{"id":7322,"date":"2023-04-28T10:45:37","date_gmt":"2023-04-28T14:45:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/?p=7322"},"modified":"2023-04-28T13:40:57","modified_gmt":"2023-04-28T17:40:57","slug":"workers-memorial-day-mourn-for-tony-rice-and-fight-for-all-public-employees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/2023\/04\/28\/workers-memorial-day-mourn-for-tony-rice-and-fight-for-all-public-employees\/","title":{"rendered":"Workers Memorial Day: Mourn for Tony Rice, and Fight for All Public Employees"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today is Workers Memorial day where we’re supposed to mourn for all<\/em> workers killed on the job and fight for all of those still alive.<\/p>\n

But right now, I’m just going to mourn for one person: Tony Rice, a “dedicated,” “beloved” — and dead —\u00a0 employee of the city of Eutaw, Alabama.<\/p>\n

Rice was doing sewer work<\/a> when the trench around him and two others collapsed at around 7 p.m. Tuesday evening. The two other city employees were able to escape, but not Rice. It took 7 hours to recover his body as his family looked on.<\/p>\n

5,190 workers died on the job in the United States in 2021, the last year for which we have data. It’s a big number, and it’s hard to comprehend or understand the human tragedy that accompanies each of these deaths. The loss felt by friends, family and co-workers. And the anger knowing that almost all of these deaths could have been prevented if safety standards had been followed.<\/p>\n

Tony Rice died in a trench collapse in Alabama, one of the 23 states where public employees have not right to a safe workplace because they are not covered by OSHA.<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Anyone who reads Confined Space knows there are two things that most quickly send my steam climbing and my fingers clicking: trench collapses<\/a> and the fact that 8 million public employees<\/a> in 23 states are not covered by OSHA.<\/p>\n

Tony Rice died in a trench collapse in Alabama, one of the 23 states where public employees have not right to a safe workplace because they are not covered by OSHA.<\/p>\n

Who Knows What Happened?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Eutaw city spokesman Corey Martin isn’t sure what happened. But “there are certain things we do to try to be as safe as possible, but there’s always a risk or a danger that you have to understand when you do this kind of work.”<\/p>\n

Actually, Corey, one of the things you should “do to try to be as safe as possible” are use a trench box.\u00a0 Every city public works director knows that. Or should.<\/p>\n

And workers don’t have to “understand” that there’s “always” danger — in any kind of work. Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act, all workers (except public employees) have a right to a safe workplace; a right to come home alive and healthy at the end of every shift.<\/p>\n

And we have OSHA standards that ensure that the “danger” doesn’t kill workers. Workers just need to “understand” that their employer is providing a safe workplace.\u00a0 And hopefully that there’s a government agency that will enforce safe working conditions.<\/p>\n

Apparently “several agencies will be involved in the investigation to determine what went wrong,” but one of those agencies will not be OSHA. And one thing we’ve learned when an agency investigates itself about a workplace incident: it usually ends up being the worker’s fault<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A statement issued by the city stated that \u201cOver the next several days there will be more questions than answers as we move through all of the official processes and also deal with heavy hearts and sadness at a loss of someone who\u2019s close to you. We will forever miss Tony\u2019s smiling face and energy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oh, and they “ask for your thoughts and prayers during this time.”<\/p>\n

How could this have happened? More questions than answers?<\/p>\n

Because the trench was too deep. Because there was no trench box or other shoring. Because trench safety standards weren’t followed.\u00a0 And because OSHA trench standards don’t apply to employers in the city of Eutaw, Alabama.<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Actually, we already know the probable answer to most of these questions. Why did this happen? Because trenches collapse. Because a cubic yard of soil weighs over 2,000 pounds. Because the trench was too deep. Because there was no trench box or other shoring. And because trench safety standards weren’t followed.<\/p>\n

And because OSHA trench standards don’t apply to employers in the city of Eutaw, Alabama.<\/p>\n

We may not know the exact details. We don’t know exact how deep the trench was. Most likely more than the 5 feet allowed by OSHA without shoring. Was it 7 feet? Ten feet? We don’t know. One thing we do know is that in Alabama, the trench could have been 50 feet deep and it would have been perfectly legal and city officials would still be wondering how, oh how could such a terrible, unexpected thing happen?<\/p>\n

There were several different news stories and videos about this disaster, but only one news video<\/a> that I found mentioned —\u00a0 at the very end — that public employees aren’t covered by OSHA.<\/p>\n

Fight for the Living<\/h2>\n

So as we mourn for Tony Rice and the thousands of other workers killed in the workplace every year, what specifically do we fight for? In this case, the answer is clear: ensuring that every employer that digs trenches complies with safe trenching standards. OSHA can’t be everywhere.\u00a0 So the agency needs more funding — much more.<\/p>\n

And the agency needs help — from us. When you see something — specifically workers in trenches that are deeper than their shoulders. — do something<\/a>: Tell them to get out of the trench. Talk to supervisors. Take pictures. Call OSHA.<\/p>\n

Of course, in Alabama, if you had called OSHA about a deadly hazard facing a public employee, you’d get a “wrong number” message.<\/p>\n

The second — and probably most important thing we need to fight for is OSHA coverage for public employees. The Protecting America’s Workers Act, which will be reintroduced today by Rep. Joe Courtney (D-CT), would require coverage of all public employees in the country. But until PAWA passes Congress and is signed by the President, each of the 23 states where public employees are not covered can pass laws providing them with federally approved OSHA coverage. (and get the feds to pay half the costs!)<\/p>\n

Massachusetts did it last year and efforts are currently going on in Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n

Every article about this tragedy talks of how “dedicated” and “beloved” Tony Rice was. But if you really love someone, you protect them. If you ask for dedication, the least you can do is to make sure they aren’t crushed under thousands of pound of wet soil when you could have easily prevented it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today is Workers Memorial day where we’re supposed to mourn for all workers killed on the job and fight for all of those still alive. But right now, I’m just going to mourn for one person: Tony Rice, a “dedicated,” “beloved” — and dead —\u00a0 employee of the city of Eutaw, Alabama. Rice was doing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7324,"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":[95,113,150],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-public-employees","category-trench-collapse","category-workers-memorial-day"],"yoast_head":"\nWorkers Memorial Day: Mourn for Tony Rice, and Fight for All Public Employees - Confined Space<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Today is Workers Memorial Day. It's hard to mourn for every one of the thousands killed every year. 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