Occupational Safety

RSS

Acosta gets confirmed, workers who died on the job get remembered and the top “Dirty Dozen” safety violators get named. These were among the top stories featured on ISHN.com this week.

This 2017 edition of “Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect” shows that the rate of workplace deaths and injuries remains much too high, according to the AFL-CIO, which compiled the annual report on the state of safety and health protections for America’s workers.

A glass company that doesn’t allow employees to wear gloves. A fire disaster waiting to happen. A severe violator who had two workers drown in a trench.

Earlier this week I reviewed a New York Times article on conflicts of interest among Trump political appointees that highlighted a new Labor Department Special Assistant, Geoffrey Burr. Burr is a former lobbyist for the Associated Builders and Contractors, and his federal disclosure form notes that he lobbied DOL against the silica standard and the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces regulation that would have required federal contractors to disclose federal labor law violations.

This is not generally how a good company wants a supervisor to respond to a worker who reports unsafe conditions: “Next time you have a problem with safety, talk to me. Then get in your car and hit the f***ing road.” Then you write him up, don’t renew his contract — and, for good measure, fire his son for “talking on the job.”

General hazards of welding include impact, penetration, harmful dust, smoke, fumes, heat and light radiation. Welding “smoke” is a mixture of very fine particles (fumes) and gases. Many of the substances in the smoke can be extremely toxic.