couple of hundred dollars.” That's what two robbers who shot and killed two young liquor store workers last week got away with, according to Auday Arabo, president of the California Independent Grocers and Convenience Stores Association. Arabo spoke at a news conference in front of St. Peter Chaldean Catholic Church on Jamacha Way on Wednesday morning as hundreds of friends and relatives came together to mourn victims Heather Nabil Mattia, 22, and Firas Waahid Eiso, 23, who were shot to death the night of March 1 at Granada Liquor on Broadway. Police said both were ordered to lie down and were killed by shots to the back of the head. As a light rain fell and several mourners wearing badges and T-shirts bearing Heather's picture gathered around, El Cajon Police Chief Clifford Diamond announced the release of portions of a surveillance video taken inside the store on the night of the slayings.


Police, OSHA Looking Into Roofer's Electrocution, Death

Aliquippa, PA - A 25-year-old roofer was killed Friday in when the scaffolding on which he was standing became charged by a piece of aluminum from some loose power lines nearby. Investigators said Regis Williams, 25, of Neville Island, was electrocuted, and fell about 30 feet. Friends and family said his death came as a complete shock. "'Rege' was the best guy I know," said cousin Jack Herbert. "'Rege' didn't have any acquaintances, everybody was (his) friend."


Worker at WPS dies from injuries

Green Bay, WI - A worker injured in an accident while working on a Green Bay building Feb. 28 died from his injuries March 3, according to his brother. Scott Walls, 41, Hartford, died at St. Vincent Hospital after being hit on the head with a metal object while working on equipment at a Wisconsin Public Service building at 600 N. Adams St. He never regained consciousness, said David Walls, Scott's brother, who lives in Green Bay. David Walls said the accident is still under investigation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and McQuay International — the company that employed Scott Walls.


Watchung police officer killed when chase ends in crash

NORTH PLAINFIELD N.J. -- A Watchung police officer involved in a vehicle pursuit was killed Wednesday night when his cruiser crashed into a tree in North Plainfield after he swerved to avoid a minivan that had pulled out in front of him.

Matthew J. Melchiondia, 31, of Readington was the first officer killed in the line of duty in Somerset County in at least eight years. A six-year veteran of the force, he was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash, which occurred around 5:20 p.m.


Truck wreck kills driver, shuts down U.S. 183

Lockhart, TX -- An 18-wheeler carrying propane flipped Thursday afternoon, killing the driver and shutting down a portion of U.S. 183 for hours, a Lockhart Police Department dispatcher said. About 2 p.m., the truck, carrying about 8,800 gallons of liquid propane, overturned about a mile north of Lockhart, said Lockhart Fire Marshal Mark Baker. Baker said none of the propane spilled and workers transferred the propane to another truck before clearing the road. A nearby day care and church were evacuated, Baker said. The identity of the driver was not released. No other vehicles were involved.


3 dead in Maui air ambulance crash

Maui, HI -- A pilot and two medical personnel died last night when a Hawaii Air Ambulance airplane crashed into a BMW dealership near Kahului Airport, state and county officials said.The twin-engine Cessna 414 crashed into the dealership near the Hana Highway at 7:15 p.m., state Department of Transportation spokesman Scott Ishikawa said. There were no survivors on the plane and no reported injuries on the ground, officials said.Hawaii Air Ambulance identified the victims as: pilot Peter A. Miller, a 32-year-old Kailua resident; Brien P. Eisaman, 37, a nurse and Waipahu resident and the assistant chief flight nurse; and Marlena L. Yomes, a paramedic, Honolulu base station supervisor and a Waianae resident.


Trash worker killed by utility pole

Castle Shannon, PA - A refuse worker was killed yesterday when a utility pole fell on him in Castle Shannon in what the police chief called a "freak accident." Matthew Goldsmith, 28, of Hempfield, was pronounced dead around 10 a.m. at Walnut and Spruce streets near the library. Castle Shannon Police Chief Harold Lane said he believed Mr. Goldsmith died instantly. Mr. Goldsmith was standing on a platform at the rear of the garbage truck near the hopper when, investigators believe, the truck snagged a guy wire on the utility pole at the intersection as it turned right from Walnut onto Spruce.


Industrial Worker Killed After Equipment Falls

Ogden, UT - An industrial worker was killed Thursday afternoon when a piece of equipment suddenly fell on top of him. The incident happened near 1800 Wall Avenue in Ogden. Officials said 53-year-old Tony Guthrie was working near a front-loader when a bucket fell and landed on his head. He died at the scene. Guthrie was working for AAA Towing and Salvage when the accident happened. Friends said he was a self-less man. “He'd go out of his way to help anybody. He was very kind,” said Todd May. Officials said a mechanical problem may have been to blame.


Business owner dies from gunshot wounds

Dayton, OH - Gary L. Shehee, shot three times in his West Third Street business on Tuesday afternoon by an armed intruder, died about 3:30 p.m. Thursday at Miami Valley Hospital. Shehee, 34, is the city's 10th homicide victim this year. Two employees in the store told Dayton police a gunman entered the rear of Tees & Things, 1710 W. Third and that Shehee and the intruder wrestled down the back stairs. A male employee heard Shehee scream and looked down the stairs to see the gunman aiming his weapon at the employee. Three shots were heard. Shehee was struck in the arm, hand and head. Police believe Shehee and the assailant knew each other.


Pa. man dies in farm accident

Wellsboro, PA - A Tioga Township man became entangled in a cable attached to a tractor's power takeoff and died of massive injuries early this afternoon. Tioga County Medical Examiner Dr. James L. Wilson of Wellsboro identified the dead farmer as Thomas Haldeman, 36, a Bucks County native who farmed land along Meeker Road, north of Tioga. Haldeman was using the power takeoff on a large John Deere tractor to power a spreader and somehow became entangled in a cable connecting the two, Wilson said. The cable was wrapped twice around Haldeman's neck and caused several injuries before the entanglement stalled the idling tractor, Wilson said. He listed the cause of death as cardio and respiratory arrest, and noted other injuries as well, including multiple arm fractures. The mishap occurred at 12:37 p.m. Wilson did not order an autopsy.


W.Va. teen dies in Greene accident

Chloe, WV - A 19-year-old West Virginia man died Tuesday night when he fell off a railroad overpass, landing on the road below. State police said Phillip R. Watkins of Chloe, W.Va., and another unidentified man climbed the bank onto the overpass, which is above Route 21 west of Sugar Run Road, and were waiting for a train to pass so they could cross the tracks and proceed down the other bank. The accident happened at 10:15 p.m., police said, noting that both men were in Waynesburg working for Osmose Holdings Inc., a New York-based company that inspects and treats wooden utility poles with a preservative. The unidentified man who witnessed the accident told police Watkins "lost his footing" and fell onto the eastbound lane of the road while they were waiting for the train to pass, according to a police report filed by trooper Robert H. Cree.


Officer dies after incident while directing traffic

Jacksonville, FL - A public service assistant with the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office died at Baptist South hospital in Jacksonville Wednesday. Robert Junod was on traffic duty at County Road 210 and Leo Maguire Road around 8 a.m. when he had an apparent heart attack, according to Sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Chuck Mulligan. "He was directing early morning rush hour traffic," said Mulligan, adding the cause of death had not yet been confirmed.


Semi Kills Two Highway Workers

Neenah,WI - The Wisconsin State Patrol believes slowing traffic had a lot to do with an accident that killed two highway workers along Highway 41 Tuesday. About 2:15 p.m., 55-year-old Marc Neumeyer of Neenah and 53-year-old Daniel Melhorn of Oshkosh were filling potholes in the southbound lane of Highway 41 near the Breezewood exit near Neenah. Officers say traffic was slowed down to about 45 miles per hour in the area, when a semi-truck driver tried to swerve to miss a station wagon that was slowing down to change lanes. They say the car's driver was trying to give the workers some space. "The station wagon appeared to obviously observe it. She slowed and started to make her manuever to the left lane to avoid them," Sgt. Mark Abrahamson said. Investigators believe the semi driver was caught off-guard and hit the back of the station wagon then the workers' truck, and the two men doing repairs. Neumeyer and Melhorn were killed instantly.


Painter is shot to death working in law office

Chicago, IL - A Chicago man was shot to death Monday evening while painting in a law firm in the Bridgeport neighborhood, police said. "They were painting in the building, and his buddy went to go to get something to eat, and his buddy came back and found him shot to death," a co-worker told police. The man, who is believed to have been shot about 11:48 p.m. Monday in the business in the 3700 block of South Halsted Street, was dead when police arrived. He was identified as Cornelio Valadez, 43, of the 2600 block of South Damen Avenue, a spokesman with the Cook County medical examiner's office said. No arrests were made in the shooting by Tuesday evening.


Worker Dies After Crane Collapses On CSU Campus

WILBERFORCE, Ohio, -- Officials at Miami Valley Hospital said a 35-year-old man who fell from a crane at a local construction site has died. James Hill, of Fairborn, passed away early Tuesday morning. The accident happened last week on the campus of Central State University. Authorities said Hill fell about 40 feet when the crane collapsed. The Occupational Safety and Health Organization continues to investigate what caused the crane to fall.


Construction worker killed in Meridian accident

Meridian, NY - A 42-year-old construction worker was killed this morning after he was struck by a load of lumber. The accident happened at a construction site in the Meadow Lakes Retirement Community in Meridian. The lumber was said to have weighed between 2,000 to 3,000 pounds. Police say said the lumber was being lifted off a truck when the load slid off the forklift and struck the man, knocking him down. It appears he hit his head on a semi-trailer. Paramedics treated the man at the scene, but he died from the injuries. The Ada County coroner has identified the victim as Dwayne Korte of Caldwell. The cause of death is listed as blunt force trauma to the head. Meridian Police and Ada County Sheriff's deputies are investigating the accident. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is also investigating to determine if there were any safety violations.


PSE CONTRACT WORKER ELECTROCUTED IN VAULT

RENTON, WA -- A 24-year-old contract worker for Puget Sound Energy died Wednesday night after being electrocuted, the Renton Fire Department reported Thursday. The death is being classified as an industrial accident, and an investigation is under way, Lt. Larry Welch said.

"We don't see this very often," he said. "Those guys are pretty safe."

The accident occurred about 11:30 p.m. in the 600 to 700 block of Rainier Avenue South. The worker was in an underground power vault when he made contact with a wire or something else, according to Welch.

His partner, a 41-year-old man, was handing him something and suffered a jolt of electricity.

The man got a safety insulation blanket and pulled his partner out of the vault.


Ranger Dedicated To Helping Motorists

Tampa, FL - Donald Bradshaw came out of retirement to become a road ranger, taking a largely anonymous job that doesn't pay a lot and that sometimes can be very dangerous. Bradshaw, 66, was attempting to direct southbound traffic around the site of a wreck in the inside lane of Interstate 275 near the Howard-Armenia exit early Sunday when he was hit and killed by a motorist. He is the second road ranger killed while working in the Tampa Bay area in the six years the state-funded program has been operating here. "He was dedicated to what he did," said Terry Hensley, the Department of Transportation's traffic incident manager for District 7, which includes Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco counties. "He was very much about helping other people." Bradshaw was wearing a yellow reflective vest, backing up a Florida Highway Patrol trooper on the scene of an accident early Sunday. He had positioned cones and flares to close three lanes to traffic, Trooper Larry Coggins said. But a Nissan Sentra went around the stopped traffic and, on seeing Bradshaw and the wreck, slammed on his brakes too late and slid into Bradshaw and the wreck. Bradshaw died at the scene. The Sentra's driver, Benjamin Green, 31, of St. Petersburg, has not been charged, pending the results of blood-alcohol and drug tests.


Truck Crushes Electrical Worker

Avoca, IA - An electrical worker was killed when he was crushed under his truck in Southwest Iowa on Sunday night, according to Pottawattamie County Sheriff's Department. The man's body was discovered beneath his truck at the fairgrounds in Avoca. "It's a middle-aged man from out of town that was servicing a vehicle and it apparently rolled on him, and he was pinned under the rear axle," said Deputy Tom Bernemann, a spokesman for the Pottawattamie County Sheriff's Department. Bernemann said it's believed the victim was an electrical worker from Eastern Iowa who was part of a crew laying power lines in the area.


Missing CPS worker found dead

Dallas, TX - A missing Child Protective Services program director has been found dead, officials said Wednesday. Family members had reported Sally Blackwell, 53, missing and were worried about threats she received on a case, San Antonio television station KENS reported. She was last heard from Monday about 9 p.m. and did not report to work at her Victoria office on Tuesday, police and CPS officials said. "It's been confirmed to us that the body they located is our employee, Sally Blackwell," CPS spokesman Patrick Crimmins said. "We are shocked and saddened at that fact. Everyone who was aware of her disappearance had been hoping there would be a happier outcome. Word has been spreading across the state." Child Protective Services investigates reports of abuse and neglect of children, and, if necessary, places them in foster care. According to CPS, Blackwell oversaw 46 caseworkers, their supervisors and additional support staff in nine counties. "Our thoughts and prayers are with her family."


Man killed in fall from fork lift

Neosho, MO, -- An Anderson man was killed in a forklift accident at Jarden Consumer Solutions, the former Sunbeam plant.

Edward J. Anderson, 29, died at 12:33 a.m. Tuesday morning. He leaves behind a wife, Amanda, and two sons: Brett and Branden. Full obituary information is on page 2 of today's edition.

Officials at Jarden deferred questions to a corporate spokeswoman, Rocky Rockingham, who said she could not comment on the details at this time and would not even name the victim. A company statement was not available as of Tuesday afternoon, but would be available sometime Wednesday.

However, Mark Bridges, Newton County coroner, said the accident happened as Anderson raised the truck's lift up high while it had a heavy clamp attached to it. The vehicle evidently became top-heavy, causing it to topple over with Anderson inside. The man fell out of the forklift and hit his head, Bridges said.


Iowa worker dies in 150-fall from communications tower

GLADSTONE, Mo. -- An Iowa man dies after falling about 150 feet from a communications tower where he was working. It happened this afternoon in Gladstone, Missouri, just north of Kansas City. Authorities were withholding the name of the 28-year-old man while his family was notified, but a supervisor said he was from the Iowa town of Knoxville. Employees of Interstate Tower Incorporated of Hawarden, Iowa, have been working on the 300-foot tower for about two weeks, installing new equipment. The accident happened while the victim and another man were about halfway up the tower. Three other workers were on the ground. The cause of the fall is being investigated. Gladstone Police Sergeant Richard King says the victim was wearing a safety harness when emergency personnel reached the scene.


Former Claiborne County employee accused of killing board attorney

Port Gibson, MS - A former Claiborne County employee allegedly killed the Board of Supervisors attorney this morning and injured at least one other person in a shooting rampage, according to WLBT-Channel 3. The station, quoting police, identified the suspect as Carl Brandon. Killed was Allen Burrell, who was reportedly shot shortly before 8 a.m. today just outside his office in Port Gibson. WLBT reported that Burrell’s law partner also was wounded but the extent of his injuries is not known.


Kin say WTC killed Mom, EMS worker dies of rare cancer

New York, NY - A retired FDNY paramedic died Wednesday from cancer that her doctor and family insist was linked to her work at the World Trade Center morgue after the 9/11 attacks. Debbie Reeve, 41, died at Calvary Hospital in the Bronx after mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer in her lungs, ravaged her body, leaving her emaciated and unable to walk, her loved ones said yesterday. Reeve, a Bronx mother of two who worked at the Ground Zero morgue for several months, developed the cancer after being exposed to asbestos thrown into the air by the collapsing twin towers, her family and doctor contend.


QuikTrip clerk, 17, dies after shooting

Wichita, KS -- A 17-year-old QuikTrip clerk died today after being shot in the head in an unprovoked and unexplained attack, Wichita police said.

A spokesman for QuikTrip Corp., Mike Thornbrugh, said: "We're absolutely devastated by this, and our hearts are broken by this... senseless, senseless act of violence.

Police and school district officials said the clerk, Brian C. Hall, was a senior at East High School. Hall had been involved in Junior ROTC and the school's construction program, said Susan Arensman, a school district spokeswoman. East High made counselors available for students, she said.


Flagman killed in mishap on Miss. 16

Canton, MS - The Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol is investigating the death of a road construction worker who was killed Wednesday morning when a tractor-trailer from his work crew backed over him. Jefferson Hutchins, 56, died from multiple trauma about 7:50 a.m. near 3681 Mississippi 16 East, Madison County Coroner Alex Breeland said. Highway Patrol Sgt. James Walker said Hutchins was a flagman for Dickerson and Bowing Construction Co. of Brookhaven.


Crash kills two- Official: No distress signal was sent by helicopter

Lafayette, LA - An investigation is under way to determine the cause of the Monday morning crash of a Bell 206L Series helicopter, which crashed - killing two of its four occupants - into a remote and marshy area in St. Mary Parish. The crash occurred minutes after the helicopter's take-off from Patterson at about 7:30 a.m. in an area about five miles south of the town, said Gerry Golden, general manager and director of operations for Broussard-based Rotocraft Leasing.


Trucker who was killed is identified

Berlin, MA - A Maine man was killed and an Illinois man suffered minor injuries in a late night crash involving two tractor-trailers Monday. Truck driver John Gelinas, 45, of Saco, Maine, was killed and truck driver Innocent Yudo, 59, of Chicago suffered minor injuries during the accident on Interstate 495 North in Berlin, a mile south of Exit 26, according to state police. Yudo was treated and released from Marlborough Hospital early yesterday morning, according to a hospital spokesman


Worker Crushed By Falling Smokestack

Baltimore, MD - A worker (Jimmy Wayne Streeter, 43) sitting in a parked pickup truck was crushed to death when a nearby smokestack collapsed and fell onto his vehicle. "He apparently never knew the smokestack was falling towards him," Baltimore Fire Department spokesman Chief Kevin Cartwright said. The accident occurred Tuesday evening at the W.R. Grace Chemical Co.'s Curtis Bay plant during a period of high winds. The 200-foot metal smokestack broke off, cleared a small building and crashed onto the parked vehicle underneath.


Contractor dies at VA center site

Hampton, VA - A Virginia Beach contractor was killed Monday in the parking lot at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Hampton as he helped another contractor unload a supply of commercial doors. Wilbert McNeil Jr., 55, was doing renovation work on the interior of the geriatric/psychiatric unit about 10:15 a.m. when the doors he was helping to unload shifted and fell on him, said Jenny Tankersley, the center's public affairs officer. McNeil, who worked for Robra Construction in Virginia Beach, was pronounced dead 20 to 25 minutes after the accident. Robra has been renovating the geriatric/psychiatric unit since October, Tankersley said. Police and fire officials responded. The medical center's police department and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigated the accident.


Truck driver recalled as family man- Death occurred in work-related accident

North Manchester, IN - Jerry D. Huffman was a kind, family man who loved children and who was eager to become a grandfather, said a family member. Huffman’s hopes of seeing his grandchildren ended in a matter of seconds when he was killed in a work-related accident Sunday. Family members grappled with their loss Monday while making funeral arrangements in Bluffton. Huffman, 50, was killed about 12:30 p.m. at Dexter Axle in North Manchester, the Wabash County Sheriff’s Department said. Huffman, who was employed by Evans Trucking in Butler, was checking a load of axles on a trailer. About 10 axles were bundled together, secured by metal straps, and stacked two high on the trailer. At some point one of the bundles and Huffman fell from the truck, according to the sheriff’s report.


Man killed while trying to protect pregnant employee

Houston, TX - It happened around 10:45pm Sunday on Crosstimbers and Fulton in north Houston. Police say a woman and her estranged husband began arguing outside the Lucky Seafood Market near Northline Mall. The woman works at the market and her boss tried to get the husband to leave. An eyewitness says that's when the husband pulled a machete and attacked the market owner. "The lady came, saying her husband killed some man. Me and that lady went back there to check and the back of his head he has a big hole in the back," said eyewitness Gustavo Silva. "The husband hit him with a machete in the back of his head" The estranged couple's 12-year-old daughter was also on the scene and saw the entire incident. The husband took off and has not been found. His wife, being pregnant, was taken to the hospital as a precaution.


Road worker killed by cement truck

NY - A state Department of Transportation worker was struck by a cement truck and killed while repairing potholes on Sunrise Highway at 10:30 a.m. Friday, spokeswoman Eileen Peters said. Patrick Mapleson, 66, of Ridge, was pronounced dead at Brookhaven Memorial Hospital Medical Center at 11:24 a.m. "Poor Patrick. He was just working on making the road safer for everybody and he lost his life," Peters said.


Robbers shoot, kill gas station worker

Milwaukee, WI - 57-year-old gas station employee died from a gunshot wound to the back during an armed robbery Saturday at a Citgo gas station at 3531 N. Teutonia Ave., police said. The shooting occurred about 6:30 p.m. The victim was identified as Surinder Singh Toor, 57, the older brother of the owner of the station, Surjit Toor, according to Gurmail Toor, Surinder's nephew. Gurmail Toor said that he was at Jack's Beverage Center next door when he heard over the intercom that his uncle had been shot. The family owns both businesses.


NASA Employee Dies After Fall From Roof

CAPE CANAVERAL, FL -- A roofer died after falling from a warehouse Friday at Kennedy Space Center as employees returned to work with orders to be more careful a day after a stand-down was ordered following a spate of recent accidents. James Kennedy, the space center's director, ordered work stopped for two hours Thursday while he addressed nearly 15,000 employees on safety issues over closed-circuit television. He warned that a major accident could derail NASA's plans to complete the international space station and to begin exploring the moon and then Mars. "We must stop in their tracks the events that led me to call for this safety stand-down," Kennedy said. Steven Owens, 51, had removed his safety harness and was moving toward the edge of a warehouse roof when he tripped over a lightning protection wire, said Sam Gutierrez, a spokesman for Space Gateway Support, which holds the joint base operations contract at the space center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

Firefighter dies of heart attack at fire

Hastings-on-Hudson, NEW YORK -- A Westchester County firefighter died after suffering a heart attack while responding to a fire Friday.

Battalion Chief Robert Schnibbe Jr., 57, of the Hastings-on-Hudson Fire Department, suffered the attack while directing firefighters at a house under construction in Irvington, the department said.

"Chief Schnibbe was one of the most widely known and respected fire officials in Westchester County and throughout the State," the department said in a statement.

Schnibbe had served in his department for 39 years and was chief officer from 1977 to 2001.


Hit/Run Freeway Crash Kills Road Worker

CARLSBAD, CA -- A predawn hit-and-run crash on a North County freeway killed a road worker today, authorities said.

The victim was in a closed section of Interstate 5 in Carlsbad, helping install electronic sensors in the roadway, when a pickup truck veered into the area and struck him about 1:45 a.m., the California Highway Patrol reported.

The motorist pulled over briefly a short distance away, near Jefferson Street, then continued driving out of the area to the south, CHP public affairs Officer Joel Arding said.

Medics took the injured worker, a 26-year-old Olathe, Colo., resident employed by a Caltrans subcontractor, to Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla, where he was pronounced dead about six hours later.


Assumption deputy killed trying to help apprehend suspect

NAPOLEONVILLE, LA - Known fondly as "Streetfly" for his gregarious ways, Assumption Parish Sheriff's Sgt. Jeremy Newchurch moved comfortably between two very different worlds.

On Feb. 24, the 31-year-old Newchurch - who coached a youth softball team - was volunteering at a school Mardi Gras carnival, judging children in a costume contest, his godmother, Tina Landry, said.

Wednesday night, Newchurch was fatally shot in the chest while trying to help a fellow officer arrest a suspected drug dealer, Assumption Parish Sheriff Mike Waguespack said Thursday.


Truck driver killed in collision with train

NEWNAN, Ga -- - A man driving a cement truck was killed Tuesday when his truck crashed into a train.

Coweta County Sheriff's Office officials said a CSX train hit a cement truck at Weldon Road U.S. 29 Tuesday morning. The sheriff's office received a call about the wreck at 10:42 a.m.

The truck driver was killed. No other injuries were reported. The man's identity was not immediately released.

Investigators are continuing to work the scene.


Container ship crew member dead in safety exercise in Seattle

SEATTLE, WA -- A man who died in a lifeboat accident during a safety drill was a member of the crew of a container ship based in Hong Kong, investigators in the King County medical examiner's office said.

Jie Zheng, 25, drowned at Terminal 18 after a lifeboat containing him and three others from the crew of the OOCL Britain flipped while being lowered into the water near the mouth of the Duwamish River, investigators said Monday.

Coast Guard personnel pulled all four from the water within about 20 minutes Sunday but Zheng died after being taken to Harborview Medical Center.

A second crew member was treated for a broken leg, and the other two others were returned to the ship.

The Britain had arrived in port earlier in the day. The accident, which occurred during a safety drill supervised by the American Bureau of Shipping, remained under investigation, Coast guard officials said.


Lafayette County deputy killed when patrol car goes off road

LEWISVILLE Ark. -- A Lafayette County sheriff's deputy died in a traffic accident while on his way to help another deputy who was answering a domestic disturbance call, the sheriff's office said Saturday.

Deputy Stacy McMurrough, 32, of Stamps died when the patrol car he was driving went off Arkansas 29, went into a ditch, overturned, and he was thrown from the vehicle, according to an Arkansas State Police report. The accident happened at 8:21 p.m. Friday. The highway was wet at the time because it had been raining. McMurrough was not wearing his seat belt, the state police report said.

Sheriff Danny Ormand said Saturday that his deputies usually wear their seat belts. "But for some reason, he didn't have it on." The sheriff said the accident happened not long after McMurrough apparently had stopped a traffic violator, received the call for backup, got back in his car and hurried off to help the other deputy.


Logger killed in Halifax

HALIFAX , VT -- A 55-year-old Wilmington man was struck and killed by a falling tree during a logging accident on Sunday.

According to Halifax Fire Chief Wayne Courser, Joel Greene was logging alone about a half-mile off Thurber Road when the accident occurred. Courser said the tree which hit Greene was standing on the edge of a marshy area and appeared to have uprooted a short time after being struck by another tree that Greene had just cut down.

Courser said it appeared Greene was trimming the limbs off the felled tree when he was hit from behind by the toppling tree. Courser said Greene had probably been struck around 2 or 3 o'clock in the afternoon.

This is the third logging accident that resulted in a death in less than three months in southern Vermont.


Coroner IDs I-680 tow truck driver

CONCORD, CA -- The Contra Costa Coroner's Office has identified the man struck by a car and killed while assisting another motorist on Interstate 680 as Jody Ehling, 42, of Concord.

The collision occurred before 9:30 p.m. on northbound I-680 at the westbound Highway 4 onramp, the California Highway Patrol said.

Witnesses said Ehling, an American Tow tow truck driver, was standing on the right-hand shoulder of the connector, operating levers on the side of his truck when a gold 1995 Volvo bounced off the left-side concrete barrier and overcorrected toward the right, plowing into Ehling, who was thrown several yards, Sgt. Keith Marsden said.


Semi driver killed in head-on collision

WILTON, Iowa — A semi-truck driver from Spencer, Iowa, died in a head-on collision Wednesday morning with another semi along Interstate 80 near Wilton.

David Lynn Loerts, 39, died at the scene when the other semi, driven by Michael Morrow, 56, of Cherokee, Iowa, crossed the centerline at 2:39 a.m. and collided with Loerts’ vehicle.

A Tipton ambulance took Morrow to Genesis Medical Center-East Rusholme Street, Davenport. A hospital spokesman said he was treated there and released.

According to the Iowa State Patrol, Loerts was westbound on I-80 and Morrow was eastbound. Loerts’ vehicle became engulfed in flames, and Morrow’s truck came to a rest in a ditch on the north side of the road, police said.


Construction worker killed on I-75

Lowndes County, GA - A construction worker was killed today in a tragic accident on the Interstate.

The man was working on a road resurfacing project on I-75 near exit 29 in Lowndes County when a co-worker accidentally backed over him. The driver of the truck was backing up to get a load of asphalt, and didn't see the man behind him.

"He was looking in his left side mirror and the other worker was on the ride side, to the rear of his truck," said Trooper Jim Brown.

Both men worked for Douglas Asphalt Company. Troopers have not released the victim's name pending notification of kin.


Double murder possibly a ’hit’: Businessman, worker killed in Wakefield

Wakefield, MA -- The president of a Wakefield concrete business and one of his part-time truck drivers were shot to death at the family-owned firm yesterday morning in what investigators are looking at as a possible execution, authorities said.

Allstate Concrete Pumping Inc. President Michael Zammitti Jr., 39, of Wakefield was shot in the head from the front as he sat at his desk in a cramped office above the company garage, authorities said.

Chester Roberts, 51, also of Wakefield, was shot in the back at least once and found near the bottom of the stairs to the office.

“It does appear, given the location of the bodies, that he may not have been the intended target of this, that he may have happened upon the circumstances,” Middlesex District Attorney Martha Coakley said of Roberts.


$20K Reward Offered in Hit-Run Freeway Crash that Killed Road Worker

SAN DIEGO, CA -- Authorities announced a $20,000 reward today for information leading to the arrest and conviction of a motorist involved in a predawn hit-and-run crash that killed a road worker on a North County freeway.

The March 6 accident, which occurred in a closed section of Interstate 5 in Carlsbad, killed 26-year-old Olathe, Colo., resident Zachary Zura.

The victim was helping install electronic sensors in the roadway near Jefferson Street when a southbound pickup truck veered into the work area and struck him about 1:45 a.m., according to the California Highway Patrol.

Medics took Zura, an employee of a Caltrans subcontractor, to Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla, where he was pronounced dead about six hours later.


Worker Killed, One Injured in Plant Accident

Shertz, TX -- One worker was killed, another injured during an industrial accident at a plant in Schertz, officials told News 4 WOAI.

The accident happened close to 2 p.m. Tuesday at PSP Monotech, authorities said. The company builds steel components for power plants.

The victim killed in the accident was identified as 27-year-old Mike Apaez from San Antonio, officials with the City of Schertz told News 4 WOAI.

The other worker, 40-year-old Roland Luna, was rushed to University Hospital, officials said. His condition was unknown Tuesday night.


Truck driver dies in wreck

Greenville, OK -- An Arkansas truck driver was killed Tuesday morning when his tractor-trailer ran off Interstate 35 and struck a tree in Love County, according to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol.

James Pruett, 42, of Greenbrier was driving south on the highway when his truck left the road about 10 a.m. near Greenville, ran though a fence, struck a tree and caught fire, troopers said. The cause of the accident was unknown Tuesday.


Teacher Dies, 8 Students Hurt When Car Slams Into CrowdLos Angeles, CA -- A teacher (Carrie Phillips, 24) was killed and eight students were injured Wednesday when an out-of-control car jumped a curb in Culver City and slammed into them as they returned to their school from a nearby park.

Both the driver of the car and her male passenger fled the scene but were later arrested. They were identified as Laura Samayoa, 20, of Los Angeles, and Reynaldo Cruz, 19, also of Los Angeles, said Lt. Chris Maddox of the Culver City Police Department.


Truck driver dies in I-495 crash

BERLIN, ME -- A truck driver from Saco, Maine, was killed Monday night when his tractor-trailer smashed into the rear of another truck on Interstate 495, state police said.

The crash, which occurred on I-495 north, about a mile south of Exit 26, was reported to state police about 11:30 p.m. It was raining and visibility was poor, though traffic was light. The accident occurred on a long incline, which begins at the Interstate 290 interchange and ends at Exit 26.

John Gelinas, 45, of Saco, Maine, died in the crash, according to state police. His tractor-trailer was in the right lane when it rear-ended a tractor-trailer driven by Innocent Yudo, 59, of Chicago, police said.

USA Today Article: A Waste Of Good Newsprint

Several people sent me this USA Today article, Dangerous jobs come in all shapes, sizes, by Emily Bazar. It's a description of a number of hazardous jobs in this country. I generally enjoy reading such articles, figuring that we're providing just a bit more information to the masses who otherwise see, hear and smell no evil in our nation's workplaces.

But after my first quick reading I was strangely unsatisfied. Then I realized why. It's not so much what was written but what wasn't written:

Try writing an article about the most dangerous jobs in American without even mentioning the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Spend about half the article talking about the incredible suffering plaguing millions of American workers from back injuries and other strains and sprains caused by lifting and other repetitive motions, without once mentioning the ergonomics standard repealed by the Bush administration in 2001.

And make sure that after doing a good job describing a host of work-related hazards, you don’t say anything about how to reduce or eliminate any of the hazards (except for a safety committee whose only function seems to be warning new workers not to be too impatient to wait for assistance to lift heavy boxes.) Don't mention OSHA standards that aren't being followed, or other well-recognized industry best-practices that are being ignored. Or how employers who are literally getting away with murder by getting tiny fines for killing workers.

Add a few sentences like these: “Everyone admits that some danger is inherent to these industries. But many workers accept the risks”

“Besides, he says, the risks become a part of life. ‘You get used to it," he says, "and take pride in your job.’"

You’ll have this nice little USA Today article.

No wonder it's so hard to make national progress on health and safety issues in this country. You finally get a bit of newspaper real estate and they waste it.

Sago: Mother Nature's Vengeance?

You'll be happy to know that the International Coal Group announced yesterday that its 2005 income was $31.8 million, compared with a 2004 loss of $102.4 million. The only bad news was that damn coal mine explosion that killed 12 of their employees and seriously injured one. ICG President Ben Hatfield assured stockholders that "This tragedy will always remain in our memories, but we must do more than just remember the good people that died and were injured. We must learn lessons from this accident that will make coal miners safer in years to come."

One of the things that will make coal miners safer will apparently be praying to Mother Nature for mercy. On Tuesday, ICG released the results of its investigation into the disaster. The first "key finding" was that the explosion was ignited by lighting and fueled by methane that had naturally accumulated in an abandoned area of the mine that had been recently sealed."

Curse that Mother Nature! She not only supplied the fuel, but also the ignition source. Oh, and don't forget the oxygen. All three sides of the fire triangle.

The evidence: “unusual streaks” on the mine roof where company officials believe an electrical charge from the lightning may have entered the mine. But the press release also states that the investigators can't say how the lighting got into the mine. In addition, “The testing of these unusual features has not been completed to determine if it was created by the passage of electrical energy from lightning.”

The Mineworkers union was not amused. Cecil E. Roberts, International President of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) called the the ICG's findings "unprecedented, reckless and premature."

This action does a disservice to the families of those who were killed at Sago,” Roberts said. “ICG even acknowledges that it doesn’t know how an electrical charge could have traveled from the surface to the mine and ignited the explosion. To publicize their unfounded conclusion now, well before the official investigation by federal and state experts is finished, is extremely reckless

Mineworkers safety experts say this is the first time in their memory that a company has released a report before MSHA's releases its report.

Roberts says the intent is clear:

“I believe it’s fair to ask why ICG is leaping to this conclusion and publicizing its version now,” Roberts said. “ICG is essentially saying this was an act of God, and we all know you can’t sue God. One can make a case that this announcement is more about future litigation defense purposes that it is about actually shining a light of truth on what really happened.

The Charleston Gazette's Ken Ward also points out that even if lightning did spark the explosion,

previous government reports have indicated that there are ways to reduce the chance of a lightning strike causing a mine explosion.

For example, state investigators have said ICG was taking methane readings from inside the sealed-off area of the mine.

Data from those tests could have hinted that methane was building up to dangerous levels, giving the company a chance to vent the area. Information about readings prior to the blast has not been released.

And the AFL-CIO reports that

If the lightning did travel to the sealed area, it could only ignite methane behind the seals if the methane levels had not stabilized, as they should have if the area was properly sealed, say mine safety experts.

Generally speaking, methane is only explosive when it makes up between 5 and 15 percent of the atmosphere. Above that level, it becomes inert as it replaces oxygen—which is needed to fuel an explosion. Proper sealing of a worked-out area should bring the methane levels to the non-explosive point. There are reports the Sago sealing was done about a month before the blast.

Yes, although you might not know it from ICG's press releases, but one of the most interesting and important aspects of the history of the last several thousand years is man's ability to overcome the hazards created by Mother Nature.

Stickler Nomination To Head MSHA Held Up By Senator Byrd

West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd has put a hold on the nomination of Richard Stickler to be Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety and Health.

Byrd said Tuesday that he wants to meet with Richard Stickler before he allows the Marion County native’s confirmation to move forward.

“I have yet to meet with Mr. Stickler, and I will continue to hold his nomination until I can meet with him to discuss the urgency of coal safety improvements — modern communications equipment, better enforcement of safety laws already on the books, and minimum safety fines to encourage compliance with safety practices,” Byrd said in a statement.

“MSHA’s political leadership seems to have lost sight in recent years that miners’ safety and health is that agency’s top priority,” Byrd added. “Until I know that Mr. Stickler will make safety job number one at MSHA, I will not allow his nomination to move forward.”

Stickler was Director of the Pennsylvania Department of Deep Mine Safety after spending 30 years working for coal companies. His nomination is opposed by the United Mineworkers union, the AFL-CIO and the Charleston Gazette.

Senate Confirms Foulke: An Open Letter To the New Assistant Secretary for OSHA

The Senate confirmed Edwin G. Foulke as Assistant Secretary of Labor For Occupational Safety and Health Monday. Foulke, formerly chair of the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, comes from a law firm well known in union-busting circles, where he has spent most of his career representing management in workplace safety and health cases. Nevertheless,

he told the Senate committee reviewing his nomination in January that he could protect workers as OSHA's new leader.

"As head of OSHA," he said, "I understand that I will be ultimately responsible for helping to ensure as much as possible that every employee in the United States works in a safe and healthy workplace."

We'll see.

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE HONORABLE EDWIN G. FOULKE, ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF LABOR FOR OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH

Dear Assistant Secretary Foulke:

Congratulations on your appointment to head the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. It's an enormous responsibility, as I'm sure you are aware: you literally hold the lives and health of thousands of American workers in your hands. Don't screw it up.

I'm sure you're not happy that I've previously characterized you as a union-busting Republican political operative whose fundraising and party leadership skills have finally paid off. And you may not be happy about my prediction that your administration will be (yawn) a continuation of the same tired, ineffective, moribund, anti-worker programs that have succeed in making OSHA almost totally irrelevant to workplace safety in this country.

On the other hand, I'm sure, in the wee hours of night, as you lie awake in bed, wondering what the next three years hold, you're also asking yourself what contribution you can possibly make to humanity by heading up an agency that has been castrated by the President at whose pleasure you serve.

Well Ed, here's your chance to put your money where your silver-toungued mouth is. For a short period of time, you have an opportunity to take a number of giant steps to protect workers, defend your manhood, and, most important of all, do what both John Henshaw and Jonathan Snare have spent countless hours fantacizing about: you can make a complete fool out of me.

Here's how.

You can show the Mayberry Machiavellis at the White House, and those wet-behind-the-ears, know-it-all, young Republicans who are actually running this country that that you’ve got balls, cajones, that you’re no Brownie, that all that B.S. you were spewing at your confirmation hearing about how OSHA’s biggest challenge is to cater to small business was just a bunch of confirmation claptrap intended to warm the cockles of Senator Enzi’s heart.

OK, here's your 100 day agenda:

• Issue the "Payment for Personal Protective Equipment" standard. The standard has been languishing at OSHA since the end of the Clinton Administration. Explain that if anyone is going to take seriously OSHA's efforts to reach out to Hispanic workers, the first step must be to ensure that employers pay for their boots, gloves and other equipment.


• Issue an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for a standard to protect health care workers against a flu pandemic. Show you’re serous about ensuring that this country is ready for a flu pandemic by safeguarding the health of our caregivers


• Propose legislation calling for increased criminal penalties and higher fines. Yes, maybe most employers may take safety seriously, but there are still far too many in this country who continue to knowingly and willfully cut corners and kill workers. Their only punishment is a relatively insiginificant fine, considering that they killed someones' father, mother, son or daughter. Only the certainty of high fines and jail terms will stop them from considering violations, injuries, illnesses and fatalities to be an acceptable risk. (Spend a few hours reading Confined Space, and then tell me you don't agree...)
  
• Launch a serious and sustained effort to update the OSHA's Permissible Exposure Limit for chemicals. Hundreds of chemicals are regulated by OSHA based on science from the 1950's and 1960's, making the agency a laughing stock, and exposing workers to thousands of hazardous chemicals.
  
• Fill the empty labor-liaison positions in the field. Due to deaths and retirements, fewer than half of the OSHA Regional offices have labor liaisons. None of the empty positions have been filled. If you really want to know what goes on in American workplaces, you need people that workers will trust.
  
• Announce that you are launching a review of the recently issued Hexavalent Chromium standard. New information has surfaced that the chromium industry hid important studies showing lung cancer at very low exposure levels, and there are numerous other flaws in the standard. Basically, the thing's a piece of shit, but you have a chance to blame it on someone else -- if you act fast.


• Announce that you are launching a serious review of OSHA's voluntary Programs, based on the 2004 Government Accountability Office report that showed there was no evidence that the programs were effective. Oh, and while you're at it, get rid of that idiotic alliance program. Admit that it's just a rather unsuccessful public relations ploy to hide the fact that OSHA has gone out of the standard setting business.

Do these things and not only will you have made a name for yourself in workplace safety, but I'll eat crow, because right now, I don't think you really get what's going on in this country's workplaces. And even if you do, I don't think you have the balls to do anything about it.

So, come on, Ed, prove me wrong. What do you have to lose but your irrelevance? You’ll never have more political capital than you have now. They can’t fire an Assistant Secretary the month after he’s confirmed. What are they going to do, send you on a hunting trip with Dick Cheney? Dude, You’ve got ‘em by the balls. Now, squeeze.

Good luck. You'll need it.

Sincerely,


Jordan Barab
Blogger, Confined Space.

P.S. I'm sure many of my readers have other suggestions. Check the comments below.

The "Swallow At Your Own Risk Act"

The Hazard Communication Standard, which gives workers the “right to know” about the hazards of the chemicals they are exposed to, is arguably OSHA’s most important standard. It was issued during the Reagan administration, not because Reaganites thought workers should have information about the chemicals they were being exposed to, but because the agency was forced to issue the standard by the states.

Under court interpretations of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, “federal” OSHA states (states where OSHA enforces the law) can issue their own workplace safety and health standards as long as federal OSHA has no standard in that area. In “state plan” states (where the state administers the law), states can issue their own standards as long as OSHA determines that they’re “at least as effective as” the federal law.

When the newly inaugurated Reagan administration withdrew a Carter administration proposal for a “Right-to-Know” standard, cities and then states began passing their own. Facing the potential of 50 different right to know laws, corporate America, which had strongly opposed a national standard, changed its mind, leading the the issuance of today’s Hazard Communication Standard (CFR 1910.1200).

California has been one of the leading states in requiring automobiles to meet more stringent standards than the federal government, single-handed driving industry innovation. States have been out front in a number of other areas, including food safety, at least until now, if the Republicans in Congress have their way.

Harold Meyerson tells the sad tale in today’s Washington Post:

Last week, even as Congress with great fanfare was protecting the American people against whatever mischief the harbor barons of Dubai were contemplating, it quietly decided to strip some long-standing protections from the same American people at the behest of our very own food industry. Last Wednesday the House passed the National Uniformity for Food Act, which might better be named the Swallow at Your Own Risk Act.

In one swoop, the bill preempts roughly 200 state laws governing food safety. The theory here is that we lack uniform national standards in such areas as lead and arsenic content, milk and shellfish safety, and the stuff that goes into food coloring and additives. National standards, the bill's champions argue, would be good for the whole country.

Funny thing, though. The bill doesn't set any national standards. It doesn't require that the Food and Drug Administration set such standards. It merely reserves to the FDA the right to set such standards, and negates a slew of laws that every single state has enacted over the past 60 years to make up for the FDA's neglect of food safety.

Examples? A Utah law addressing food additives that's stricter than federal law, a California law banning Mexican candy that contains lead, and numerous state laws addressing the hazards of raw shellfish.

The bill is, of course, being pushed by the food industry, and the Republican-controlled House of Corporate Representatives has – true to form – held no hearings and scheduled no debate – just a vote.

"What did Energy and Commerce base its decision on?" asks Henry Waxman, the Los Angeles Democrat who led the opposition to this mischief. "There was no analysis. There was no evaluation. Republicans just followed their leaders, and
some Democrats who had initially signed on as co-sponsors were waiting, presumably, for somebody authoritative to review the bill. But there was no review, and some of them couldn't figure out that they should have rethought their commitment."

The bill now goes to the Senate, where California's two senators, Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, have vowed to defeat it. But the message from the new, John Boehner-led reformed Republican House to American business couldn't be clearer: We're not going to let anything so vulgar as evidence, or our ostensible belief in states' rights, sway our judgment when the interests of our financial backers are at stake. Money still talks here; money screams.

Oh, and one more thing. 71 Democrats voted for the bill, “prima facie evidence,” Meyerson says, “that the Republicans deserve to lose control of Congress and that Democrats don't yet deserve to win it.”

Workers Memorial Day Is Coming

People get ready.

April 28th is Workers Memorial Day, where unions around the world remember those who have suffered and died on the job and to renew the fight for safe workplaces. This has the potential of being a special Workers Memorial Day -- it follows the mine disasters earlier this year that revealed the bankruptcy of our workplace safety agencies -- and it's an election year.

The AFL-CIO is the lead organizer in the United States, but it's up to you to organize or join local events:

Within just a few weeks' time, the disasters at the Sago mine and five other mines claimed the lives of 18 miners. These tragedies focused the nation's attention on the dangers faced by workers and the weakness in job safety protections. But the Sago disaster was not an isolated event. Before this year is over, thousands of more workers will be killed on the job and millions will be injured or diseased.

But unfortunately, rather than addressing the serious safety and health problems faced by workers, at the urging of corporate interests, the Bush Administration and conservative Republicans, have moved to rollback and weaken protections. Since 2001, the Administration has blocked or withdrawn dozens of important safety rules, including a number of measures that may have prevented the recent mine tragedies. Voluntary compliance has been favored over issuing new protective standards and enforcement. Industry officials have been put in charge of government safety programs.

In the Congress, Republican leaders have ignored calls to strengthen the mine safety law, and instead are pushing legislation that would gut OSHA enforcement.

Organizing materials and information on American events can be found here. The AFL-CIO is also working on a new Death on the Job report, although the 2005 edition is still on their website.

Events are also being organized around the world. Check out the Hazards Workers Memorial Day website for more information.

So let's get organized and invite those politicians to your events. Make them earn your votes by sponsoring and working for the Protecting America’s Workers Act (S944 and HR2004), or explaining to you why they're not. (Right now the bills only have 5 cosponsors in the House and 10 in the Senate. Go to http://thomas.loc.gov/ for more information on the bills' status.)

Not Your Father's Labor Department

Unless your father happens to be Benito Mussolini.

I've written a couple of times recently about the Center for Union Facts, the group that recently compared UNITE HERE president Harris Raynor to Fidel Castro and Kim Jon Il, the group headed by the same joker who formed corporate-backed associations to defend mercury in fish (FishScam.com), challenge Mothers Against Drunk Driving and its efforts to lower the legal blood alcohol content limit, dismiss concern about obesity as "hype," to defend the tobacco industry against smoking curbs in restaurants and the beverage industry against restrictions on alcohol use, and to argue against raising the minimum wage.

I need a shower just writing about these guys. But they've got some friends over at the Labor Department, according to the Washington Post:

There's a new spirit at the department, judging from a June 15 e-mail from Lynn Gibson, an aide in the public liaison office that alerts people to a training opportunity.

"The next [noteworthy item] is a new website, if you were not already aware of it," she says. "The website is dedicated to providing information on labor unions and their expenditures. UnionFacts.com launched on Monday, February 13th, and some news links are listed below."

Turns out, according to a linked article by our colleague Amy Joyce , this is a stridently anti-union site that talks about the "political activities, and criminal activity of the labor movement." The site lets members check their union's "shady tactics" and highlights how to bust a union's right to represent workers at a company.

Doesn't surprise me. When I worked at the Labor Department, the televisions in the lobby were turned to CNN all day long. When I returned after 2001, the T.Vs were tuned to Fox.

More about this unfortunate relationship at the AFL-CIO Today blog.

The FY 2006 Budget: The Bad, The Good And The Ugly

The Bad

Republicans are in a dither about the FY 2007 budget as they try to work out a budget blueprint for Fiscal Year 2007. On one hand, they want to increase spending on port security, homeland defense, health care and education, while on the other hand, they want to balance the budget by cutting budgets that have already been cut to the bone ( environmental and natural resource programs by 20 percent, community and regional development by 32 percent, and politically sensitive transportation spending would be cut by 17 percent.) But they've backed off cutting $37 billion in the growth of Medicare

The Good

Meanwhile, just to make matters worse for Republican leaders, moderate Republicans say their party has gone too far:

"We're beyond cutting the fat and beyond the bone. We're down to the marrow," said Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), who plans to introduce an amendment today to raise spending on health care, education and worker safety by billions of dollars above the president's request for next year.

Specter's amendment, co-authored by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), is only the beginning. Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (Conn.), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said he and Chairman Susan Collins (R-Maine) will introduce an amendment this week to broadly raise spending on homeland defense. Senate Democrats on their own will move to increase spending for homeland security by nearly $3 billion more than Bush's wishes.

Reps. Daniel E. Lungren (R-Calif.) and Jane Harman (D-Calif.) plan to unveil legislation today that would raise spending on port security by $801 million a year. That bill nearly equals a bipartisan Senate legislation that would raise annual port security spending by $835 million.

The Ugly

Some Republicans are downright pissed off at their party leaders for not getting serious about budget cutting. Some, like the ultra-conservative Republican Study Committee, are so angry that they've resurrected the old Contract with on America, only this time it's the Contract with American RENEWED.

Read it yourself, if you can stomach it. But this will give you the idea:

Unfortunately, we are once again at a historic crossroads in the nation’s future. Despite initial successes, Republicans today are confronted with familiar challenges: expanding government, a worsening fiscal position, and an explosive growth in spending and earmarks. In fiscal year 2005, the federal government spent $2.47 trillion—49% more than it spent in fiscal year 1995 after adjusting for inflation. The deficit for the current fiscal year is projected to be upwards of $400 billion, the largest nominally in history. In 1995, the public debt limit stood at $4.9 trillion; it now stands at $8.2 trillion, up 67% and yet again in need of an increase. This is not the result of war and economic challenges, as is often claimed, but rather an unwillingness to make choices and trade offs.

What kind of "choices and trade offs?"

How about getting rid of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, the only governement agency that conducts research into workplace safety and health issues?

Eliminate the Occupational Safety and Health Program at the CDC. The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is responsible for “conducting research and making recommendations for the prevention of work-related illnesses and injuries.” It is questionable whether this constitutes a “disease” and if the program should be housed within the CDC. Also, the program duplicates functions of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). This proposal was included in the original budget resolution (H.Con.Res. 67) passed by the House of Representatives in 1995.

It just goes to show: bad ideas never die.

Leave All Blades Behind

I confess, I can never quite figure out the Department of Homeland Security. Everything they touch seem to turn to excrement, and now we have the Transportation Security Administration issuing a new rule allowing small knives on planes.

Does this make sense? I mean, the 9/11 hijackers used box cutters, not guns and not explosives to wreak havoc on this country, so Homeland Security is now letting people carry knives on board. Meanwhile they're still making us take our rubber sneakers off because some nutcase tried to blow up a plane with and exploading sneaker. So why do we have to take off our tennis shoes before walking through the X-ray machine? God forbid someone ever tries blow up a plane with an exploding jockstrap.

Oy.

Anway the Association of Flight Attendants is rather confused as well -- and for them it's a life and death matter. The AFA-CWA has launched a new campaign: "Leave All Blades Behind "

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) recently announced that it would lift restrictions on certain items from being brought onboard aircrafts. These items, such as scissors, large screwdrivers and other items will be allowed onboard aircrafts that AFA-CWA flight attendants work to keep safe. This unilateral change in security regulations will put our AFA-CWA members, as well as pilots and you, the travelling public, in danger. It is important that as safety & health activists we support our sisters and brothers in the AFA-CWA in this battle to keep the runways and skies safe.

Go to Leave All Blades Behind to sign the petition and gather information on the "Leave All Blades Behind Act" introduced in Congress by Representatives Ed Markey (D-MA), Joe Crowley (D-NY) and Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY). This legislation will restore the "Prohibited Items" list and keep dangerous items that can be used as lethal weapons by drunk or unruly passengers, as well as by a terrorist group, from being brought onto aircrafts.

The Right To Bargain And The Right To Live

Mike Begatto, Executive Director of Delaware's American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees urges the Delaware legislature to support a bill that would give collective bargaining rights to the state's public employees. Public employees are not covered by the National Labor Relations Act and only 27 states allow collective bargaining for public employees. Delaware is one of those states, but the law doesn't allow them to bargain over economic issues.

Full collective bargaining for public employees is a good thing. But so is the right to come home from work alive and healthy. Delaware is also one of 26 states that does not provide OSHA coverage for public employees. While AFSCME lobbies for collective bargaining right, maybe they should also lobby for the right to a safe workplace.

After all, the logic is the same. As Begatto writes in defense of collective bargaining:

Those who oppose the right of state employees to bargain over wages cannot justify their position based on the nature of work performed by state employees. For many occupations there is little, if any, distinction between public and private sector work. Services provided by nurses and attendants at a private hospital are no different than those provided at a public hospital. Yet one group of workers enjoys the right to bargain over wages while the other does not. Laborers employed by a private firm that contracts with the state have the right to negotiate over their wages, but laborers employed directly by Delaware do not. There are countless other examples. The bottom line is, the current status of labor relations law in Delaware is not rational or justifiable.

Just replace the right to "negotiate" or "bargain" with the "right to work safely."

To paraphrase Begatto, "The bottom line is, the current status of public employee workplace safety in Delaware is not rational or justifiable."

Makes sense to me.