News
Suit raises questions about contractor safety
Romulo de Oliveira Santos’s first night on a demolition job at a Walmart in Walpole was also his last. Santos’s death is now the subject of a lawsuit that seeks to hold Walmart Stores Inc. accountable. According to MassCOSH, “[Santos] death highlights a ‘gaping hole’ in a regulatory system that sanctions contractors, but shields their corporate clients from responsibility for safety…”
‘Bread and roses’ strike resonates
The Boston Globe -Letter to the Editor - 1/11/12
“Century later, issues still resonate,” (Jan. 11) highlights the parallels of “the haves and have nots” of 1912 and those of 2012. 100 years after the nation was captivated by horrific mill conditions and corporate greed, workers still come to our worker center, and others across the state, suffering from injuries that have no place in this day and age.
Delays, special interests hinder rules against deadly dust
Union of Concerned Scientists - 1/25/12
An extraordinary delay in the development of federal protections against exposure to crystalline silica is harming American workers, more than 300 public health scientists, doctors and occupational safety experts told President Obama today.
Toxic Hair Treatments: Lawsuits Settled on Brazilian Blowout; California Attorney General Suit Forces Hazard Warning
Health advocates are ramping up pressure on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to remove the keratin hair-straightening product Brazilian Blowout from the marketplace in light of a legal settlement announced today in a California court against the company that makes the product.
MBCR maintenance facility responds to safety violations
The Tufts Daily - November 16, 2011
The Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad Company this month entered negotiations with the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to address health and safety violations recently cited against MBCR's Somerville maintenance facility.
Cave-in hazard at Hanover, Mass., job site leads to $161,000 in proposed fines for Boston contractor Walsh Corp. from US Labor D
Employee worked in unprotected trench below crumbling asphalt, lacked exit ladder
In death, fired nurse aids rights of workers
The Star Tribune (St.Paul) - 9/23/2011
Anne Whitledge, who died last August from brain cancer was an emloyee of Maxim Healthcare Services, a health care giant that fired her rather than make accommodations for her disability. They must now send a letter of condolences to her survivors, along with a check for $160,000.
Do Regulations Really Kill Jobs Overall? Not So Much
ProPublica.org - Marian Wong, 09/21/2011
It’s become a mantra on Capitol Hill and a rallying cry for industry groups: Get rid of the job-killing regulations. In recent days, with nearly every one of the GOP presidential candidates repeating that refrain, the political echo chamber has grown even louder. Earlier this month, President Obama also asked the Environmental Protection Agency to back off more stringent ozone regulations, citing the "importance of reducing regulatory burdens" during trying economic times.
But is the claim that regulation kills jobs true?
Inside Amazon.com warehouse workers complain of brutal conditions
The Morning Call - Spencer Soper, 09/17/2011
Over the past 2 months, The Morning Call interviewed 20 current and former warehouse workers who showed pay stubs, tax forms or other proof of employment. They offered a behind-the-scenes glimpse of what it's like to work in the Amazon warehouse, where temperatures soar on hot summer days, production rates are difficult to achieve and the permanent jobs sought by many temporary workers hired by an outside agency are tough to get.
OSHA issues compliance directive to address workplace violence
WASHINGTON – OSHA today issued a directive on Enforcement Procedures for Investigating or Inspecting Incidents of Workplace Violence. The directive establishes uniform procedures for OSHA field staff for responding to incidents and complaints of workplace violence and conducting inspections in industries considered vulnerable to workplace violence, such as healthcare and social service settings, and late-night retail establishments.
