A newsletter of workplace safety and labor issues
“They Treat Us Like Mules”: “They will break you down and then throw you away.” That’s what construction worker Ernesto Rivera told the Mike Elk at the Guardian about how construction workers are treated in Tennessee. Nashville is booming, but workers are paying the price.”In 2016 and 2017, 16 workers were killed on construction sites in…
Following up on its article (and my blog post) on the tragic trench death of DJ Meyer last December, the Kansas City Star has published a strong editorial calling on the Trump administration to “appoint a permanent leader for OSHA without delay. The agency should pursue an aggressive role in adopting workplace safety rules. And Congress should…
Less than half a year after workers finally received long overdue protections against deadly beryllium dust, the Trump administration has officially proposed removing many of those protections from construction and shipyard workers. OSHA announced today “a proposed rule that would modify the agency’s recent beryllium standards for the construction and shipyard sectors.” The proposal would send…
Don’t let Acosta or OSHA get away with these simplistic condescending tweets while they delay the silica and beryllium standards and threaten to eliminate the Susan Harwood worker training grant program. Tweet back. @OSHA_DOL How about investing resources in protecting small business EMPLOYEES – like the Harwood worker training grant program? — Jordan Barab (@jbarab)…
Kudos to Idaho Statesman Reporter Audrey Dutton for a first-rate article about the hazards of residential construction — how many employers refuse to protect their workers and how OSHA saves lives. Dutton’s story begins with the tragic story of Brandon Ho’Rine, who went to his first day on the job one morning, tearing shingles off a house, fell…
Do you sit in a comfortable office all day, outraged by what you read in Confined Space, and wonder what else you could be doing to help workers — aside from the constant stream of highly persuasive phone calls and letters you send to your Congresspersons, Senators and Secretary Acosta every day? Well, here’s one answer to that…
Representatives of the construction industry, as well as general industry have petitioned Labor Secretary Alex Acosta to reopen the silica standard, workplace safeguards that would save over 600 lives and prevent more than 900 new cases of silicosis each year. This means that for every day implementation of the standard is delayed, almost two workers will die…
OSHA announced this afternoon that it was delaying enforcement of its silica standard in the construction industry for 90 days. Originally scheduled to begin June 23, 2017, enforcement will now begin Sept. 23, 2017. Employers are still required to comply with the standard, but so that the agency can “conduct additional outreach and provide educational…