https://labornotes.org/2023/09/countering-dangerous-work-amazon

#Management keeps #InjuredWorkers away from doctors to prevent company from looking bad

#Amazon has twice rate of serious injuries of any similar employer, Washington #OSHA citations amount to $81,000. The #fines pale in comparison to company’s #OperatingExpenses, which make it easy for Amazon to pay fines without improving conditions.

Since it's Labor Day, it's the perfect time to highlight how unions have fundamentally shaped the modern #workplace.

Here are just five monumental changes we owe to #union advocacy:

1. #Weekends
2. 40-hr #work weeks
3. #OSHA, ensuring safer working conditions.
4. Benefits like health ins, retirement pensions, and unemployment support.
5. #Childlabor laws. (It's startling to realize we needed #legislation to prevent #employers from exploiting children.)

#laborday #unionize #laborlaws #policy

First was an excellent panel on laws and systems to help protect workers from injury (and worse) at the @epi with Peter Dorman, Leslie Boden, Ann Rosenthal, and Randy Rabinowitz. I learned a lot from this overview of where the law and regulators are in the US and what needs to improve to get to better outcomes. Highly recommend https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySQL20u3GcE (2/9) #law #OSHA

https://www.skynews.com.au/business/mps-concerned-amazon-may-have-misled-committee-over-workplace-safety-concerns-as-union-brands-testimony-shocking/news-story/436cd68474188ea7d89d30d12922d89c

#Amazon #US #InjuryRate double those of competitors, Amazon #Australia says no #safety concerns

"The testimony given before #parliament is shocking. Serious safety issues like dangerous overloading and pressuring drivers to rush through deliveries is not something to brush off as insignificant."

#OSHA #WorkplaceSafety #fraud #corruption #exploitation #capitalism #ClassWar #union #unions

@BegoniaArizona
Where is OSHA? The General Duty Clause is designed to give OSHA oversight of greedy inhumane or incompetent employers.
Not allowing breaks or water in extreme heat should be an easy intervention.
#OSHA
#WhereIsOSHA
#HeatDeath
#WorkerRights
#CapitalismKills

Cease-Fire in War Between #OSHA and #DollarTree
https://jordanbarab.com/confinedspace/2023/08/24/cease-fire-in-war-between-osha-and-dollar-tree/

#HICPAC Meeting - Aug 22, 2023

The public comments from many esteemed leaders and colleagues in the healthcare, public health, and other fields are absolutely scathing. And appropriate.

#publiccomment #cdc #healthcare #osha

https://www.youtube.com/live/OqjC26DGr38?si=JAnxNbyJwfjkN4FN

Big business #lobbies against #heat protections for workers as #US boils
It could take years for federal #regulator #OSHA to set new heat rules as excessive temperatures are killing Americans at work. #Business groups and #lobbyists have aggressively opposed efforts at state and federal levels to enact heat protection standards for #workers. TX gov, #GregAbbott rescinded city ordinances that mandated heat protections for workers. The move was applauded by business groups.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jul/31/heat-protections-workers-big-business-lobbies

“Health care workers don’t even think about that when they decide they want to be a nurse or a doctor. But as far as actual violence goes, statistically, health care is four or five times more dangerous than any other profession,” said Michael D’Angelo, a former police officer who focuses on health care and workplace violence as a security consultant in Florida.

https://apnews.com/article/hospitals-workplace-violence-shootings-aa6918569ff8f76ff8a15b9813e31686

#labor #healthcare #osha #workplacesafety

UPDATE: “It’s evident that extreme #heat doesn’t just impact #workers, but is damaging society as a whole.”

Organizers celebrated a near immediate response to the thirst #strike from the #Biden administration, and promised to continue their campaign for mandatory #water breaks for construction workers: https://www.texasobserver.org/water-break-thirst-strike-osha-biden/

#news #politics #USpol #labor #HumanRights #WorkersRights #heatwave #ClimateChange #summer #weather #health #OSHA

"The [HB 2127] measure...was designed to replace “the regulatory patchwork” of county and municipal rules across the state “with a single set of predictable, consistent regulations,”...That means cities would no longer have the authority to enforce local ordinances related to agriculture, natural resources, finance, and labor; and local protections against extreme heat, such as water break requirements, would be rolled back."

https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/texas-heat-outdoor-workers-water-break-thirst-strike-governor-greg-abbott/

#labor #heat #Texas #osha

Why would a #Business follow #osha guidelines when if #workers die the penalty is only 15,000$?
.
“An investigation by the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration determined that the farm labor contractor who hired the worker "could have prevented his death by following established safety practices regarding heat-related hazards," the release said. The contractor now faces $15,625 in "proposed penalties,"
#heatwave #immigration

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna95378

Why would a #Buisness follow #osha guidelines when if #workers die the penalty is only 15,000$?
.
“An investigation by the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration determined that the farm labor contractor who hired the worker "could have prevented his death by following established safety practices regarding heat-related hazards," the release said. The contractor now faces $15,625 in "proposed penalties,"
#heatwave #immigration

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna95378

"A group of 112 Democratic members of Congress on Monday called on U.S. President Joe Biden's administration to establish heat safety regulations for indoor and outdoor workplaces as a persistent and deadly heatwave spreads across the country."

Remember when Texas Republicans passed HB 2127 earlier this year and blocked cities from passing protections that require water and rest breaks for construction workers?

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/congressional-democrats-call-biden-workplace-heat-safety-steps-2023-07-24/

#publichealth #OSHA #workplacesafety #heat #Texas #txlege

“My brother would still be here if he just had a #water break.”

Workers, labor #unions, and elected officials staged a day-long ‘thirst #strike’ Tuesday on the steps of the U.S. Capitol, demanding that #OSHA implement new standards requiring protections from the #heat. From McHam Investigative Reporting Fellow @josephinelee: https://www.texasobserver.org/texas-workers-congress-thirst-strike/

#ClimateChange #WorkersRights #labor #Congress #politics #USpol #news #Texas #GregAbbott #activism #HumanRights #workers

https://www.epi.org/blog/an-average-of-27-workers-a-day-suffer-amputation-or-hospitalization-according-to-new-osha-data-from-29-states-meat-and-poultry-companies-remain-among-the-most-dangerous/
Here’s something I learned today. We are sending children to do these jobs again. I really had hoped that we as a society had moved beyond these kinds of horrors. These plants shouldn’t exist and we certainly shouldn’t be sending children into them. #MeatPacking #osha #ChildLabor

#DeliveryDrivers want protection against #heat. But it's an uphill battle...
https://www.npr.org/2023/07/20/1188282961/delivery-drivers-want-protection-against-heat-but-its-an-uphill-battle
"#OSHA, the federal agency that oversees workplace safety, has recommendations for how employers should handle heat – but it's still in the process of drafting heat-specific worker protections."

Could Amazon be forced to make big changes at its warehouses? In the company's appeal of OSHA violations, a first-of-its-kind trial begins next week in Washington state. #Amazon #warehouse #safety #workers #labor #osha

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/amazon-trial-could-pave-the-way-for-holding-the-company-accountable-on-warehouse-safety-4ce86878

Too hot to work? Miami advances heat safety law :

The vote on the first-of-its-kind measure came as the area hit a record 38th day in a row where the heat index -- the ‘feels like’ temperature -- was 100 degrees F or hotter.
#BrianMcNoldy #ClimateChange #DaniellaLevineCava #employer #extremeweather #GregAbbott #Heat #heatindex #JoeBiden #KionneMcGhee #Miami #OSHA #safety #VirginiaKey #worker
#Miami #news

https://kbindependent.org/2023/07/18/too-hot-to-work-miami-advances-heat-safety-law/

✍️ Sign here to request OSHA enact emergency heat regulations to protect workers. Our climate will only get hotter from here, and workers need our help. #OSHA @ufwupdates

https://sign.moveon.org/petitions/urge-osha-to-implement-emergency-heat-standards?source=rawlink&utm_source=rawlink&share=1c79fc30-e165-4cc0-b080-36be0fdd9f50