A worker who was fired after notifying OSHA about safety hazards will get back wages and a clean record, under a settlement reached between the agency and Environmental Management Specialists Inc. (EMS) of Steubenville, Ohio.
A jury and judge have ordered Albany-based asbestos abatement and demolition company Champagne Demolition, LLC and its owner, Joseph A. Champagne, to pay $173,793.84 to a former employee who was fired in June 2010 after reporting improper asbestos removal practices at a school worksite in Gloversville, New York. On June 10, 2010, an employee of Champagne Demolition, LLC informed company management of the improper practices. The employee was fired the next day and subjected to verbal threats and legal action.
In a 3-1 vote, the Chemical Safety Board (CSB) voted yesterday to withdraw recommendations calling for the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) to strengthen worker participation requirements and to take measures to prohibit retaliation against workers who use their rights. Chair Vanessa Sutherland, joined by members Manny Ehrlich and Kristen Kulinowski voted to rescind the recommendations despite a spirited defense by Board member Rick Engler who voted to keep the recommendations.
The Chemical Safety Board (CSB) may be preparing to take a significant step backwards in its advocacy for worker participation in preventing chemical facility incidents, including catastrophes like the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
In April, 2016 the CSB unanimously approved a 4-volume “Macondo Investigation Report” in response to the catastrophic Deepwater Horizon blowout that killed 11 workers, injured 17 and spilled 5 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. The report contained a number of recommendations, including four recommendations calling for the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) to significantly enhance its regulations requiring worker participation in the employer’s safety program, and enhanced whistleblower protections for workers participating in safety activities.
The latest standards from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) put practical measures in place to improve safety, but also engrain safety as a priority within company culture.
Two global unions, four labor rights organizations and 23 apparel brands and retailers agreed in late June to amend and extend the ground-breaking Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety that has led to safer working conditions for 4 million garment workers in the world’s #2 apparel producer.
When a Hartford health care facility failed to adequately respond to a tuberculosis exposure in December 2011, its interim senior vice-president for operations, director of nursing and its coordinator of its Healthy Start program actively tried or were associated with efforts to raise awareness among fellow employees, management and the public about the potential dangers. Among other things, they cooperated with public and workplace health agencies that investigated.
A federal appeals court has affirmed that Pan Am Railways, Inc., must pay $260,000 in punitive and compensatory damages to – and take corrective action on behalf of – an employee who was subjected to retaliation for filing a Federal Railroad Safety Act whistleblower complaint.
Sometimes, when you’re reading about the tragedies in the Weekly Toll, there are a few that you think, “Well, that’s too bad, but what are you going to do….?”
Like this one in this week’s Weekly Toll:
