{"id":2584,"date":"2018-01-01T17:23:47","date_gmt":"2018-01-01T22:23:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/?p=2584"},"modified":"2019-02-08T12:36:22","modified_gmt":"2019-02-08T17:36:22","slug":"2017-review-osha","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/2018\/01\/01\/2017-review-osha\/","title":{"rendered":"The Year In Review: 2017 Edition"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Reading Today’s Confined Space<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With the end of 2017 comes the end of the 10th month of new, revised, rejuvenated version of Confined Space. A lot has happened over the last year.\u00a0 Below are the stories that put workplace safety and health into a political and historical context. But, of course, the real story — and in some ways, the only story that matters, is that 14 workers are killed every day in American workplaces and many more than that die every day for work-related occupational diseases.<\/p>\n

The new administration hasn’t so far inspired confidence that it’s ready to deal with those problems. We just found out that last year, for the third year in a row, workplace fatalities have increased. But the only substantive response we heard from Acting Assistant Secretary Loren Sweatt was to address the opioid crisis.<\/p>\n

It’s no secret that OSHA has\u00a0a lot of extremely difficult problems to deal with. An inadequate number of staff supported by a tiny budget that hasn\u2019t been increased since 2010, a crippling hiring freeze that has only been partially lifted and is causing the enforcement program to “fall apart at the seams<\/a>,” a broken system for updating old standards or issuing new protections, a whistleblower program, that despite significant improvements, still falls far short of protecting workers from retaliation for exercising their rights under the laws. How is OSHA addressing these issues or looking for solutions? \u00a0By holding two day-long sessions on how to improve its Voluntary Protection Programs.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, with that context, let’s take a short look back at the past year before doubling down on what needs to be done in 2018 to protect the health and lives of the working people of this country.<\/p>\n

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  1. Election of Donald Trump:<\/strong> As I wrote at Trump’s 100-day mark, “We know that many working people \u2014 even union members \u2014 voted for the tough-talking guy in the red hat who promised to be the jobs President. What they will witness instead is a tragic betrayal of the promise of good jobs and for many, a painful reminder that they did not vote more more workplace death and disability.”\u00a0 Trump’s appointments, his anti-protection regulatory policy, his attacks on workers through the Labor Department and NLRB, Steve Bannon’s still existing plan to “deconstruct the regulatory state,” the President’s budget proposal, his attacks on dedicated, hard-working public employees, etc., etc., show how hollow his promises were to stand up for working people in this country.\"\"<\/li>\n
  2. Alex Acosta:<\/strong> Acosta, I’ve often said “is not terrible<\/a>” on OSHA issues so far, which actually says a lot considering Trump’s other Cabinet heads (cough, cough Scott Pruitt, Ryan Zinke). During his Senate budget hearing, he advocated several times for willful citations and even criminal prosecution for employers who knowingly or repeatedly endanger workers. DOL also successfully defended OSHA’s silica standard in court.On the other hand, Acosta wins the Confined Space award for the “Most\u00a0<\/strong>Inexplicable Bone-headed Action by an Otherwise Seemingly Intelligent Cabinet Head”<\/strong> when he\u00a0named Ronald Reagan<\/a> to the Labor Hall of Honor. Given Reagan’s legacy<\/a> with workers, unions and OSHA, one struggles to think of appropriate comparisons: Appointing Hitler to Israel’s list of “Righteous among the Nations,” naming Harvey Weinstein \u00a0to head the National Organization for Women? This can’t be seen as anything but a giant “fu*k you” to the American labor movement and one wonders if it was more Steve Bannon’s idea than Acosta’s. And I’m not even going into his attempts to weaken the rights of workers related to tips that restaurant employees are allowed to keep or the ability of consumer to get fair and accurate investment advice.<\/span>\n

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  3. New Leadership at OSHA and MSHA:\u00a0<\/strong>Assistant Secretary-in-Waiting Scott Mugno<\/a> of Federal Express<\/a> fame, last we heard, had been voted out of committee<\/a>\u00a0after a rather lackluster performance at his confirmation hearing<\/a>, but still had not been confirmed by the full Senate. It’s not clear when he will be confirmed by the Senate, but this administration already holds the record for the longest period of time at the beginning of a new administration with no Assistant Secretary for OSHA. (Previous record was held by Dr. David Michaels, sworn in December 9, 2009.)\"\"Meanwhile, OSHA is not completely without leadership. Loren Sweatt<\/a>, the incredible disappearing, home alone<\/a>\u00a0Deputy Assistant Secretary and acting OSHA head came to the agency in July. From what I can discern, she hasn’t made a speech or granted an interview in the five months she’s headed the agency.\u00a0 But even in her silence, she has taken some unfortunate actions such as\u00a0replacing the names of workers killed<\/a> in the workplace on OSHA’s home page with examples of “OSHA WORKING WITH EMPLOYERS”\u00a0at the urging of the Chamber of Commerce<\/a>, and her rejection of sensible\u00a0GAO recommendations<\/a>\u00a0on poultry worker safety.\n

    There’s more progress at MSHA where, in November, the Senate voted<\/a>\u00a052-46 along party lines to confirm\u00a0David Zatezalo<\/a>\u00a0as Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety. Zatezalo will how head up the Mine Safety and Health Administration with which he has some familiarity as his former company, Rhino Resources, was a frequent flier on MSHA\u2019s enforcement agenda.<\/li>\n

  4. Best Journalism\/Worst Journalism:<\/strong> It was the best of years and the worst of years for journalism covering workplace safety and health topics — happily a lot more best than worst. If you’ve missed any of the pieces I’ve mentioned here, go back an read them. Your time will be well rewarded.Starting the list of the best is Peter Waldman<\/strong> wrote two of the best pieces this year. The first, published\u00a0last March,\u00a0Inside Alabama\u2019s Auto Jobs Boom: Cheap Wages, Little Training, Crushed Limbs,<\/a>\u00a0was a tragic story of auto part factory workers, which, I\u00a0summarized here.<\/a>\u00a0 In the second piece,\u00a0\u201cAmerica\u2019s Worst Graveyard Shift Is Grinding Up Workers<\/a>,\u201d<\/strong>, which I summarized here<\/a>, Waldman, along with\u00a0Kartikay Mehrotra,<\/strong>\u00a0describes the horrible work-lives of a beleaguered population of mostly invisible immigrant workers who labor all night, in working conditions straight from the 1800\u2019s, cleaning the nation\u2019s slaughterhouses and animal processing plants. Also outstanding work by Audrey Dutton<\/strong> of the Idaho Statesman (reviewed here<\/a> on farmworker hazards<\/a> and here<\/a> on residential construction<\/a>), veteran investigative reporter Jim Morris<\/strong> at the Center for Public Integrity who wrote amazing\u00a0 and tragic article,\u00a0Death in the Trench<\/a>, which I covered here<\/a>, about the infuriatingly high number of completely preventable deaths in trench collapses that continue to happen every year. Jennifer Gollan<\/strong> of Reveal (and the Center for Investigative Reporting) who has done excellent reporting on worker safety issues, most recently about a number of deaths at Goodyear<\/a>, And a disturbing article <\/a>by Mike Grabell<\/strong> at Pro Publica about poultry processors taking advantage of immigrant workers. And from north of the border, we have this\u00a0\u00a0this amazing article<\/a>\u00a0about the hazards suffered by temporary employees by Toronto Star Reporters Sara Mojtehedzadeh<\/strong> and Brendan Kennedy,<\/strong> which I summarized here<\/a>.\n

    \"fatalities\"Also, honorable mentions to\u00a0the always-excellent labor coverage of Ken Ward<\/strong> at the Charleston Gazette and Steve Greenhouse<\/strong>, who has allegedly retired from the New York Times, but happily keeps writing excellent articles on labor issues and is an active Twitter<\/a> contributor. Also admirable are Washington Post reporters Juliet Eilperin<\/strong> who has written exhaustively about attacks on the missions of OSHA<\/a> and EPA\u00a0Tim Craig<\/strong>\u00a0for his story on dairy workers<\/a>, the always great work of\u00a0Mark Collette\u00a0and\u00a0Matt Dempsey<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>of the Houston Chronicle, and Alexandra Berzon<\/strong> of the\u00a0Wall St. Journal.<\/a>\u00a0 Mike Hendricks of the\u00a0Kansas City Star<\/a>, told a heartbreaking story (followed by a\u00a0subsequent editorial<\/a>) of the death of\u00a0DJ Meyer<\/strong> in a trench collapse, Kathleen McGrory<\/strong> and her colleagues at the Tampa Bay Times<\/a>\u00a0published a tragic investigative piece about the preventable incident<\/a> that killed five workers at Tampa Electric earlier this year, Barry Meier<\/strong> at the New York Times<\/a> for ongoing coverage of Trump’s attacks on workers,\u00a0 Ian Kullgren<\/strong> for a piece on health and safety in agriculture,<\/a>\u00a0labor (and business) reporter Jane Von Bergen<\/a> <\/strong>who recently retired from the Philadelphia Inquirer, labor reporter Mike Elk<\/strong> of Payday Report<\/a>, and David Kay Johnston<\/strong> who follows worker issues at DC Report<\/a>.And while they’re not exactly journalists, I also want to take this opportunity to some former colleagues who are continuing the battle for worker justice. My old OSHA colleagues David Michaels<\/strong>, now at George Washington University and Debbie Berkowitz<\/strong>, now working at the National Employment Law Project<\/a>, both of whom write prolifically in defense of workers’ right to a safe workplace. And, of course, Sharon Block<\/strong>,\u00a0Executive Director, Labor and Worklife Program at Harvard Law School who writes frequently in OnLabor<\/a> (along with many colleagues), and of course former Labor Deputy Secretary and rising pundit Chris Lu<\/strong> who recently wrote my favorite Twitter post:<\/p>\n

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    A reporter asked me why Obama aides are so actively fighting Trump. Here’s why: our commitment to greater opportunity & fairness didn’t end on Jan. 20. As Obama often says, the arc of the moral universe bends towards justice, but we all have to help bend it. Let’s fight on in ’18<\/p>\n

    \u2014 Chris Lu (@ChrisLu44) December 31, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n