OSHA has ordered United Parcel Service (UPS) to immediately rehire and pay back wages, benefits, compensatory damages and $50,000 in punitive damages to a former Bay Area driver who was wrongfully terminated after he refused to drive after raising safety concerns, according to an OSHA press release.
In a prepared statement, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said: “The safety and health of America’s working men and women should be a top priority of any administration. But, a new report from the Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) released reveals that the Bush Administration’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration systematically failed to enforce the law against employers who put workers in serious danger. The OIG investigation of OSHA practices under its Enhanced Enforcement Program (EEP) – a program calling for stepped up enforcement against serious violators – found that in 97 percent of studied enforcement cases, OSHA’s follow-up was deficient or lacking. This failure may well have cost workers their lives. The OIG found that at worksites of 45 employers where OSHA oversight was deficient, 58 workers subsequently were killed by job hazards.
A first of its kind study funded by EPA shows that environmental education programs are an effective tool in helping to improve air quality in North America, according to an agency press release.
Like EPA, Earth Day is celebrating its 39th anniversary this year and, in an Earth Month video message released today, Administrator Lisa P. Jackson challenges all Americans to begin building the green economy that will define the next two decades, according to an EPA press release.
EPA announced in a press release that it is withdrawing a rule intended to provide financial incentives for states to use fees when administering a clean water permit program. The agency issued the rule in September 2008.
According to a press release from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the agency has made the following recommendations to the Federal Railroad Administration:
Labor Secretary Hilda Solis yesterday named House Education and Labor Committee senior policy advisor Jordan Barab as deputy assistant secretary for OSHA. Barab will also serve as acting assistant secretary for OSHA beginning Monday. Barab has worked for the committee for more than two years specializing in worker health and safety issues, according to a press released issued from Rep. George Miller's (D-CA) office. Miller chairs the House Education and Labor Committee.
On April 7, global safety consulting firm BST announced five recommendations for business leaders to protect worker safety and health during the economic downturn. The recommendations, released in a new white paper titled "Leading Safety in a Downturn," outlines the effects of a recession on workplace safety and proposes five actions to address them, according to a BST press release.
The European Union’s European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) has issued a report estimating that about 74,000 work-related deaths may be linked to hazardous substances at work each year in the EU – about 10 times more than workplace accidents.
Finally, Congress has passed a 2009 budget that was supposed to have taken effect last October 1, according to the American Industrial Hygiene Association. According to AIHA’s analysis, OSHA received an increase in overall dollars, with much of this coming in the form of enforcement appropriations.
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