The Pump Handle

OSHA’s Crane Safety Rule at OMB for Review

I noticed on RegInfo.gov that OSHA submitted the draft of its final rule on crane safety to OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) on Friday, April 9 for review. This is an OSHA rule that has been in the works since 2003 (see...

Published Sun, Apr 11 2010 4:45 PM by The Pump Handle

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

Food Processing Companies Need to Treat Workers Like Humans, Not Machines

by Carlos Rich, cross-posted from Imagine 2050 Can you imagine being severely hurt at your job, then going to the company doctor only to be told that you’re fine and you need to return back to work immediately? This is what happens to many immigrants...

Published Mon, Mar 29 2010 1:54 PM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Occupational Health & Safety, Food

Reaction to OSHA testimony on PAWA

The subcommittee on Workforce Protections of the House Education and Labor Committee heard testimony today on the “Protecting America’s Workers Act” (PAWA) (H.R. 2067) from OSHA assistant secretary David Michaels. In the Obama/Solis’...

Published Tue, Mar 16 2010 11:15 AM by The Pump Handle

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

Agenda available for Latino Action Summit on Worker Health and Safety

Earlier this week, I wrote about the countdown on OSHA’s website to the National Action Summit for Latino Worker Health and Safety (April 14-15) but noted the paucity of information about the what will actually occur at the event. I’m pleased...

Published Fri, Mar 05 2010 3:33 PM by The Pump Handle

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

Systematising the evidence base: a key strategy for bringing more environmental health science into clinical practice and public health policy

By Paul Whaley As a society we could do much better at incorporating environmental health science into clinical advice and policy recommendations. Take formaldehyde: In the early 1980s multiple studies in rats were showing that exposure to formaldehyde...

Published Tue, Mar 09 2010 7:18 AM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Research, Environmental Health

UCLA (employer) vs Cal-OSHA

On the heels of Ben Elgin’s Business Week story yesterday about employers failing to comply with rules for reporting worker injuries, it appears large public sector employers have trouble obeying the law as well. The LA Times is reporting that the...

Published Mon, Mar 15 2010 1:55 PM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Safety, Chemicals Policy, OSHA

OSHA Listens

Today, OSHA is holding “a public meeting to solicit comments and suggestions from OSHA stakeholders on key issues facing the agency.” Judging by the event web page, OSHA thinks one of the key problems to address is the inexcusable fact that...

Published Thu, Mar 04 2010 7:39 AM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: OSHA

Fixing OSHA: No Easy Task for the Obama Administration

By Rena Steinzor, cross-posted from ACSblog On the list of federal agencies decimated by the Bush administration, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) deserves to be placed right near the top. Here is an agency that for decades has...

Published Mon, Apr 26 2010 8:48 AM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: OSHA

Earth Day Redux

On the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, I paid $0.05 for a plastic bag in which to place the whole wheat bread and organic fruit purchased at a local big box grocery store in Washington, DC. Am I doing this right? In 1970, I would have walked around the...

Published Fri, Apr 23 2010 10:01 AM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Uncategorized

President Obama and the mine disaster investigation: Waiting for more transparency

by Ken Ward, Jr., cross-posted from CoalTattoo Shortly after taking office, President Barack Obama issued a memo in which he asserted this his administration “is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in government.” The memo continued...

Published Fri, Apr 23 2010 10:49 AM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Occupational Health & Safety, Mining, Politics, Conflict of Interest, MSHA

Yes, Virginia (and all 49 other States,) chemicals do cause cancer

by Richard Denison, PhD, cross-posted from EDFBlog Please help me welcome to the true mainstream of scientific and medical thought the seemingly radical yet commonsense notion that chemical exposures are a significant contributor to cancer, many types...

Published Thu, May 06 2010 7:12 AM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Occupational Health & Safety, Mining, Safety, Chemicals Policy, Science, Cancer

Science versus theology

by Sarah Vogel If you thought the scientific debate about bisphenol A was over or even quieting down, you haven’t been reading the latest issues of Toxicological Sciences. (What are you doing with your spare time?) Last month in an editorial piece published...

Published Tue, Mar 02 2010 7:26 AM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Environmental Health

Clean Water for a Healthy World

Today is World Water Day, when the United Nations draws attention to the importance of freshwater and advocates for sustainable water-resource management. This year, the focus is on water quality, which is declining worldwide. According to the World Health...

Published Mon, Mar 22 2010 6:26 AM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Water

A Change in Our Children

By Alice Shabecoff Watching each of our five grandchildren and their friends enter this world and begin their life’s journey, it became more and more clear that something is amiss with their generation. How are your children and your friends’ children...

Published Wed, Mar 31 2010 11:25 AM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: New Solutions: The Drawing Board

Monday update: What kind of investigation will the Obama administration Department of Labor conduct into the Massey Mine Disaster?

By Ken Ward Jr., cross-posted from Coal Tattoo Sometime this morning, investigators from state and federal agencies are expected to gather at the Mine Safety and Health Academy outside Beckley to begin planning their probe of the explosion one week ago...

Published Mon, Apr 12 2010 6:25 AM by The Pump Handle

Filed under: Mining, MSHA

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