space shuttle, space: 2005_02_01_spewingforth

PERMALINK Posted 11:24 PM by Jordan

New Mexico Issues Late Night Convenience Store Violence Standard

Check out the Weekly Toll that Tammy Miser assembles for Confined

Space every couple of weeks. Every list includes numbers of fatalities

that resulted from workplace violence, most of them retail workers.

(And I'm sure we're missing quite a few.) Well, instead of just saying

"too bad," the state of New Mexico is doing something about it.

The New Mexico state Environmental Improvement Board, which issues

occupational safety and health standards, has issued a regulation that

requires convenience stores open between the hours of 11 p.m. and 5

a.m. either to have two workers on duty, or one clerk and a security

guard, or to install bulletproof glass or other safety features to

limit access to store employees. The Board held a number of statewide

town-hall style hearings last Fall to discuss the regulation.

Certain parts of the regulation went into effect last Spring:

requirements for safety cameras, panic alarms and adequate lighting,

and making sure that clerks have a clear line of sight outside the

stores. They also require either time-lock safes or some sort of

money-drop and limit cash in the register to $50. Employees must also

receive crime prevention and safety training by the employer or a

"knowledgable representative" in a language that is understood by the

employee.

Sgt. James Schoeffel, public information officer for the Clovis

Police Department and former detective for five years, thinks the

new regulations will probably deter some robberies.

"I think that it may make some people think twice, but there's

nothing that is a 100-percent sure thing," he said.

Having two employees during the late shift could also aid in

solving robberies, Schoeffel said.

"Two sets of eyes are also helpful for the potential of catching

the subject. If we get two descriptions, we have more information

to work with," he said.

Workplace violence is a familiar subject of Confined Space. Workplace

assaults were the third leading cause of death in the workplace in

2003 and had been the second leading cause throughout most of the

1990's. It is the leading cause of death among immigrant workers in

this country. The Bureau of Labor Statistics found that workplace

violence --including assaults and suicides-- accounted for 16% of all

work-related fatal occupational injuries in 2003. Homicides have

consistently been one of thethe top three causes of workplace

fatalities. The number of workplace homicides was higher in 2003 --

the first increase since 2000 -- although the 631 workplace homicides

recorded in 2003 represented a 42 percent decline from the high of

1,080 workplace homicides recorded in 1994.

Contrary to the myth that nothing can be done to prevent workplace

violence, OSHA has issued guidelines to prevent workplace violence

against health care and social service workers as well as late night

retail workers. The OSHA website also has an extensive list of

workplace violence resources.

The state of Washington enforces that "Late Night Retail Workers Crime

Protection Act" which requires annual crime prevention training,

drop-safes or limited access safes, and outside lighting.

Although federal OSHA had cited some nursing homes and other

facilities for workplace violence hazards in the 1990's, the agency

has not cited in this area in a number of years. The American Public

Health Association recently called on federal OSHA to "promulgate an

enforceable standard on occupational violence prevention."

Labels: Weekly Toll, Workplace Violence

PERMALINK Posted 10:13 PM by Jordan

Washington Post on OSHA Inspectors' Beryllium Exposure

The Washington Post's regulatory columnist, Cindy Skrzycki, writes

today about the discovery that at least three OSHA inspectors may have

tested positive for blood abnormalities that indicate they could be

susceptible to chronic beryllium disease, as well as the saga of OSHA

whistleblower Adam Finkel who single-handedly forced the agency to

conduct the testing. Nothing too new since I wrote about the case

earlier this month except that Skrzycki did score an interview with

acting OSHA Director Jonathan Snare, who shockingly disclosed to

Skrzycki that

it would be premature to comment on whether anyone tested positive

because the agency has not completed the testing of 301 inspectors.

Skrzycki also discusses OSHA's half-hearted effort to revise the

beryllium standard:

Instead of lowering the beryllium standard, OSHA has issued

periodic hazard information bulletins saying the standard may not

be adequate.

Public Citizen and a labor union petitioned the agency in 2001,

asking that the federal standard be lowered to 0.2 micrograms per

cubic meter of air and that surveillance of workers be required. In

late 2002, OSHA issued a "request for information," which is a

preliminary step to rulemaking.

Snare said last week that the agency does not yet have a proposal

but is querying the small-business community on the likely effects

of changing the standard.

Well, isn't that comforting, especially since, as Skrzycki reports:

The beryllium industry and some of its users maintain that working

with the substance is safe when proper precautions are taken. Brush

Wellman Inc., a large producer, has supported extensive research on

the effects of beryllium and does not think there is a definitive

link to cancer or that it should be listed as a carcinogen.

It also thinks that inspectors don't need a special testing program

and that the test being used is inappropriate for screening. "Brush

Wellman has had employees diagnosed with sub-clinical chronic

beryllium disease who run marathons and climb mountains," the

company said in an e-mail.

Does that mean if I contract sub-clinical chronic beryllium disease

I'll be able to run marathons and climb mountains?

PERMALINK Posted 9:02 PM by Jordan

Clueless in Carolina

The recent Human Rights Watch report about hazardous working

conditions in this country's meatpacking plants seems to have puzzled

some North Carolinians. North Carolina is home of the Smithfield's

plant in Bladen County, one of the plants covered in the report.

State Department of Labor officials said that all six of pork giant

Smithfield Foods' North Carolina meatpacking plants have generated

only 19 worker safety complaints and three accident reports in the

last two decades.

The Republican Labor Commissioner seemed totally clueless:

State Labor Commissioner Cherie Berry declined Wednesday to comment

on the report. She said she had not seen it and didn't know where

to find it. She said she knew nothing about Human Rights Watch.

It's right here, Cherie.

The state OSHA director seems a little more aware of real life: "If

there are accidents, I wonder if they are just not calling," said

Allen McNeely, director of the Labor Department's Division of

Occupational Safety and Health. "Knowing what I know about employees,

sometimes they don't feel like they can call us without some kind of

retaliation."

McNeely also noted that the state OSHA is hardly in a position to know

everything that goes on in a meatpacking plant: The Labor Department

also does random inspections of plants but has a shortage of workers.

McNeely said he has about 110 inspectors to handle 230,000 North

Carolina workplaces. Since 1987, the department has done five random

inspections of Smithfield's plants.

Lance Compa, a Cornell University professor who wrote the Human

Rights Watch report, said Wednesday that he interviewed about 50

workers at three meatpacking plants: the Tar Heel [NC] pork plant,

a poultry plant in Arkansas and a beef plant in Nebraska. He said

nearly every worker had evidence of being injured at work.

He said employees told him serious accidents happen weekly.

***

Compa, who studies labor relations and is a former union organizer,

said worker safety programs across the country are underfunded and

understaffed. Even when officials cite companies for violations,

Compa said, they often don't have the authority to punish them

seriously.

In his report, Compa cites the N.C. Labor Department's handling of

the 2003 Tar Heel death as evidence that worker safety laws lack

teeth. The worker died after being overcome by fumes inside a giant

chemical holding tank.

The Department of Labor found that the man was a new employee who

had not been properly trained or supervised while working with

dangerous chemicals. Smithfield paid $4,323 in fines, according to

a report the state submitted to the federal Occupational Safety and

Health Administration.

McNeely said the state imposed all the fines that state and federal

regulations allow.

PERMALINK Posted 6:59 PM by Jordan

NTSB Blames Airline Worker For Her Own Death

I'm not quite sure what they were thinking over at the National

Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)when they concluded that an

Northwest Airline worker, Denise Bogucki, was to blame for her own

death when she was crushed against the nose of a plane in September

2003.

According to the NTSB, the accident occurred because "Bogucki made a

"decision to use improper equipment" to push back an airplane from the

gate."

The report states there were two pushback tugs and two tow bars to

choose from and that Bogucki used a tow bar that was too short for

the tug she was driving. A tow bar is a long, straight bar that

connects the tug to the airplane's front-wheel assembly.

***

The accident occurred on the evening of Sept. 12, 2003, when

Bogucki had connected one end of a tow bar to the airplane and was

driving the tug slowly toward the other end, trying to attach it to

the tug.

The NTSB report states that the tow bar buckled and the tug struck

the nose of the plane. Bogucki, who was riding in the open-air cab

of the moving tug, was pinned between the tug and the plane.

Why this "improper decision" was made, the report doesn't say. One

thing is certain. Bogucki, 43 and the mother of two grown sons, was no

novice. She had worked for Northwest for 13 years.

Unfortunately, the NTSB, unlike its sister agency, the US Chemical

Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, does not always look for the

"root causes" of such incidents. But by focusing more on the immediate

cause, the agency fails to identify to underlying causes which, if

addressed, can prevent similar accidents from happening in the future.

Again, I don't know what the NTSB was thinking, but we do know what

the union, Virginia OSHA and Northwest Airlines were thinking.

The union contends she was using the only equipment Northwest

provided to do the job. Union officials say Northwest had just one

pushback tug, and that only one of the two tow bars would fit the

DC-9 plane at the gate.

"She had no choice to make," said Bob Bennek , safety and health

director of the International Association of Machinists and

Aerospace Workers Air Transport District 143. He added that even if

the other tow bar did fit the plane, it was shorter than the one

Bogucki used....

"This is the worst publication I've ever seen the NTSB put out,"

Bennek said. "They're misstating the facts... I don't get it. It

very much upsets me."

***

Bogucki was trying to do a job alone that many in the industry say

takes two to do safely.

Before she died, Northwest workers had complained that staffing

cutbacks were jeopardizing safety. Staffing was not mentioned in

the federal report.

Virginia OSHA probably didn't think much of the NTSB's conclusion

either:

The Virginia Occupational Safety and Health Administration fined

Northwest $6,300 for a "serious" violation of workplace safety

laws. The maximum penalty for that violation was $7,000.

State safety officials wrote that Northwest failed to provide a

work environment that was "free from recognized hazards that were

causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm." They

also stated that employees "were exposed to crushing hazards while

conducting aircraft pushback operations."

Northwest Airlines, which is contesting the OSHA penalty, made no

statement about the NTSB report. But actions speak louder than words:

Shortly after the accident, Northwest began requiring two people

for pushbacks. The airline also replaced the open-air tug at

Norfolk with a vehicle with an enclosed driver's cab that offers

more protection.

Machinists leader Bennek said

he had hoped the NTSB findings would be strong enough to spur an

industry-wide movement for eliminating open-air tugs and

standardizing the length of tow bars.

"We were hoping to have a detailed finding to help the whole

industry prevent this from ever happening again," he said.

That would have been nice.

Labels: Airport Ground Crew Hazards, Chemical Safety Board, National

Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)

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