The sad decline in Cal/OSHA’s worker protection program. The state has some great standards, but standards are only as good as the state's ability to enforcement. And that's where Cal/OSHA -- and the workers it is supposed to protect -- run into problems.
jordanbarab.com/confinedspac...
Great thread, with plenty of relevance for today.
As we head into another record hot spring and summer, the Trump Administration seizes the opportunity to weaken OSHA's heat emphasis program. Workers will die.
Happily, Virginia is on its way to issuing a heat standard. Workers will live.
jordanbarab.com/confinedspac...
The "Gold Standard Science" exec order "undercuts all of the values and standards and principles that were already being prioritized and implemented in federal agencies,” @jbd-phd.bsky.social told @corinnepurtill.bsky.social
www.latimes.com/science/stor...
Virginia Gov Abigail Spanberger has signed a bill requiring the state OSHA to issue a workplace heat standard to protect workers.
The VA Safety & Health Codes Board must create a standard for indoor & outdoor workplaces by May 1, 2028.
Elections have consequences.
news.bgov.com/daily-labor-...
As climate change accelerates and heat-related illnesses rise, the Trump administration is putting workers’ lives at risk to pad corporate profits. Weakening OSHA enforcement is unacceptable. It’s time to deliver for working people.
How workers died last week: trench collapse, parking lot collapse, crushed by a forklift, tanker truck explosion, pinned under pipes, medical emergency, grain bin incident, electrocuted to death, tree-trimming, shootings, and vehicular collisions.
jordanbarab.com/confinedspac...
There is a major national silicosis epidemic.
Unless steps are taken to change what’s going on now, in a very dramatic way, we’ll continue to see more and more workers develop silicosis and die from silicosis.
Don't miss this powerful article by Semantha Raquel Norris, @capitalandmain.bsky.social
Wow! The Washington Post now has a weekly newsletter called "Red Tape," discussing the "consequences of overregulation."
How about something on the consequences of UNDERregulation. Like death in the workplace, climate change, contaminated food, air and water, plane crashes and consumer ripoffs?
#books #booklist #bookstagram #booktalk #booktok #greatbooks #greatbooksguide #recommendedreading #NationalAlcoholScreeningDay #alcohol
@drdavidmichaels.bsky.social
The thousands of shops that fabricate kitchen countertops from engineered stone cannot do this work safely.
Australia has banned this deadly product.
There is a safer equivalent product made from recycled glass.
Now is the time to ban it in the US, before more workers are sickened.
Yesterday, MSHA's silica dust rule was supposed to go into effect for all metal and non-metal mines. A year ago, it should have gone into effect for coal mines. Neither has occurred. MSHA is negotiating with industry to weaken the rule and blaming self-imposed constraints to delay action.
Trump to Workers: Drop Dead. And Do It Faster: Trump budget sucks money from #OSHA enforcement into employer assistance, decimates NIOSH. jordanbarab.com/confinedspac...
The NEPA process can be made more efficient and less time-consuming. But as can be seen in this episode, the requirement that corporations and agencies consider the environmental impact of major projects and involve the public in those discussions is invaluable and needs to be maintained. 8/8
Instead, the public health protections triggered by the NEPA review were successful. No radiation was released from the stored nuclear waste.
If you are interested in more details, we documented that successful NEPA process in our program's newsletter. 7/
www.energy.gov/sites/prod/f...
Had the fire gotten to the nuclear waste stored in those barrels, the consequences would have been catastrophic, with that smoke plume transporting large numbers of plutonium particles, contaminating a large swath of the Southwest, and exposing millions of people to increased cancer risk. 6/
The smoke plume reached the Oklahoma panhandle, hundreds of miles away. The fire's damage was estimated at $1 billion. 5/
science.nasa.gov/earth/earth-...
In May 2000, the Cerro Grande Fire swept through Los Alamos. It burned 50,000 acres of forest and residential land, including thirty percent of the Laboratory's land. The conflagration destroyed many of the lab’s historic buildings, along with more than 200 homes. 4/
www.aps.org/archives/pub...
The Lab conducted public hearings as required by NEPA where troubling questions were raised about potential impacts of wildfire on the stored waste. Once the threat was identified, appropriate actions were taken. The wooden pallets were replaced with aluminum ones and nearby trees were cut down. 3/
In the late 1990s, I was Assistant Secretary of Energy for Environment, Safety and Health.
At the time, the Los Alamos National Laboratory (the birthplace of the atomic bomb) stored thousands of barrels containing plutonium-contaminated waste materials on wooden pallets, surrounded by forest. 2/
In their efforts to weaken the National Environmental Planning Act, NEPA’s critics appear to have no idea that this law is responsible for preventing what might have been one of the worst environmental disasters in the nation's history. Thanks @hannahstoryb.bsky.social for this coverage of NEPA. 🧵1/
How workers died last week: trench collapse, electrocutions, coal mining, falls, tree care, crane collapse, vehicular collisions, stabbed, ruptured hot water tank, and shootings. On average, 100 workers die every week from traumatic injuries on the job in the US. jordanbarab.com/confinedspac...
We have already seen record-breaking heat across the country.
It appears the White House is sitting on OSHA’s proposed extreme heat standard, debating whether to issue a weakened standard or just kill it.
And now OSHA is sending out the wrong message by not renewing its heat protection program.
How workers died last week: helicopter crash, falls, occupational cancer, explosions, electrocution, skid steer rollover, head injury, and crushed by a lawn mower, vehicular incidents and shootings: The Weekly Toll jordanbarab.com/confinedspac...
What does it mean to realize your country is the baddie? @aaronregunberg.bsky.social on whether it’s OK to embrace happiness when your tax dollars are going toward so much evil. www.thenation.com/article/poli...
This Day in Labor History: March 30, 1930. The Hawk’s Nest tunnel project near Gauley Bridge, West Virginia began, tunneling through the New River. Upwards of 1,000 black workers would die of silicosis, possibly the worst workplace health disaster in American history! Let's talk about this horror!
OSHA says it cares. But about what or whom? Looks like they care more about employers than the workers it's supposed to help protect.
jordanbarab.com/confinedspac...
So much outstanding work is happening so quickly in the research area "What, exactly, has gone so wrong with US mortality?"
This is one really good intervention in that vein by @leahrabrams.bsky.social @alysonvanraalte.bsky.social & colleagues
Shameful and a travesty. When the states erode Federal standards, "then they have nothing in place to protect minors from hazardous work, exploitative conditions" @ninamast.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
When @jbarab.bsky.social, @debbieberkowitz.bsky.social and I ran OSHA, we described employers who did nothing to abate serious hazards as having "faith-based safety programs".