A newsletter of workplace safety and labor issues
Dan Zak of the Washington Post has written a long feature article on the impact and aftermath of the West fertilizer explosion that killed 15 people, injured 252 and damaged or destroyed 500 buildings in the small town of West Texas on April 17, 2013. The article does a great job of describing the impact of…
68-year-old man killed in workplace accident in Hall County Atlanta, GA — The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating. A 68-year-old man was killed Friday in a workplace accident in Hall County, the sheriff’s office said. The man was identified Saturday as Jake Sanders of Flowery Branch, sheriff’s spokesman Stephen Wilbanks said. Sanders, an…
Ricky Nombrano, part of the Ballinger, Texas city work crew was killed earlier this week “while operating heavy equipment.” We know nothing about what caused Nombrano’s death, except that it was not due to natural causes. What’s so special about Nombrano’s death when 12 of his co-workers somewhere in the country also died that day?…
In Memorium, Adrienne Markowitz: The health and safety movement has lost another of its legends. Adrienne Markowitz, former safety and health Director of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Workers Union died of breast cancer last week. As her obituary describes “She worked with, and for, the New Jersey teachers union, identifying threats from mercury,…
OSHA has engaged in a furious flurry of press activity over the past month. Well, “furious” by Trump-OSHA standards. By anyone else’s standards, it’s still pathetic. OSHA has issued an astonishing total of six press releases since the beginning of August. This is, of course, practically nothing compared with the more than 50 large cases…
A couple of comments before we get to this week’s list. We’ve written about OSHA’s unfortunately decision to remove the names of workers killed on the job from their webpage. Jennifer Gollan of Reveal News interviewed a number of family members of workers killed on the job who felt that OSHA’s decision was wrong and reduces…
I have a feeling we ain’t seen nothing yet about the effects of Hurricane Harvey on the chemical industry in the Gulf States — and those who live near chemical facilities. Although the loss of control over chemicals at the Crosby Arkema chemical plant seems to have fallen out of the news in favor of…
Retired firefighter, 59, dies of 9/11-related cancer, 16 years after he spent weeks at Ground Zero New York, NY — The 9/11 terror attacks have claimed the life of another firefighter who spent weeks at Ground Zero, according to the union that represents city firefighters. Retired FDNY Firefighter Michael O’Hanlon, a 30-year veteran of Engine…
For Your Reading “Pleasure” The explosions in the Arkema Chemical plant in Crosby, Texas will most likely not be catastrophic. But the breakdown in this facility’s ability to safely withstand Hurricane Harvey elevated the issue of chemical plant safety in the era of climate change. And that could be a good thing. Below are just…
Cable news and newspapers across the country are headlining the continuing explosions at the Arkema chemical plant in Crosby, Texas, that was flooded by Hurricane Harvey. The plant was evacuated after power failed and several containers full of volatile chemicals that required cooling threatened to explode when power was lost and the generators failed. At…