October 2009 - The Pump Handle - The Network of Care

House Committee Blasts Nevada’s OSHA Plan

Yesterday’s House Education and Labor Committee hearing on Nevada OSHA – and state OSHA plans in general – had both disturbing and encouraging moments. The hearing centered on a review of the NV-OSHA program by federal OSHA, which identified numerous...

Published Fri, Oct 30 2009 2:26 PM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Occupational Health & Safety

Good Moves from EPA on Toxic Substances

Jennifer Sass at NRDC’s Switchboard blog takes a look at the good things that the Obama administration EPA, headed by Administrator Lisa Jackson, is doing on toxic substances. Three of the ones she pointed out particularly caught my eye; she writes...

Published Thu, Oct 29 2009 2:46 PM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Environmental Health, Environmental Protection Agency, Nanotechnology

OSHA 22 years later: deja vu all over again

by Bill Hoyle A 1987 New York Times investigation of OSHA’s 17-year performance revealed chronic failures to issue new regulations and enforce existing ones. [See "Is OSHA Falling Down on the Job?" by William Glaberson, Sunday, August...

Published Tue, Oct 27 2009 10:00 AM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Occupational Health & Safety, Confined Space @ TPH, Regulation, Mining, Safety

Contracts, Chromium, and Sickened Soldiers

DC Bureau, a project of the nonprofit Public Education Center, has published a stunning four-part series, “No Contractor Left Behind” on the errors by KBR and the Pentagon that allowed National Guard troops to be exposed to high levels of the carcinogen...

Published Tue, Oct 27 2009 6:36 AM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Occupational Health & Safety, Environmental Health

MSHA demands flame-resistent conveyors…well, not exactly

Underground coal mine operators can use conveyor belts, which do not satisfy the requirements set forth for the approval of flame-resistant conveyor belts (30 C.F.R. Part 14) if the conveyor belts have been warehoused, but are not in active use before...

Published Mon, Oct 26 2009 9:59 AM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Confined Space @ TPH, Regulation, Mining, Safety, Legal

Local lawmakers move to ban California’s killer rock

by Andrew Schneider, cross-posted from Cold Truth California has a killer state rock. No, really. Its official state rock is serpentine which usually contains asbestos, which has killed hundreds of thousands of people. Late last night, by unanimous vote...

Published Mon, Oct 26 2009 7:14 AM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Environmental Health

Cong Miller to examine Nevada OSHA at Oct 29 hearing

Congressman George Miller (D-CA), chair of the House Education and Labor Committee, will hold an oversight hearing on Thursday, Oct 29 on the Nevada OSHA State Plan (NV-OSHA). The hearing comes just about one week after federal OSHA released a scathing...

Published Sun, Oct 25 2009 1:37 PM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Occupational Health & Safety, Confined Space @ TPH, Regulation, Safety

NIOSH’s John Howard or an imposter?

I’m supposed to be grading 124 essays written by my students, but in one of my many bouts with Sunday afternoon work avoidance, I happened upon Senator Reid’s webpage. There was a link that said: “Reid meets with Deputy Secretary of...

Published Sun, Oct 25 2009 12:03 PM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Occupational Health & Safety, Confined Space @ TPH, Workers' Compensation

Bewildered by MSHA’s black lung prevention

Last month I praised MSHA’s new leadership because they appeared to be promising aggressive action to tackle respirable coal dust exposure and the consequent disease and disability associated with miners’ exposure to it. I believed and applauded...

Published Fri, Oct 23 2009 8:20 AM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Occupational Health & Safety, Confined Space @ TPH, Regulation, Mining, Black Lung

Worker dies, but keep those trains rolling

The lead sentence of some news stories tell us scores about our society’s priorities. See the Associated Press’ story today Man crushed by falling rock in Kermit: KERMIT, W.Va. — A train tunnel where a machine operator was killed is...

Published Thu, Oct 22 2009 1:44 PM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Occupational Health & Safety, Confined Space @ TPH

When to use antivirals for swine flu

by revere, cross-posted from Effect Measure We’ve gotten the question here fairly frequently: If antivirals (Tamiflu, Relenza) for swine flu work best when given early but shouldn’t be given to people who aren’t really that sick, how...

Published Thu, Oct 22 2009 6:25 AM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Influenza

Sunstein Watch: OMB Meddling on Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program

by Matt Shudtz, cross-posted from CPRBlog Greenwire and the Los Angeles Times ran pieces last week shining a light into a dark corner where staff at the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs once again meddled in scientific regulatory programs...

Published Wed, Oct 21 2009 6:35 AM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Uncategorized

Online Resource on Nuclear Energy

Coal and oil dominate the national conversation about energy, but we’d be remiss to forget about nuclear power. For one thing, we still have to figure out what to do with all of the nuclear waste we’ve created already. Nuclear power is also getting more...

Published Tue, Oct 20 2009 11:04 AM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Global warming

OIRA’s old habits hard on public health protection

by Rena Steiznor, cross-posted from CPR Blog Original title: “Sunstein Watch: Old Habits Die Hard on the Regulatory Killing Ground; Don’t OMB Economists Have Better Things to Do Than Channel Industry Opposition to EPA Science?” Before...

Published Tue, Oct 20 2009 5:56 AM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Confined Space @ TPH, Regulation, Environmental Health, Manufacturing Uncertainty, Environmental Protection Agency

Why CDC says this year’s flu season is “very sobering”

by revere, cross-posted from Effect Measure Monday morning, start of week three of the official flu season (which began October 4). CDC’s scientific spokeswoman on the flu, Dr. Anne Schuchat has said we are seeing “unprecedented” flu...

Published Mon, Oct 19 2009 2:07 PM by The Pump Handle