{"id":1966,"date":"2017-09-11T16:57:39","date_gmt":"2017-09-11T20:57:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/?p=1966"},"modified":"2017-09-11T22:43:51","modified_gmt":"2017-09-12T02:43:51","slug":"from-the-front-lines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/2017\/09\/11\/from-the-front-lines\/","title":{"rendered":"Dispatches From the Front Lines of the War On Worker Safety: Short Stuff"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"dispatches\"The Incredible Disappearing Security Breach:<\/strong> Hard to know what to say about this. Remember that alleged security “breach”<\/a> in OSHA’s website that’s collecting injury and illness data from employers covered by OSHA’s recordkeeping requirements? That’s the same database that was supposed to be up in February, with a submission deadline of July 1. \u00a0It was finally put up on August 1, and the submission deadline until December 1. Then just two weeks after it was put up, the website was taken down due to this alleged security breach. Now it turns out there wasn’t really a breach at all <\/a>and the site is back up. \u00a0But the damage has been done. Even though no confidential information is required for the December 1 submission, Avi Meyerstein of\u00a0\u00a0Husch Blackwell LLP writes<\/a> that “the fact that the ITA portal was believed to have suffered a breach raises concerns as to whether the data is properly protected, and adds credence to the concerns about misuse and manipulation of the portal\u2019s data.” \u00a0And the Society of Human Resource Management<\/a> warns the false alarm is causing “employers distrust the agency’s ability to safeguard confidential information from hackers, raising questions about whether the electronic reporting requirements\u2014under review by the Trump administration\u2014should be scrapped.”<\/p>\n

Or at the Church Lady used to say, “Well isn’t that convenient!”<\/p>\n

“OSHA\u2019s decision to remove the identity of workers killed on the job reduces their deaths to a statistic.” \u00a0— Dennis Stallworth<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Lives, Not Statistics:<\/strong> Families of workers killed on the job are not happy about OSHA’s decision to remove the names of workers from the OSHA website, and to bury the fatality information on a data page, according to Jennifer Gollan of Reveal<\/a> who interviewed a number of family members. The father of Jody Gooch, killed in an explosion earlier this year, said that \u201cThe fines are pretty ridiculous,\u201d Joe Gooch said in an interview, referring to OSHA\u2019s penalties, which are capped under federal law. But the list \u201cputs a face to the accidents.\u201d \u00a0Dennis Stallworth, father of Sedrick Stallworth who was killed in the same explosion that killed Gooch, said “OSHA\u2019s decision to remove the identity of workers killed on the job reduces their deaths to a statistic.” \u00a0Meanwhile, in an Atlanta Constitution blog post, Lois Norder notes that OSHA’s revised list ” includes the deaths of only two Georgia workers so far this fiscal year, which began Oct. 1. But information compiled by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution<\/a> shows that at least 32 Georgia workers have been killed on the job in that time.” \u00a0Norder could probably be speaking for almost every state. She goes on to list all of the workers who have been killed in Georgia this year.<\/p>\n

We’re perfectly capable of blowing ourselves up without terrorists:<\/strong> Seven emergency responders are suing Arkema Chemicals<\/a> for over $1 million because the company didn’t warn the responders about the hazardous materials at the plant. Chemicals exploded at the plant after Hurricane Harvey flooding cut the plant’s power, making it impossible to cool volatile chemicals. The police officers who were exposed to smoke from the explosion “were doubled over vomiting, unable to breathe. Medical personnel, in their attempts to provide assistance to the officers, became overwhelmed and they too began to vomit and gasp for air.\u201d \u00a0Meanwhile, EPA administrator Scott Pruitt, who delayed the Obama administration’s updated Risk Management Program regulation that would have improved coordination between responders and chemical plants, claimed that the delayed regulation\u00a0would have made plants vulnerable to terrorism<\/a>.\u00a0\u201cThese chemical plants are terrorist opportunities as well. They present soft targets to terrorists who come in and do something pretty bad in those communities,\u201d Pruitt said on ABC News\u2019s\u00a0Power House Politics\u00a0<\/a>podcast. \u00a0Meanwhile, Nick Ashford, professor of technology and policy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, \u00a0also points out that the Obama regulation would have required chemical plant operators to consider inherently safer operations<\/a>, including “storing fewer chemicals, using better tanks, and improving backup power systems, in other words, feasible, effective, and immediately needed improvements.” Inherently safer operations also have the virtue of removing targets that terrorists might find tempting. Hard to target a hazardous process or chemical if they’re not there. Listening Scott?<\/p>\n

Irma to Florida Gov Rick Scott — Too Little, Too Late:<\/strong> Florida Governor Rick Scott has been all over the airwaves in the wake of Hurricane Irma praying for Florida residents, expressing concern and doling out hope. But where has he been while all of the scientists have been warning that climate change is going to sink Florida beneath the waves? Answer: Nowhere, according to the Washington Post<\/a> which notes that “his administration has done little over the years to prepare for what scientists say are the inevitable effects of climate change that will wreak havoc in the years to come.\u00a0”\u00a0Local officials, academics and even some political allies say Scott has scarcely acknowledged the problem and, along with the Republican-led legislature, has shown little interest in funding projects to help the state adapt and become more resilient in the face of storms such as Irma.<\/p>\n

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We’ll get through this together. pic.twitter.com\/tPamQ8S1Mw<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Rick Scott (@FLGovScott) September 11, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n