January 2010 - The Pump Handle - The Network of Care

Thinking beyond employer reports to focus OSHA’s attention

I’ve been following the Charleston Gazette’s Ken Ward’s coverage of the death of Carl “Danny” Fish, 58 from exposure to phosgene on Jan 24 while working at the DuPont Corp’s plant in Belle, WV. (Mr. Fish’s photo...

Published Fri, Jan 29 2010 5:27 PM by The Pump Handle

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

A question from the peanut gallery

For two days now, the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America have been staging a protest outside my office building. The protesters, many recruited from local homeless shelters, are bundled up in winter coats and snow hats, beating big...

Published Thu, Jan 28 2010 7:34 AM by The Pump Handle

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

Lisa Jackson and the Power of the Executive Branch

I’ve been hearing a lot of complaints recently about Obama’s failure to achieve legislation on healthcare or climate change during his first year in office, despite the fact that Congress is to blame for both these failures. What Obama does have more...

Published Wed, Jan 27 2010 1:13 PM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Environmental Health, Global warming, Environmental Protection Agency

Obama’s spending freeze and OSHA

Today’s Washington Post headline, “Obama to propose freeze on government spending,” likely sent a chill down the spines of officials in charge of many federal agencies. In tomorrow night’s State of the Union address the President...

Published Tue, Jan 26 2010 1:16 PM by The Pump Handle

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

Ozone from China

by revere, cross-posted from Effect Measure It used to be my job to teach the environmental health survey course for public health students and air pollution was a topic I spent a lot of time on because it interested me and intersected some of my research...

Published Mon, Jan 25 2010 7:33 AM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Environmental Health

New data on how much infection in the first wave of the pandemic

by revere, cross-posted from Effect Measure It was some time after the pandemics of 1957 and 1968 that we were able to judge their severity and it will likely be some time after this one has finally burned itself out, most likely to become “just...

Published Fri, Jan 22 2010 7:05 AM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Influenza

Challenges Mount in Haiti

Of the many wrenching stories coming out of Haiti, two stories about the public-health challenges facing earthquake survivors do a particularly good job encapsulating just how daunting the weeks ahead will be. In the Los Angeles Times, Shari Roan reports...

Published Thu, Jan 21 2010 6:54 AM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Infectious diseases, Health, Water

BPA’s Safety Question an Opportunity for Reform

by Sarah Vogel Last Friday, January 15, 2010, senior officials from the Department of Health and Human Services, the FDA, and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) held a press conference to detail the FDA’s next steps on the...

Published Wed, Jan 20 2010 1:13 PM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Environmental Health

Well the world may go, when I’m far away

by revere, cross-posted from Effect Measure Every two years the US National Science Board does an analysis of how the country is doing on research and development (R&D). While an important measure of the ability to innovate and compete in a highly...

Published Wed, Jan 20 2010 7:06 AM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Research, Science, Funding

Find 28 minutes to watch “Protected or Neglected: Workplace Safety”

WCET’s Socal Connected’s feature on the state of the Cal-OSHA enforcement, and particularly the Appeals Board process, is a MUST see. “Protected or Neglected” is based on a 9-month investigation by the southern California not-for...

Published Mon, Jan 18 2010 7:45 AM by The Pump Handle

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

FDA Decides: Health Concerns about BPA

Shortly after we published Sarah Vogel’s post urging the FDA to finally make a decision about the safety of bisphenol A, the agency did just that. In a conference call with reporters yesterday, FDA deputy commissioner Joshua Sharfstein stated that the...

Published Sat, Jan 16 2010 9:55 AM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Environmental Health

Somebody has low standards if OSHA’s website feature deserves kudos

An email is making the rounds in the Department of Labor and OSHA saying that President Obama’s Chief Technology Officer, Aneesh P. Chopra applauded OSHA for the worker fatality snippets now posted on its homepage. The email reads: “During...

Published Fri, Jan 15 2010 5:29 PM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Confined Space @ TPH, OSHA, MSHA

Something missing from NIOSH-Toyota agreement??

Last month, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Toyota Motors’ Department of Environmental and Safety Engineering, pledging to: “to improve the assessment, management, analysis...

Published Fri, Jan 15 2010 11:57 AM by The Pump Handle

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

Hey FDA, Is it Safe?

by Sarah Vogel Sometimes there is a study that changes everything. On Tuesday, January 12, 2010, PLoS ONE, an open access scientific journal, published a large epidemiological study that could become the straw that breaks the political logjam over the...

Published Fri, Jan 15 2010 6:48 AM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Environmental Health

Better Guidelines for Funding Transit Projects

Yesterday, US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood proposed new guidelines that would make it easier for worthwhile new public transit projects to receive federal funding. Back in 2005, the Bush administration issued budget restrictions requiring that...

Published Thu, Jan 14 2010 7:51 AM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Environmental Health

January 2010 - The Pump Handle

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Thinking beyond employer reports to focus OSHA’s attention

A question from the peanut gallery

Lisa Jackson and the Power of the Executive Branch

Obama’s spending freeze and OSHA

Ozone from China

New data on how much infection in the first wave of the pandemic

Challenges Mount in Haiti

BPA’s Safety Question an Opportunity for Reform

Well the world may go, when I’m far away

Find 28 minutes to watch “Protected or Neglected: Workplace Safety”

FDA Decides: Health Concerns about BPA

Somebody has low standards if OSHA’s website feature deserves kudos

Something missing from NIOSH-Toyota agreement??

Hey FDA, Is it Safe?

Better Guidelines for Funding Transit Projects