Weekly Fatalities

It's sad that they can actually report this by week. The U.S. Department of Labor has a Weekly Reports of Fatalities, Catastrophes, and Other Events. I wish there was a note as to which ones were fatalities. Especially since a few of the entries read:

• Victim was cleaning out a pit at a grain elevator. He was walking near the unguarded opening and fell through, 15-20 feet, to the bottom of the pit. - now this I assume is a fatality
• Victim fell from a 3-step ladder. -- how is this on the list at all, unless it was a fatality?

There is a note: There are 26 OSHA State Plan States. Since there is no reporting requirement, a number of states have elected not to report their fatalities to OSHA. .

Old OSHA Videos

Well, thank goodness for YouTube. The following 3 videos are all dated from 1980 (according to the info on YouTube). All three are produced for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to promote itself and workers' rights regarding occupational safety. There are a couple scenes in the history of OSHA video which I just cannot imagine being included in a video today. According to the notes on all 3, the videos were banned & destroyed by the incoming OSHA Secretary in '81 (read: Bush I). They are all about 30 minutes. If they were produced for the government, they are in the public domain.

History of OSHA

Unfortunately, the beginning of this will not trigger the emotional response it did in 1980. The comparison of the death toll of the Vietnam War to the fatality rate here in the US during the same year was a great point. But, then again, I remember the end of the war. We can't provide the same statistics (thank God) about either Gulf War.

Can't Take No More

history of worker safety movement

Worker to Worker

I like the opening tune: Take This Job & Shove It. A look at the different kinds of hazards one can find at work.

a

that's all, folks

Title 29 - Labor Chapter 15 - Occupational Safety & Health Sec. 666 - Civil and criminal penalties (e) Willful violation causing death to employee Any employer who willfully violates any standard, rule, or order promulgated pursuant to section 655 of this title, or of any regulations prescribed pursuant to this chapter, and that violation caused death to any employee, shall, upon conviction, be punished by a fine of not more than $10,000 or by imprisonment for no more than six months, or by both; except that if the conviction is for a violation committed after a first conviction of such person, punishment shall be by a fine of not more than $20,000 or by imprisonment for not more than one year, or by both. Now, here we go: > "civil and criminal penalties" gives a first impression that the plural applies to criminal, as well as civil. Nope. There's only one criminal provision under the federal (and Minnesota) Occupational Safety & Health Act. It's here. You need to actually achieve killing your employee. Not only that, but it also needs to meet the legal definition of "willful", which isn't the same as used in normal conversation. There's one of those op-ed pieces on a blog bemoaning the state of affairs when killing your worker carries a lower penalty than assaulting a burro on federal property. A claim I've read before. The author, however, failed to provide a bibliography along with the word 'bibliography'. So, I'm not sure how valid his numbers are, or where they're from. Which is sad, because I would like to use some of them & would have been happier if I didn't need to go looking for the information from primary sources. Like the burro. Or ... "By comparison with other federal agencies, OSHA is hardly the big bully it is often painted as. For example, the penalty for killing a burro on federal land is one year in jail, and the penalty for mail fraud is up to 30 years behind bars. The Environmental Protection Agency [in the course of] one year obtained prison sentences totaling 256 years." e.g. I'd like to know which year that was & where the burro law is. He also stated: "... there are fewer OSHA compliance officers than there are U.S. fish and game wardens. In other words, the large mouth bass and the wild turkey are afforded better [protection] than U.S. workers."

Myth (the myth of objective educated opinions)

Myths pervade even public health. Yesterday's Midmorning program had as guests professors of

infectious diseases @ Mayo

public health professor @ Pitt, and

pediatrics @ Indiana U.

Public health officials are trying to figure out why a majority of Americans, including many public health nurses and doctors, have told pollsters recently they are wary of the H1N1 vaccine. Wary to the point that they're not sure they will get the shot against H1N1 flu. A look at medical myths and what fuels the fear of vaccines.

This I need to hear. My opinion, prior to doing so, is that medical & public health officials are

a) inadequately educated about vaccines & how they are made

b) subject to the ignorance of peer-education. Rather than peer pressure, this is peer pressure exerting influence about facts. If all of my patients/clients believe it, it must be true.

Behind stupid executive decisions

Wow - the EPA actually thought greenhouse gases are bad.

Wow - the Bush II administration refused to accept science.

The Environmental Protection Agency released a long-secret document last week that reveals the agency's conclusions on global warming while President Bush was in office. The December 2007 document says greenhouse gases are dangerous and need to be regulated under the Clean Air Act.

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1st Time Ever - follow up

I passed by the site two days later. The only thing which had changed was a thin little red plastic fence around the biggest pit. The kind of thing that's intended to be a visual "don't enter", and has not real ability to keep anything out. Fair enough. But ...

Still no sign. Still nothing to keep kids out of the other pits.

A couple days later I drove by again (it's actually on my way to 95% of the city). Nothing new. However, they were digging a trench - oh, about 5-6 feet deep (1.75 m). The worker is standing in the trench watching the excavator's shovel come down right in front of his face.

What possesses people to stand in a trench/pit while it is being excavated, with the bucket coming down right in front of their face? In all seriousness, is this just a macho-thing? At my 'field experience' last Summer, I ran into this, too. Luckily, the IH who was a real employee pulled a "get out of there now". It was like watching someone deal with my 5 year old.

I haven't had a chance to ask MN-OSHA if they made a site visit?

Hidden in Statistics

Since I've had children, I have repeatedly heard mothers demonized for letting their baby sleep in bed with mom. After a few months of insanity with child #1, I seriously thought I was coming down the post partum depression. The shrink said, "you're not depressed, you're sleep deprived."

I let my baby sleep with me. Nurse him every 2 hours by getting out of bed? When he would sometimes nurse for half an hour? Are you kidding me? No. Let Jr. sleep next to me: he nursed, I slept. This is not something which requires me to be awake. Of course, I'll probably be demonized for not looking adoringly on as my baby validated my womanhood and bonding with my child.

So - what do the statistics actually tell us?

Study says: Increased risk of crib death by 50%.

Oh, my god, get the baby out of the bed!!

But ... What are those risk factors?

Drinking and taking sedating drugs.

What if we only look at mothers who don't have those risk factors?

Wow - there is no increased risk of crib death.

Handwashing factors

A study in the UK indicates that shame is a greater motivating factor than previously anticipated. The rates of handwashing cited, however, are rather gross.

1st Time Ever

I've never filed a complaint with OSHA before. 877-470-6742 The response was professionally satisfying. I plan to call tomorrow to see what happened. It was nice being able to finally use my professional knowledge again for something other than homework. It was also gratifying to hear the response after describing the problem when I used the phrase "I'm an industrial hygienist". The city building inspector was my 2nd call. 612-685-8505. A thoroughly dissatisfying call. I got an answering machine(that's not a problem). What annoyed me was the lack of any option for "immediately dangerous situation". Not even "if this is urgent, please call 911". The voice mail indicates they will try to be out within 24 hours, maybe 48. They probably won't be out until Monday. There's a gas station going in on the corner of 36th St. & Cedar Ave. I stopped by the site last night on the way home after looking a the gargantuan pit as I drove by. The place occupies about 2 or 3 lots along Cedar. There is a pit the size of a standard swimming pool. (presumably for the UST for gas) Several other trenches and pits are present. There are no fences to keep kids out. There aren't even any signs saying "keep out". The soil is soft. One of the large excavators is parked right next to the large big pit. Trenching without shoring. Two of the walls are sloped shallow enough that they might not need reinforcement. But the side with the 20 foot (6.5 m) pile of dirt?

There is a large excavator parked between two pits. It's been raining quite a bit. The soil is pretty soft. I am quite certain that someone standing at the edge of the pit would have an imminent risk of slipping in. Followed by an imminent risk of quite a lot of soil falling in after her.

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OHS prosecution in UK

Apparently we aren't the only ones who complain about the lack of prosecution for occupational safety failure.

The Guardian is pro-labor, left-leaning paper (left in the sense the the US uses it).

Business OHS references

OSHA & other occ. health info. Links to news sources, presented from the business point of view

I often find it interesting reading the pro-business articles. Mostly what is left out or how the pro-IH position is presented. Now, mind you, the same goes for reading my own profession's publications.

Fire in the Hole!

Now this makes me wonder if they need a stationary source permit for discharging so much combustion by-products. I think I might drive by this evening with the kids. Big fire - might have the Minneapolis F.D. on hand.

Fatality: cage washer

I've never seen a walk-in version of these. This is - like just about any other occupational cause - a gruesome way to die. The story isn't new; it was brought up in my law course discussing torts. In short, a worker became trapped in a cage washer (like a giant dishwasher for animal cages) and was fatally scalded. Steam burns are horrid, horrid things. Minnesota's Dept. Labor states: "Because there's a fatality here that caused or contributed to, there's a non-negotiable penalty of $25,000 per penalty." The article cited an average of 72 occupational deaths per year in Minnesota. Details of the inspections were not made public, but each [Minnesota] OSHA citation pointed to a specific safety rule involving equipment safety: ...employees must be able to open an exit route door from the inside at all times without special knowledge or tools ... the guarding device... shall be designed and constructed as to prevent the operator from placing any part of his body in danger zone during the operation cycle. ... each machine shall be equipped so it is possible for the operator to cut off the power without leaving the position at the point of operation. I'm not clear on how that would have mitigated this specific incident. The hospital planed to contest the findings and the fines. How is it possible that fines be "non-negotiable" and yet "contestable"? My understanding has always been that 'contesting' fines generally means "pleading them to a lower amount". .

[resource] Topics in German

From the Bundesanstalt für Arbeitsschutz und Arbeitsmedizine (BAuA) - Topics from A to Z. This is the German Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, like our NIOSH. There's a version in English. .

Pilgrimage & Polio

Saudi Arabia: Pilgrims Who Travel to Mecca This Fall Will Get an Oral Polio Vaccine on Arrival By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr. Published: September 28, 2009 New York Times Saudi Arabia has announced that everyone arriving for the annual pilgrimage to Mecca in November will have to swallow a dose of oral polio vaccine under the eyes of health officials. The kingdom has become more and more aggressive in its fight against polio, which has hovered on the brink of eradication for years. Until recently, the Saudi authorities asked for proof of vaccination when pilgrims applied for visas and forcibly vaccinated only those arriving from countries where polio was endemic. In New York last week, the country’s foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, and Ted Turner, the cable television billionaire and chairman of the United Nations Foundation, announced that Saudi Arabia would donate $30 million toward global polio eradication. While that is only a small contribution to the $6.1 billion spent over the last 20 years, it is symbolically important. Polio is endemic in only four countries: Pakistan, Afghanistan and regions of Nigeria and India with a Muslim majority. It persists largely because of a persistent rumor that the vaccine is a Western plot to sterilize Muslim girls. Each year, travelers from endemic countries seed outbreaks in other poor countries, where vaccination drives had been dropped when the disease was thought to have been eliminated. In some years, it has reached Saudi Arabia, where millions of pilgrims live close together in tent cities for the holy week.

Xcel & others prosecuted

People say the strangest things: It was just an accident. Xcel Energy is being prosecuted by the U.S. Justice Department (upon the request of OSHA) for the deaths of 5 people a couple years ago. More interesting to me is that individual people are being prosecuted as well, not just the corporation. Two people from the sub-contractor doing the work. The original story from 2007 in the NY Times has a nice photo showing the exterior of the worksite. Minneapolis-based Xcel issued a statement Friday that said the fire was an accident, not a criminal act. Do these people actually think the two are mutually contradictory? Well, I guess they do. Or at least, they want you to. ... occurred during the renovation of a large empty metal pipe down which water normally flowed to create hydroelectric power. Five employees of RPI Coating were trapped in the pipe when chemicals being used in the renovation caught fire and blocked their only exit. well, since Xcel is here and the fatalities were there, the Denver paper has a better article. workers were in a drained water tunnel, known as a penstock, connected to the plant, cleaning a sprayer with a flammable solvent. Vapor from the solvent ignited, causing the fire ... There is a link at the bottom of this article to a .pdf copy of the Federal Indictment. I suppose there should be a standard disclaimer: this is my personal opinion, blah blah, based upon information available at the time blah blah.

environmental clean up

Clean up of PFCs in Woodbury starts next week. .

Just gross

Photographs of the 'shroom infestation in the yard. Two close-ups for ID. One wider-angle to see extent of problem. Fungi gross me out. Ever since I saw a photo of an aspergillis infection on someone's leg ... eww... Of course, it was one of those high-quality, high-resolution medical photographs. I was very glad the lecture was just before lunch. I spent half an hour last week trying not to puke simply from the psychological effort of picking them. The top photograph is the yard after being left for 3 days without eradication. This is posted for the benefit of the Extension Officer I contacted for assistance. If anyone else, however, has suggestions short of a nuclear device, please let me know.

[resource] NIOSH science blog

NIOSH has a science blog here. Finally a blog that has intelligent comments. Well, compared to the drivel I find on my local newspaper after something "scientific". An interesting collection of different topics. And, the posts are long, designed to be educational and informative to the occupational health & safety professional. Some of the last posts:

• horse racing safety & health
• second hand smoke and casino dealers
• no-nose bicycle saddles
• firing range exposures

There are only one or two posts per month.

[resource] MCOHS training list

Training programs from the Midwest Center of Occupational Health & Safety. MCOHS also has a monthly seminar on campus at Mayo Hall, usually 1-125.