Stuff to Read
Jordan Barab
Exposed to Solvent, Worker Faces Hurdles
BEREA, Ky. — When the University of Kentucky published new research in 2008 suggesting that exposure to a common industrial solvent might increase the risk for Parkinson's disease, the moment was a source of satisfaction to Ed Abney, a 53-year-old former tool-and-die worker.
Mr. Abney, now sidelined by Parkinson's, had spent more than two decades up to his elbows in a drum of the solvent, trichloroethylene, while he cleaned metal piping at a now-shuttered Dresser Industries plant here.
The university study had focused on him and his factory co-workers who worked near the same 55-gallon drum of the vaguely sweet-smelling chemical. It found that 27 workers had either the anxiety, tremors, rigidity or other symptoms associated with Parkinson's, or had motor skills that were significantly impaired, compared with a healthy peer group. The study, Mr. Abney thought, was the scientific evidence he needed to claim worker's compensation benefits.
He was wrong. The medical researchers would not sign the form attesting that Mr. Abney's disease was linked to his work.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/25/us/25toxic.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=exposed%20to%20solvent&st=cse
Law gives new FedOSHA boss few sticks
Agency has little leeway in assessing worker safety penalties on state bodies
Thu, Jan 22, 2009 (2 a.m.)
In the wake of problems in Nevada and elsewhere, some also expect it will become tougher on state workplace safety agencies.
Under current law, that won't be easy.
About half of the states — including Nevada — operate their own regulatory bodies to enforce safety laws in workplaces; the rest rely on the federal government for this oversight.
The relationship between state OSHAs and FedOSHA has long been a complicated one.
Protect workers now
A NEW year and a new administration bring renewed hope Congress will extend life-saving protections to workers in plants subject to dust explosions.
In the wake of last February's fiery blast at the Port Wentworth Imperial Sugar plant that took the lives of 14 and injured scores more, U.S. Rep. John Barrow, D-Savannah, co-sponsored House Bill 5522 last year, calling for new industrial housekeeping and inspection measures.
Unfortunately, the bill flopped in the Senate - the victim of a threatened veto by then-President Bush and a lack of support among senators.
But stronger Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress this year increase the likelihood of the bill's passage, as well as a friendly Obama administration.
http://savannahnow.com/node/658068
Business, labor expect change in workplace safety oversight
They expect to see a more activist OSHA and a push for stronger regulation in Obama administration.
aalex...@charlotteobserver.com
Business leaders and organized labor rarely agree about much, but they do concur on this: The government's approach to protecting workers is about to change.
U.S. Rep. Hilda Solis, a California Democrat widely viewed as a friend to workers and labor unions, is poised to become secretary of labor. Several safety experts who have called for more vigorous regulation have been mentioned as candidates to lead the Occupational Safety and Health Administration
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/business/story/475442.html
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Jordan Barab