"For these companies the penalties are pocket change"

Political appointees at the Department of Labor are moving with unusual speed to push through in the final months of the Bush administration a rule making it tougher to regulate workers' on-the-job exposure to chemicals and toxins.

Perini Corp. made its money and reputation by tackling big, complex construction projects and finishing them on time, even under the most ambitious schedules. But a rash of construction deaths at Perini jobs in Las Vegas has raised concerns that the Framingham construction firm may be doing too much too fast, and compromising worker safety along the way.

A couple of big days and big fines: third largest in OSHA history and largest in MSHA history.

I would imagine the families would have preferred that the events had been prevented in the first place though. Senate hearing on combustible dust next Tuesday.

A Congressional leader pledged this morning to introduce legislation that would block an eleventh-hour effort by the Labor Department to make it more difficult to limit workers' exposure to chemicals on the job.

After issuing almost no standards for 7 1/2 years, "virtually overnight, changing the risk-assessment process became the agency's top priority for workplace regulations."

Dying of cancer, Thomas Amschwand did everything he was told to make sure his wife would collect on the life insurance policy he had through his employer

Submitted by Health and Safety Labor Policy Advisor Jordan Barab.

All you negligent employers - Listen Up!

From Jordan Barab

Submitted by Jordan Barab

Workers Memorial Day Observance at Dubin Labor Education Center

By Maria Sacchetti, Boston Globe, April 29, 2008

Submitted by Jordan Barab. This was on a "Motion to Recommit" -- a Republican amendment that would have required the Secretary of Labor to certify that food prices would not go up before the combustible dust standard could cover food grains.

Gone fishing has too often meant gone missing for the seafarers who brave the waves off the Massachusetts coast to bring in the daily catch, a new report finds.

 Submitted by Health and Safety Expert Jordan Barab

By JAMES BANDLER and KRIS MAHER
April 23, 2008; Page B1

New Report Released Today to Mark 20^th Workers Memorial Day

On Wednesday, April 30, the Labor Education Center will hold a memorial event for all workers killed on the job over the past year, including 18 from SE Massachusetts. 

Submitted by Jordan Barab

Another great article submitted by Health and Safety watchdog Jordan Barab