According to a press release from the AFL-CIO, the labor unions’ group, along with American Rights at Work and the National Employment Law Project, issued a comprehensive report yesterday, which finds that the federal government’s immigration enforcement in recent years — including a heavy reliance on raids and often inadequately trained enforcement agents — has severely undermined efforts to protect workers’ rights, to the detriment of immigrant and native-born workers alike. Drawing on several case studies from across the country, the report offers an unprecedented analysis of how the division between labor and immigration enforcement has eroded, and a blueprint for how the new administration and federal agencies can restore the balance. The authors, joined by a group of affected immigrant workers, presented their findings and recommendations at a conference at AFL-CIO headquarters.
Following is the statement given yesterday by Lisa P. Jackson, administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, to the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works during a legislative hearing on the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act:
The American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM) has published new medical treatment guidelines for providing care to workers with injuries of the hand, wrist and forearm, according to a recent press release. The new guidelines, which represent the latest chapter in ACOEM’s comprehensive publication, Occupational Medicine Practice Guidelines, are available online now via ACOEM’s APG-I Web application; a print version will be available in the fall of 2010, when the next hard-copy edition of the Practice Guidelines is published.
For the first time, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Green Power Partnership announced the 20 primary and secondary schools nationwide using the most power from renewable energy sources, according to an EPA press release. The top Green Power Partner schools are buying nearly 113 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of green power annually, equivalent to carbon dioxide emissions (CO2) that would be produced from the electricity use of 11,000 American homes for one year.
Trust for America's Health (TFAH) released a new report yesterday that finds only five states have published a strategic climate change plan that includes a public health response. This includes planning for health challenges and emergencies expected to develop from natural disasters, pollution, and infectious diseases as temperatures and sea levels rise.
Home fire sprinklers can be integrated with local water supply systems with ease, according to Integration of Residential Sprinklers with Water Supply Systems, a new study from the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). Conducted by Newport Partners of Maryland, the study looked at detailed information for 20 U.S. communities with a residential sprinkler ordinance and concluded that water supply integration requirements have been put into place, and there are no examples of insurmountable problems or issues, according to an NFPA press release. Neither design problems nor significant added costs were found in the communities surveyed, the release said.
Setting the clocks on Nov. 1 because of daylight saving time gives us a little extra time to think about preparing for unexpected emergencies. Since Mother Nature is known to throw us a curveball when we least expect it, the American Public Health Association (APHA) is urging Americans to be ready for any kind of emergency such as blizzards, floods, blackouts or influenza, according to an APHA press release.
Saying that employers can no longer afford to ignore the epidemic of childhood obesity, the National Business Group on Health has launched "Childhood Obesity: It's Everyone's Business," a toolkit designed to help U.S. employers address the growing problem of overweight and obese children, according to a recent press release.
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) announced in a recent press release that it has proposed $504,900 in civil penalties against UAE Coalcorp Associates, which operates the Harmony Mine in Northumberland County, Pa. Five violations were cited as the result of a fatal roof fall accident in June 2008 and assessed under the flagrant violation provision of MSHA’s civil penalty regulation.
In its comments to the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) on the ‘Safety Management System’ (SMS) proposed rule, the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) commends the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for pursuing this rule which requires FAA certificate holders, product manufacturers, applicants and other employers with which it does business to develop safety management systems, according to a recent press release.