Miners Gave Their Lives For The Last Little Bit Of Coal- February 6, 2007 I wrote yesterday about the death of two coal miners, James D. Thomas, 48, of North Tazewell, Va., and utilityman Pete Poindexter, 33, of Rock. in a roof collapse at the at Brooks Run Mining Co.s Cucumber Mine in McDowell County, West Virginia.The company, as you might imagine, is feeling bad: In a prepared statement, Brooks Run said a localized section of the mine roof unexpectedly collapsed and fell on the miners.Were extremely saddened by this tragic accident, said Randy McMillion, Brooks...http://spewingforth.blogspot.com/2007/01/miners-gave-their-lives-for-last.html Two West Virginia Miners Killed In Roof Fall- February 6, 2007 Two miners were killed in a roof collapse in a West Virginia mine yesterday. The deaths occurred at the Brooks Run Mining Co.s Cucumber Mine, in the town of Cucumber, about 25 miles south of Welch near the Virginia borderboth said the miners were apparently performing retreat mining, a dangerous process where miners remove the last bits of coal possible from pillars meant to hold up the mine roof before abandoning that section of the mine.These were the first two coal mining deaths in West...http://spewingforth.blogspot.com/2007/01/two-west-virginia-miners-killed-in.html Jewish Organizations Fight For Worker Safety In Kosher Slaughterhouses: "Thou shalt not rule over him with rigor."- February 6, 2007 I wrote last July about serious workplace safety hazards in an Iowa Kosher meatpacking plant, revealed in an article in Forward. In response to the allegations, two Conservative Jewish organizations, the Rabbinical Assembly and the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, launched fact-finding studies.One of those organizations has now decided that something needs to be done:The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism is drawing up standards for a proposed hekhsher tsedek, or righteous...http://spewingforth.blogspot.com/2007/01/jewish-organizations-fight-for-worker.html Straw Men: More Thoughts On The Baker BP Panel- February 6, 2007 I reported yesterday on the release of the Baker Panel's 374 page report on the sad state of BP's safety system at its North American refineries. I want to go back and discuss on aspect of the report and the panel's press conference: The assertion that BP deliberately endangered workers by cutting costs in its safety budget.CNN-Money.com, for example, argued that the report found no evidence that BP intentionally scrimped on safety in order to cut costs - a charge that has been disputed by the.http://spewingforth.blogspot.com/2007/01/straw-men-more-thoughts-on-baker-bp.html Whats it like to live near a refinery- February 6, 2007 The Baker Panel's report on the safety culture at BP's North American refineries prompted Lisa Margonelli to discuss in the NY Times Pipeline blog (Times Select required) what its like for Texans to live in the midst of the refineries that supply the nation's gasoline Winifred J. Hamilton, the director of environmental health at Baylor College of Medicine, in Houston, described it to me like this: When I go to Texas City, people tell me about the incredible sound of the flares and the smell...http://spewingforth.blogspot.com/2007/01/whats-it-like-to-live-near-refinery.html To Sit Or Not To Sit....- February 6, 2007 It hadn't really occurred to me until I read this article, but cashiers at the little grocery store across from our apartment in Paris last Christmas did something almost unheard of in American grocery stores: They sat down.The question of why American grocery store workers usually stand, rather than sit, was the subject of a Washington Post column today by Marc Fischer who tells the story of a customer, Deana Jordan Sullivan, who went out and bought stools for Safeway checkers to sit...http://spewingforth.blogspot.com/2007/01/to-sit-or-not-to-sit.html CalOSHA Standards Board Chickens Out of Issuing Emergency Temporary Standard for Popcorn Lung- February 6, 2007 As long as I've been in this business, there are some things I just don't understand. Like this: Earlier this week, the CalOSHA standards board decided not to issue an emergency temporary standard to protect workers from "popcorn lung." Instead, they decided to send the issue to an advisory committee.The chemical at question here is diacetyl, the chemical butter flavoring that wreaks havoc on workers lungs. It's a chemical that causes bronchiolitis obliterans a disease that obliterates the...http://spewingforth.blogspot.com/2007/01/calosha-standards-board-chickens-out.html Hazardous Trenches, Good Luck and Bad Journalism- February 6, 2007 Eric Moreno is an extremely lucky guy. He was running some sewer pipe down in an unshored 7-8 foot deep trench last week when it collapsed on top of him. He could only breathe because the brim of his hard hat created a small pocket of air that separated his face from the dirt.But even a breathing pocket often isn't enough to save the life of a trench collapse victim. A cubic yard of soil weights about 2700 pounds, the weight of a mid-sized automobile. A trench collapse may contain three to...http://spewingforth.blogspot.com/2007/01/hazardous-trenches-good-luck-and-bad_23.html Nothing New About Trench Collapses- February 6, 2007 Check out the Weekly Toll below and you'll find a familiar entry at the top: a worker crushed to death in a trench collapse. But how could employers know that a trench would collapse OSHA's trenching standard for starters.But Dr. Michael Silverstein also reminds us in his paper, OSHA At 35, the the hazards of trenching -- and how to prevent trenching casualties -- were well known even before OSHA issued its standard -- like somewhere around 2300 years before OSHA. Just ask Heroditus. All the..http://spewingforth.blogspot.com/2007/01/nothing-new-about-trench-collapses.html Libby Asbestos Activist Dies; Residents Consider Buyout- February 6, 2007 Les Skramstad died Sunday. He was 70.I often complain about how workplace fatalities get very little press. Every couple of weeks, Tammy and I publish the Weekly Toll, a partial list of workers killed in the workplace. But that list includes only those workers killed in traumatic accidents -- falls, trench collapses, traffic accidents, etc. It almost never includes the almost 1000 Les Skramstads who die of workplace related disease, like mesothelioma, every week.But Les Skramstad was more than..http://spewingforth.blogspot.com/2007/01/libby-asbestos-activist-dies-residents.html |