I read a lot of articles about workers getting killed on the job in preventable incidents. They’re always upsetting. But one of the things that infuriates me most is the all-too-common statement from a company spokesperson that “Safety is our top priority” after a preventable fatality. Now, I’m not doubting that losing an employee is …
Too many workers are dying in the states of Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska, according to OSHA Region VII, and employers need to do something about it. An OSHA alert has gone out from the region, “seeking to stem a recent increase in workplace fatalities in Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska.” The press release cites “an increase in fatalities …
OSHA Speaks to Employers, Ignores Workers, About Deaths in Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska Read More »
You should expect your employer to establish a strong safety culture that results in an injury-free, healthy, non-hostile workplace. Unfortunately, OSHA can only do so much to establish what “safe and healthy” means, or to enforce those protocols. Many people, like those at Public Citizen, recognize that “government protection of workers is far from adequate.” …
Workplace Safety: Expect Excellence From Your Employer Read More »
In an alarming development in the world of workplace safety, the latest statistics reveal that the number of accidental deaths on the job in America is on the rise, reversing the longer-term trend toward fewer fatal incidents. The number of deaths hit a total of 5,190 in 2016, up from 4,836 in 2015, according to …
Workplace Deaths Are Rising. Trump-Era Budget Cuts Could Make It Worse. Read More »
Since 2013, Tesla has fought unfair-labor-practice complaints from the NLRB, insisting it’s not a union buster and that it maintains a safe factory. However, just a week before the company went in front of a judge to face some of these accusations, Tesla petitioned the state of California to get around a new labor regulation that …
Tesla Swears It’s a Fair Employer—Yet It’s Trying to Dodge a Law That Protects Workers Read More »
Tesla has expanded its list of worker injuries following a report published in Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting, which flagged under-counting and safety problems at the company’s Fremont, California facility last month. The move also comes one week after CEO and founder Elon Musk blasted the media for reporting on the discrepancies and threatened to start a …
But is the agency selling its soul? The House Interior and Environment Appropriations Committee has not only (again) defied President Trump’s proposal to eliminate the Chemical Safety Board, but the committee actually plans to add a million dollars to the agency’s Fiscal Year 2019 budget. The Committee’s bill, released Monday, funds the CSB at $12 million, …
Chemical Safety Board Dodges Trump’s Bullet Again Read More »
Fifty years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. lent his support to the historic Memphis sanitation workers’ strike. Today, the safe working conditions that strikers fought for in 1968 remain elusive for low-wage workers in one Memphis warehouse. Workers at the XPO Logistics warehouse in Memphis announced in early April that they had filed a …
Toiling Over a “Puddle of Blood”: Why These Warehouse Workers Are Standing Up to Abuses Read More »
Elon Musk, owner of SpaceX and Tesla is a seriously strange and driven guy. That can be a good thing in some circumstances and even amusing if it’s your next door neighbor or crazy uncle. But when you own a major car company, it can mean workers getting hurt or killed. Last May we wrote …
Production Over Safety at Tesla: “People are getting hurt every day” Read More »
On March 25, 1911, a fire broke out on the top floors of the Triangle Shirtwaist factory. Firefighters arrived at the scene, but their ladders weren’t tall enough to reach the impacted area. Trapped inside because the owners had locked the fire escape exit doors, workers jumped to their deaths. Thirty minutes later, the fire was …
The Lessons of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire Are Still Relevant 107 Years Later Read More »
Madeline Messa is a 3L at Syracuse University College of Law. She graduated from Penn State with a degree in journalism. With her legal research and writing for Workplace Fairness, she strives to equip people with the information they need to be their own best advocate.
