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 »
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 »
When Spring is in the air, this man’s fancy turns to (where else?) the 2018 Spring Regulatory Agenda to discover what movement OSHA will be planning to move forward (or backward) to protect American workers from injury, illness and death in the workplace. And the news is not totally bad this time around. The good …
Full of Surprises: OSHA Spring Regulatory Agenda Released Read More »
For the 27th year in a row, the AFL-CIO has produced Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect. The report gathers evidence on the state of safety and health protections for America’s workers. Passed in 1970, the Occupational Safety and Health Act has saved the lives of more than 559,000 working people. President Barack Obama …
15 Things You Need to Know from the 2018 Death on the Job Report Read More »
In a hearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee today, Secretary of Labor Alex Acosta today refused to commit not to rescind OSHA’s electronic recordkeeping rule. The rule, issued in 2016, requires employers to send injury and illness information into OSHA and prohibits employers from retaliating against workers for reporting injuries. The electronic recordkeeping rule has three major parts, …
Acosta Refuses To Commit to Preserving OSHA Recordkeeping Rule Read More »
Admit it. If they could, Trump and most Republicans would like to just get rid of OSHA, EPA the Consumer Product Safety Commission and any other agency — or law — that protects workers, consumers or the environment. This is all part of Steve Bannon’s goal of “deconstructing the Administrative State” — making sure that …
Corporate America’s Stealth Campaign to Stop Worker and Environmental Protections 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 »
Fewer than half of all employers required to send their injury and illness information into OSHA last year sent in the information. “The Occupational Safety and Health Administration was expecting about 350,000 summaries to be submitted by Dec. 31, the agency numbers provided to Bloomberg Environment March 7 show. Instead, employers required to participate submitted 153,653 reports, …
OSHA to Employers Who Violate the Recordkeeping Rule: No Problem! Read More »
Earlier this week, President Trump submitted his Fiscal Year 2019 budget proposal. This is his second budget proposal, and like the first, although it left OSHA’s budget fairly flat, it once again proposes to slash or eliminate important safety and health programs and agencies. And this is Trump’s second OSHA budget that has been proposed with …
Trump’s Worker Safety & Health Budget Again Undermines Worker Safety & Health Read More »
One sign that anti-OSHA conservatives are getting nervous about articles (and television appearances) highlighting the declining number of OSHA inspectors are articles questioning whether government plays a useful role in protecting workers. In this case, the Reason Foundation, which “advances a free society by developing, applying, and promoting libertarian principles, including individual liberty, free markets, and the rule of …
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.
