{"id":10181,"date":"2024-09-17T17:00:29","date_gmt":"2024-09-17T21:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/?p=10181"},"modified":"2024-11-22T15:05:03","modified_gmt":"2024-11-22T20:05:03","slug":"public-employees-live-like-slaves-die-like-dogs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/2024\/09\/17\/public-employees-live-like-slaves-die-like-dogs\/","title":{"rendered":"Public Employees: Live Like Slaves; Die Like Dogs"},"content":{"rendered":"

F<\/span>ollowing last week’s post about public employee deaths and lack of OSHA coverage, there is unfortunately more to add from this week’s Weekly Toll. Three additional public employees were killed last week on the job, in addition to the four killed the week before, and the nine killed in July and August. (These don’t include police and firefighters killed on the job, nor those public employees killed on the job that didn’t turn up in my Google searches.)<\/p>\n

Last week, William “Will” Ray Wilson,<\/strong> a Fulton County, Georgia, Department of Public Works employee was killed when he was struck by a work vehicle when on a worksite. City of Kahoka, Missouri apprentice employee Carson Birck<\/strong> was electrocuted and City of Columbia, South Carolina, public works employee Bernard Brooks-Summers<\/strong> was killed in a crash involving two of the city’s vehicles.<\/p>\n

Both Wilson and Birck were killed in states that provide no OSHA coverage for public employees. That means that state, county and city workers in those states have no right to a safe workplace. There will be no OSHA citations or OSHA investigations into the cause of the deaths or standards that have been violated.<\/p>\n

Investigate Me?<\/h2>\n

Will there be any investigation into what caused the deaths of these employees? Maybe failure to comply with OSHA standards, equipment maintenance issues, lack of training, short staffing, inadequate procedures, short deadlines, budget cuts?\u00a0 \u00a0Probably not, because blaming any of those causes could raise uncomfortable questions that would piss off a lot of people. So don’t expect any real investigation, no citations, no penalties and no lessons learned.<\/p>\n

The city of Kahoka has at least announced that they intend to hire “an independent third-party safety expert to investigate the accident and complete a review of and provide recommendations related to the City of Kahoka\u2019s safety practices.”<\/p>\n

But excuse me for being skeptical.<\/p>\n

Last year Tony Rice<\/a> was crushed to death in a trench collapse in Eutaw, Alabama. The city promised a full investigation, but no investigation results are to be found.<\/p>\n

And even when there is an investigation, we may or may not ever see the results. Avid Confined Space<\/em> readers may recall<\/a>, after Huntsville, Alabama employee Bobby Green<\/a> was crushed to death in a 20 foot trench in 2021, the city hired an outside consultant<\/a> to conduct an investigation. But no more was heard of the investigation until television station WAFF repeatedly request a copy. Finally, Huntsville Director of Communications Kelly Schrimsher revealed that<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u2026the city hired an outside consultant to investigate. In an email last week, Schrimisher said \u201cthe city did have safety equipment in place and there is nothing more to report.\u201d She also said work resumed at the site several months ago. She didn\u2019t elaborate on what specific safety equipment was in place, nor did she tell us who the outside consultant was, or what the city paid them. She also did not explain what the consultant found, which was likely paid for by tax dollars.<\/p>\n

And even when we see the investigation, it may not get to the actual root cause — it’s easier just to blame the worker.\u00a0 I’ll never forget the case of\u00a0 the case of Shawn Patilla<\/a> a Denver Water public employee who was killed in 2006 after a valve ruptured in the high-pressure water main he was working on. He died from head and neck injuries as a result of being hit by the water at a pressure of 90 pounds per square inch. Denver Water conducted an “independent” investigation and even released the results.<\/p>\n

And even when we see the investigation, it may not get to the actual root cause — it’s easier just to blame the worker.\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What was the problem?\u00a0Human error, according to the investigation<\/a>.\u00a0 The lesson: Let’s be more careful out there. How convenient.<\/p>\n

In fact, the most likely root cause of Patilla’s death was not worker error, but the employer’s failure to have a lockout tagout program that would have required the line to be depressurized before Patilla began working on it.<\/p>\n

Public Employees: Live Like Slaves; Die Like Dogs<\/h2>\n

Most Americans wouldn’t want to do the work that public employees do every day — or even think about that work. Wading through raw sewage in sewers and wastewater treatment plants, taking care of our mentally ill in understaffed, underequipped overcrowded institutions, watching over our society’s most dangerous individuals in understaffed, overcrowded prisons, dealing with angry social service clients in understaffed, underfunded agencies, dealing with abused children or inspecting housing in neighborhoods that the police won’t even go into, taking care of this society’s poorest, sickest populations in understaffed, overcrowded public hospitals, and I could (and often do) go on and on and on….<\/p>\n

In return, the are underpaid, not allowed to join unions in most states and work with no legal promise of a safe workplace.<\/p>\n

But look at the bright side:\u00a0 Fulton City Manager Teresa Wilson said in a statement. \u201cOur prayers and condolences go out to the families, friends and co-workers affected by this tragic event.\u201d The City of Kahoka announced that\u00a0 “Our hearts go out to his wife, parents, siblings, and many other family and friends who are grieving the loss of our dear friend and co-worker Carson. Carson will be greatly missed.” And Columbia City Manager Teresa Wilson said. \u201cOur prayers and condolences go out to the families, friends and co-workers affected by this tragic event.\u201d<\/p>\n

And lots of states are establishing memorials<\/a> for public employees killed on the job!<\/p>\n

That’s all nice. But instead of offering thoughts and prayers, worthless investigations or hollow memorials to public employees killed on the job, how about passing laws that require public employers to provide a safe workplace? Why should the category of employer determine who comes home alive and healthy at the end of the day?<\/p>\n

Instead of offering thoughts and prayers, worthless investigations or hollow memorials to public employees killed on the job, how about passing laws that require public employers to provide a safe workplace?<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And there needs to be more publicity. Most people, most public officials — even most public employees — don’t know that government workers in 23 states have no right to a safe workplace. Happily, a few are paying attention.\u00a0 Politico<\/em> reporter Ariel Wittenberg recently wrote an excellent article<\/a> recently explaining that even when federal OSHA gets around to issuing a heat standard, millions of public employees will not be protected.<\/p>\n

Today, many of the states without OSHA coverage are among the nation\u2019s hottest places. If OSHA finalizes its new heat rule \u2014 a process that’s expected to take at least two years \u2014 it would require private sector employers to give their workers water and rest breaks in cool places.<\/p>\n

But state and municipal workers in Florida, Texas and much of the deep south could still be forced to work without those safeguards.<\/p>\n

It doesn’t have to be that way. We need more reporters publicizing this issue, and more politicians on the local and federal level with the courage to take on this problem<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Following last week’s post about public employee deaths and lack of OSHA coverage, there is unfortunately more to add from this week’s Weekly Toll. Three additional public employees were killed last week on the job, in addition to the four killed the week before, and the nine killed in July and August. (These don’t include […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9106,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[95],"tags":[111,138,140],"class_list":["post-10181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-public-employees","tag-georgia","tag-missouri","tag-south-carolina"],"yoast_head":"\nPublic Employees: Live Like Slaves; Die Like Dogs - Confined Space<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Public employees continue to die in the workplace. 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