A newsletter of workplace safety and labor issues
Happy Birthday! Forty-four years ago today, on October 18, 1974, President Gerald R. Ford and Secretary Peter J. Brennan laid the ceremonial cornerstone of the new Frances Perkins Department of Labor building. In February 1975 the first wave of employees moved in. I spent over ten years taking the Red Line down to the Perkins building — some of the…
Lots happening these days: the grizzly murder of a Saudi journalist, baseball championships (Go Dodgers!!), mid-term elections, Presidential temper tantrums about “Horseface” and “Pocahontas.” The usual. But by far the most important thing happening today is the Fall 2018 Regulatory Agenda. Release of the Regulatory Agenda is a much anticipated (for regulatory geeks) semi-annual event…
Question: in this election season, how many candidates are being asked about their plans to reduce the every-day carnage in the country’s workplaces? Construction worker killed at Margaritaville Resort in Kissimmee, authorities say Kissimmee, FL — A construction worker was killed after his truck fell into a retention pond at the Margaritaville Resort in Kissimmee,…
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued a memo Thursday weakening workers’ protection against employer retaliation for reporting injuries and illnesses. Section 1904.35(b)(1)(iv) of the Obama administrations 2016 “Electronic Recordkeeping Rule” told employers that “You must not discharge or in any manner discriminate against any employee for reporting a work-related injury or illness.” According to…
A 59-year-old employee at Allen Harim poultry plant in Harbeson, Delaware was killed last week from a serious head trauma after being struck in the head with a piece of equipment on an electric hoist when he and another employee were attempting to change the battery on a pallet jack. This was not Allen Harim’s…
The Little Program That Refuses To Die: OSHA announced its 2018 Susan Harwood Grant Awardees last week. This is the $10 million life-saving training grant program that the Trump administration (and Republicans in the House of Representatives try unsuccessfully to kill every year. Happily they’ve been unsuccessful, because the grants go to groups that provide…
Boom truck hits power lines in Flagler, electrocuting 2 workers PALM COAST, Fla. – Two construction workers were electrocuted Monday in an industrial accident in Flagler County, sheriff’s officials said. The men died around 8:30 a.m. on Sebastian Court in Palm Coast. According to Flagler Sheriff Rick Staly, Nomad LLC, a subcontractor, was laying concrete foundation for a new house…
Charleston Gazette-Mail reporter Ken Ward is a rare specimen in many ways. First, he’s a journalist — and there aren’t many of those around any more — at least many good ones. Second, he’s an investigative journalist. He actually digs for stories — and by “dig,” I mean way below the surface to the root…
What do Moises Dominguez, Cameron Leeds and Charlie McLaughlin have in common? All of them are public employees listed in the most recent “Weekly Toll” list of workers killed in the workplace last week.* But the similarities stop there. An full investigation will be conducted on the death of Dominguez, who worked for the city…