OSHA and USDA Should Have Done More to Protect Meatpacking Workers, Report Says

An Office of Inspector General report concluded the two agencies could have done more to protect meatpackers from contracting Covid-19. The industry was among the hardest-hit sectors in the early months of the pandemic.

by Sky Chadde / Investigate Midwest

April 19, 2022

Top image: Washington, D.C. – Frances Perkins Building. (Photo provided by U.S. Department of Labor)

This story was originally published by The Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has food safety inspectors in every large meatpacking plant in the country. Just like the industry’s workers, the government’s inspectors entered the high-risk work spaces almost every day during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Sonny Perdue, USDA’s leader during the pandemic’s critical first year, made clear he saw no role for the agency in protecting workers. That mostly fell to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Despite Perdue’s proclamations, however, the two agencies should have collaborated to ensure workers were safe from Covid-19 by leveraging USDA’s employees in plants to provide better oversight of the industry, the DOL’s Office of Inspector General concluded in a new report released recently.

OSHA has been roundly criticized for failing to protect meatpacking workers from the coronavirus. In the pandemic’s first year, the agency doled out small fines to only a handful of plants, and it failed to inspect every plant where cases were publicly reported.

OSHA defended its approach in responses to the inspector general’s office. The head of OSHA under former President Donald Trump, Loren Sweatt, has told Investigate Midwest the agency was dedicated to protecting workers.

The agency entered the pandemic with its fewest number of inspectors in its history. At the same time, the number of workplaces it has to oversee has increased.

This graphic, included in the OIG’s report, shows the number of establishments OSHA is responsible for overseeing and the number of OSHA inspectors.

Still, according to the inspector general’s report, OSHA should have identified what federal agencies oversaw high-risk industries — including meatpacking — and provided training to on-the-ground employees in how to assist with worker safety.

“Without delivering the necessary outreach and training, OSHA could not leverage the observations of external federal agencies’ enforcement or oversight personnel active on job sites regarding potential safety and health hazards,” the report reads.

Fostering collaboration with the USDA’s Food Safety Inspection Service was “particularly important” given the risk at meatpacking plants, the report said. More than 400 meatpacking workers have died from Covid-19, according to Investigate Midwest tracking.

OSHA and FSIS had some history that made collaborating challenging, according to the report.

Before the pandemic, when FSIS inspectors would make a referral about potential worker safety violations to OSHA, OSHA would investigate FSIS, not the plant, according to the report. Because of this, FSIS inspectors were hesitant to refer possible violations.

OSHA said it “informally collaborated” with FSIS during the pandemic. Starting “early in 2020,” OSHA held weekly meetings with FSIS and other agencies where it “often” discussed the safety of meatpacking workers, the agency said in its response to the report.

OSHA “judged this effort to be far more fruitful than attempting to reach individual FSIS inspectors,” it said.

Sweatt didn’t reach out to FSIS’s head, Mindy Brashears, until mid-April 2020, weeks after the first reported Covid-19 case in a U.S. meatpacking plant and months after news of the contagious disease broke, according to emails obtained by Public Citizen.

“Is FSIS doing guidance for meat packers in the world of Covid-19?” Sweatt asked Brashears on April 11, 2020. “If so, is there anything OSHA can do to be of assistance?”

Brashears then emailed back, saying she’d like to see any guidance documents OSHA had.

“It’s shocking how much OSHA deferred to USDA” on worker safety during the pandemic, Adam Pulver, the attorney at Public Citizen who obtained the records, has said about the emails.

During the pandemic’s first year, Covid-19 deaths had been reported at 65 plants. OSHA didn’t inspect 26 of them, according to an investigation by USA TODAY and Investigate Midwest.

The trend has continued, according to OSHA’s responses to the report. Investigate Midwest has tracked nearly 500 plants with reported Covid-19 cases. Between March 2020 and March 2022, OSHA conducted 157 inspections related to Covid-19 in the meatpacking industry.

THIRD WORLD USA
Walmart sales soared, essential workers got scant protection

COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) — Sandra Kunz had been worried for her safety while working as a cashier at a Walmart in Aurora, Colorado, during the pandemic, said her sister, Paula Spellman.

The 72-year-old had lung disease, Spellman said. She was “uncomfortable because so many people (were) coming in with coughs.”

But Kunz didn’t complain to the government agency tasked with protecting workers, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

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This story was produced by the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at the University of Maryland’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism in conjunction with investigative journalists at Boston University, the University of Arkansas and Stanford University. The Howard Center is an initiative of the Scripps Howard Foundation in honor of the late news industry executive and pioneer, Roy W. Howard.

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“Sandy’s not a complainer,” Spellman said. “She went out and just purchased her own mask and her own gloves.”

It wasn’t enough. On April 20, 2020, Kunz died from COVID-19 following an outbreak linked to the Aurora Walmart. At least 18 employees got sick and one other worker at Walmart, Lupe Aguilar, died. So did Kunz’s husband, Gustavous, who Spellman said fell ill after she did.

The Walmart where Kunz worked was one of at least 151 Walmart facilities in 10 states with available data where multiple COVID-19 illnesses were recorded, a reporting consortium led by the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism found. On average, one quarter of the company’s stores and distribution centers in those states were affected. In New Mexico, COVID-19 hit nearly every store.


Walmart, the nation’s largest private employer, provides a window into OSHA’s performance during the pandemic. Many of the retailer’s nearly 1.6 million U.S. workers are vulnerable to COVID-19 due to income disparities, racial discrimination or language barriers. They depend on OSHA to guarantee safe and healthy workplaces.

But the worker-safety system is fragmented, reporting from the University of Maryland, Boston University, the University of Arkansas and Stanford University found.

Responsibility is splintered among federal OSHA, state agencies and even local boards of health. As a result, there is little accountability for the failure of government watchdogs to keep workers safe from COVID-19.

The consortium documented that worker safety oversight rarely results in meaningful consequences for companies that aren’t protecting workers. In Massachusetts, Walmart challenged OSHA’s investigation into the death of a worker. The company cited OSHA’s pledge to “use discretion” in holding certain employers responsible for COVID-19 cases in the workplace, and wasn’t penalized.

When workers submit COVID-related complaints to OSHA, only a fraction lead to inspections, and even fewer result in a citation.

As of late March, 3% of closed COVID-19 complaints to federal OSHA offices deemed valid by the agency resulted in an inspection, 12.5% of which led to citations. The average penalty was $13,000; OSHA reduced over a third of the fines.

For Walmart, slightly fewer complaints resulted in inspections — 2.6%. No inspections led to a citation.

The Biden administration proposed an emergency temporary standard April 26 that would give OSHA greater power to enforce COVID-19 workplace-safety rules. Meanwhile, the cost of the 14-month delay since the pandemic began can be tallied in deaths and thousands of worker illnesses.


In Grants Pass, Oregon, in 2020, Walmart workers and customers filed over 24 complaints about the lack of COVID-19 safeguards with the state worker-safety agency.Yet between December and March, at least 18 people were infected in an outbreak linked to the Walmart.

Karla Holman worked customer service at that Walmart until late January and heard about cases through workplace rumors, never from her employer. Walmart “was silent about it,” Holman said.

Workers in other states also said Walmart concealed COVID-19 cases from employees.

Walmart spokesperson Scott Pope said “we communicate with associates in stores where there has been a confirmed case.’’

“Any time you operate more than 5,000 facilities across the country there is the opportunity for variance in how a recommended process is executed,” he said.

Since April 2020, OSHA has released an updated list, including company names, of complaints related to COVID-19 that the agency has deemed valid. In Colorado, approximately 98% of workplaces with reported COVID-19 outbreaks did not appear on that list as of March.

Twenty-one states have their own OSHA plans overseeing private businesses. They must meet all the federal standards but can impose stricter rules if they choose.

In those states, the rate of complaints was five times higher than in states where the federal government exclusively oversees workplace safety.

More complaints don’t guarantee more inspections. In Oregon, which is among the states with the most COVID-19 complaints for Walmart, only one complaint led to an inspection. As of March 24, at least 10 Walmart locations in the state were linked to outbreaks with over five cases, including a Hermiston distribution center linked to 124 recorded cases, the consortium found.

A study in Occupational & Environmental Medicine, a peer-reviewed journal, found that infection rates were significantly higher at a grocery retail store than the surrounding community. Moreover, it said store workers who had direct contact with customers were five times more likely to contract COVID-19 than workers who did not.

Rebecca Reindel, the AFL-CIO’s director of occupational safety and health, said the public-health response focused on “cheaper measures,” such as masks and hand sanitizer, which shifted the burden of protection onto workers themselves.

It is difficult to know the full extent of COVID-19 in Walmart stores. The company tracks, but does not publicly disclose, COVID-19 cases. Federal OSHA does not track COVID-19 outbreaks. And state agencies responsible for tracking outbreak data rarely disclose it.

When they do, state practices vary widely. Only some release names of companies with COVID-19 outbreaks, and there is no consistent definition of how many cases constitute an outbreak.

Walmart spokesperson Casey Staheli said the company instituted a range of policies, including mask requirements for associates and customers, limiting store hours and capacity, deep cleanings, screening associates’ health, installing plastic guards and implementing social distancing in all facilities.

Workers said what’s on paper often doesn’t match the real world.

Of 10 Walmart employees in five states interviewed by the Howard Center, just three said they felt safe from COVID-19 exposure at work.

Some workers said they face retaliation if they complain about safety conditions.

Lorinda Dudley was fired from a St. Albans, Vermont, Walmart in March 2020 after asking her manager for protective gear, according to a lawsuit she filed against Walmart in February. She was frightened after a customer coughed repeatedly at her checkout station.

Dudley said her manager rejected her requests, then terminated Dudley when she said she would need to buy her own protection before returning to the register. Walmart tried to block Dudley’s unemployment claim, saying she quit, Vermont Department of Labor records show.

“I just wanted to be safe,’’ Dudley said.

Walmart denies Dudley’s allegations and plans “to defend the company in court,” said Pope, Walmart’s spokesperson.

Federal OSHA has “no consistent means” to determine if violations reported by state plans are COVID-related, a U.S. Department of Labor spokesperson, who would not be quoted by name, told the Howard Center.

As a result, there is no detailed national picture of how well the agency is protecting workers during the pandemic.

OSHA’s inaction has shifted some enforcement responsibilities onto local health departments, many of which are already overwhelmed.

“It just became the theater of the absurd,’’ said Shaun McAuliffe, director of the Hopkinton, Massachusetts, Board of Health. “They were just dumping onto the local health directors. We didn’t have the time... We didn’t have the training.’’

The Department of Labor spokesperson said OSHA investigates every complaint, but has modified its approach to allow “remote inspections and informal methods of enforcement” during the pandemic.

A February report from the Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General compared OSHA results from 2019 to 2020, finding “OSHA received 15% more complaints in 2020, but performed 50% fewer inspections.’’

In lieu of on-site workplace inspections, “OSHA calls the employer, describes the alleged hazard(s), and then follows up with a fax, email, or letter,” the report said.

Lani Eklund said her mother, Yok Yen Lee, was scared of contracting the virus. Lee, a 69-year-old Chinese immigrant, was a greeter outside the Quincy, Massachusetts, Walmart store, state workers’ compensation records show.

During the second week of April 2020, Lee wasn’t feeling well, Eklund said. On April 20, her daughter said Lee was found unresponsive in her apartment, then was rushed to the hospital and put on a ventilator. She died May 3.

OSHA records from May 7 show at least 16 other workers there also contracted COVID-19.

Walmart denied responsibility for Lee’s death and contested her family’s claim for workers’ compensation, according to state records. Pope said “there isn’t a way to scientifically show that the conditions of any facility definitively led to confirmed cases.’’

Eklund said the company settled months after her mother’s death for an amount that barely exceeded her funeral costs.

Lee’s death also triggered an on-site OSHA inspection beginning May 8, 2020 at the Quincy store, which Walmart challenged, according to OSHA inspection records obtained by the Howard Center consortium.

The records show phone interviews were “interrupted and stopped prematurely” by Walmart officials when OSHA asked questions about Lee’s death.

In response to a subpoena issued by regional OSHA investigators, Walmart cited OSHA headquarters’ own COVID-19 guidance in objecting to any investigation into whether coronavirus cases were work-related, the records show.

That guidance, part of an April OSHA enforcement memo, applied to private employers not involved in health care, emergency response nor corrections.It said the employers may face difficulty in determining whether employees with COVID-19 caught it at work, and so OSHA would exercise “enforcement discretion.”

On Dec. 30, 2020, OSHA closed its investigation of the Quincy Walmart. A Department of Labor spokesperson said “the inspection identified no violations of OSHA standards” and declined further comment. Records show no citation was issued.

In a February note to associates, John Furner, CEO and president of Walmart U.S., boasted about the company’s “amazing’’ increased sales.

“Thank you for an incredible year!” he wrote.

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Also contributing to this story were Victoria Daniels, Gabriel Pietrorazio, Aadit Tambe, Carmen Molina Acosta, Elisa Posner, John Kwak, Nicole Noechel, Rachel Logan, Jummy Owookade and Manuela Lopez Restrepo from the University of Maryland; Jackson Ripley, Nathan Lederman and Alaina Mencinger from Boston University; Abby Zimmardi, Mary Hennigan and Rachell Sanchez-Smith from the University of Arkansas; Cade Cannedy from Stanford University.

Gracie Todd, Molly Castle Work, Natalie Drum, Nick Mcmillan, Kara Newhouse, Jazmyn Gray, Aneurin Canham Clyne, Jack Rasiel, Sahana Jayaraman And Haley Chi-sing/the Howard Center For Investigative Journalism, The Associated Press

Health-care workers file lawsuit against OSHA, accusing agency of failing to keep them safe

Eli Rosenberg

Unions representing hundreds of thousands of nurses and health-care workers filed a lawsuit against the Occupational Safety and Health Administration on Thursday, alleging that the agency is violating its duties to keep workers safe by failing to issue an infectious-disease standard to protect health-care workers during the pandemic.

© ANGELA WEISS/Getty Images via Bloomberg Medical staff move bodies from the Wyckoff Heights Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York to a refrigerated truck in April. (Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty Images)

The lawsuit was filed by the American Federation of Teachers, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the Washington State Nurses Association and the United Nurses Associations of California with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. It alleges OSHA’s decision not to set safety standards about infectious diseases is “unreasonable and unlawful” and a violation of federal law that requires the agency to issue standards for significant health risks.

The move is the latest example of the brewing frustrations among labor advocates and Democrats over OSHA’s refusal to aggressively enforce workplace safety during the pandemic. A similar lawsuit filed by the AFL-CIO during the pandemic was dismissed by a judge in the summer, while another lawsuit, filed by a group of meatpacking workers who say OSHA’s inaction has left them in danger, is ongoing.

Former OSHA officials have spoken out forcefully against the agency, but the Trump administration has defended the agency’s approach.

The lawsuit seeks a writ of mandamus — a court order that would require OSHA to fulfill its duties.

“OSHA has a duty to issue a safety and health standard to protect healthcare workers from the significant risk of harm from infectious diseases,” the complaint reads. “The record of this risk to public health, even in ordinary times, is clear. The risks are especially high during pandemics like H1N1 in 2009 and now COVID-19. OSHA’s 10-year delay in acting on the Infectious Diseases Standard is unreasonable.”

OSHA says its existing standards are sufficient to keep workers safe from the pandemic at work. It has received 9,818 coronavirus-related complaints during the pandemic and issued 112 citations. In a statement sent by spokeswoman Megan P. Sweeney, it pointed to the dismissal of the AFL-CIO’s lawsuit.

“The Department is committed to protecting America’s workers during the pandemic, and OSHA has been working around the clock to that end,” the statement said. “Since that court ruling, OSHA has continued to rely on its preexisting authorities in order to keep America’s workplaces safe.”

More than 192,000 health-care workers have been infected with the coronavirus and at least 771 have died, according to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The complaint gives a detailed history of the effort by OSHA to draft a rule for infectious diseases for health-care facilities.

The effort began during the Obama administration before languishing during the Trump administration.

After the H1N1 outbreak in 2009, OSHA began the long process of drafting a new rule. In the ensuing years, it sought outside input, created a proposed regulatory framework and met with small businesses and other stakeholders.

But the Trump administration moved the process from the Unified Regulatory Agenda to the list of “Long-Term Actions,” effectively shelving it, the complaint argues.

Michael Martinez, a lawyer at Democracy Forward, a left-leaning group that is helping litigate the case, said it was different from the AFL-CIO case, which sought an emergency standard that would have been temporary. The new lawsuit seeks the resumption of the existing rulemaking process for a new permanent safety standard that would apply only to workers at health-care facilities.

“The risk has been here for a decade, but now we’re in the middle of a pandemic,” he said. “There’s no real end in sight. And the next pandemic is around the corner.”

The lawsuit notes that infections in health-care facilities were a significant issue even before the pandemic: They lead to approximately 99,000 patient deaths and $20 billion in additional health-care costs every year, the complaint said.

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, which represents more than 100,000 health-care workers in addition to teachers, said the lawsuit was given more urgency by the virus’s recent surge.

“OSHA’s abdication of its responsibility to keep workers safe is as important today as it was in March and April,” she said in an interview. “So we are trying to get them to do their job, which under the Trump administration they have refused to do. It is terrifying to see how the Trump administration sees regular workers as disposable and expendable.”

1 dead, 12 trapped in Penang construction site collapse

Story by Predeep Nambiar • Free Malaysia Today

Fire and rescue department personnel trying to locate the 12 victims. (JBPM pic)© Provided by Free Malaysia Today

GEORGE TOWN: At least one person has died and 12 more are believed to have been buried alive beneath construction debris after a partially built building collapsed tonight.

A fire and rescue department official said the incident occurred near the Fisheries Development Board office in Batu Maung around 10pm.

Rescue teams from three fire stations are currently at the scene trying to locate the victims, the official said.

“We can’t say anything for certain on the status of the people trapped at the moment,” the official said when contacted.

According to the official, a total of 18 workers, all Bangladeshi nationals, were first reported to be buried under the rubble.

As of 11.55pm, five people had been rescued, with three of them pulled out from the rubble by other construction workers on site.

Some 12 workers are still missing. One worker was reported to have been killed instantly.

Penang has been hit by a series of construction disasters over the years in view of the large number of development projects being carried out on the island.

In 2017, a 10m hill slope collapsed adjacent to a condominium construction site in Tanjung Bungah, resulting in the death of 11 people.

Subsequently, in 2018, nine construction workers lost their lives in a landslide at a bypass project near Air Itam.

In 2019, a retaining wall collapsed at a resort on Jalan Batu Ferringhi, claiming the lives of four construction workers.

U$A

A construction worker was fatally injured at Lambeau Field. Now, 2 local companies face penalties

Becky Jacobs, Green Bay Press-Gazette
Tue, November 28, 2023 

GREEN BAY — Federal inspectors found violations and proposed fines against two companies after a construction worker died in June at Lambeau Field.

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued citations to Miron Construction Co., Inc. and Mavid Construction earlier this month. USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin requested and received the documents from the agency on Monday.

Earlier this year, crews replaced the two large video boards at Lambeau's north and south ends and renovated concession stands throughout the stadium.


OSHA began its investigation after 27-year-old Joshua Shaw, of Clintonville, was injured June 15 while working at Lambeau Field. He died two days later.

Shaw was "one of our valued carpenters" at Mavid Construction, Zoar Fulwilder, the Green Bay company's owner, said in a statement to the Green Bay Press-Gazette Tuesday. Shaw was a second-generation employee, and his father and brother also work at Mavid Construction, according to the statement.

"As a family-owned company, this loss has truly impacted us all," Fulwilder said. "We continue to support both the Shaw family and our employees. Mavid Construction is working with the Shaw family to carry on Josh’s legacy through a scholarship that will benefit future generations interested in pursuing a career in the construction industry."

Fulwilder added, "We have been in communication with OSHA since the incident and are committed to safety on all of our project sites."

Miron Construction, headquartered in Neenah, was the general contractor on the project.

"We have been working with the proper officials and will continue following their established and trusted processes as we are committed to providing safe and productive project sites for all our team members," the company said in a statement Tuesday to the Press-Gazette. "Miron has a longstanding rapport with OSHA and we expect that to continue."

Construction crews work to expand the video boards at Lambeau Field on April 4, 2023, in Green Bay, Wis. A construction worker was fatally injured at the stadium June 15. Earlier this month, OSHA issued citations and proposed penalties against Mavid Construction and Miron Construction.

Carpenter struck by dumbwaiter car, OSHA says

On June 15, Shaw "was conducting framing operations inside the newly expanded" north end zone scoreboard, according to OSHA. The scoreboard has six levels and a roof section, and Shaw was working on the first level.

Around 10 a.m., Shaw leaned over a guardrail around the hoistway where the dumbwaiter car traveled to talk with another employee "about needing equipment," the agency said. Shaw asked for a table saw to be loaded on the dumbwaiter and lifted to the scoreboard's first level from the lower concourse, according to OSHA.

When the two finished talking, the other employee turned to walk away from the opening, OSHA said. As Shaw leaned over the guardrail, the dumbwaiter car, operated by pendant, came down from the upper levels of the scoreboard and struck him in the back of the head, according to the agency.

"The dumbwaiter car continued to descend," OSHA said, and trapped Shaw.

Emergency crews responded to the scene, and firefighters extricated Shaw within seven minutes. He was taken to St. Vincent Hospital in Green Bay.

OSHA opened inspection cases involving Mavid and Miron that month.

More: Suamico roofing contractor faces $180K fine over fall hazards at Appleton, Menasha sites

OSHA issues fine of more than $15,000 to both businesses

Federal inspectors found two violations for each of the companies, according to letters that OSHA sent the businesses, dated Nov. 15. The agency proposed a penalty of $15,626 for Mavid and $18,976 for Miron.

According to OSHA, the companies' employees and subcontractors "were exposed to pinch-point hazards associated with the operation of an electric dumbwaiter when the employer did not ensure the controls for the lift had been tagged or locked to render the lift inoperable."

The companies also "did not ensure that employees and contractors were qualified by training or experience prior to allowing them to operate the lifting device," the agency said, among other issues.

Mavid and Miron each have 15 business days after receiving the citations and penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA’s area director or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

Reporter Doug Schneider contributed to this story.

Reach Becky Jacobs at bjacobs@gannett.com or 920-993-7117. Follow her on Twitter at @ruthyjacobs.

This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: OSHA cites Mavid, Miron related to carpenter's death at Lambeau Field

 

BANGLADESH

Making workplace safe for construction workers

Safety precautions are frequently ignored in the construction sector since owners, contractors, and workers lack knowledge and training or are careless. PHOTO: PRABIR DAS

Over the past few years, Bangladesh has experienced a surge in the construction industry as our rapid population growth has necessitated adequate housing for everyone. And that's not all—the government is also implementing dozens of massive projects to improve the country's infrastructure.

In response to these demands, Bangladesh has seen a considerable contribution to its GDP coming from the construction sector, which reflects the industry's significance. According to the data of Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), construction added Tk 3.7 lakh crore to the GDP in 2022. This is an increase over the sum for the year 2021—Tk 3.2 lakh crore.

The Labour Force Survey 2017-18 of BBS reveals that the construction industry provides employment for more than 3.4 million individuals or approximately 5.6 percent of the nation's total workforce. But in this bustling panorama of the construction sector, there lies a shadow that often goes unnoticed: the frightening rate of accidents and fatalities suffered by construction workers.

Read more

Workplace safety for construction workers

According to a report published by non-governmental organisation Safety and Rights Society (SRS), over 700 fatalities of construction workers, as reported in newspapers, happened across the country between 2017 and 2021. This equates to an annual death toll of 143, on average. Because many fatalities and accidents occur on construction sites in our country every year, the vast majority of them never make it into official records or newspaper headlines.

Based on the report by SRS, in 2021, construction accidents ranked second in terms of workplace fatalities. The transportation sector witnessed the highest deaths among all workplaces, while the manufacturing sector ranked third. While discussions about reducing fatalities have consistently focused on the manufacturing and transportation sectors, the high number of deaths in the construction industry does not receive the attention it deserves.

When it comes to the cause of death in the construction industry, according to the SRS report, between 2017 and 2021, the most common cause of death was a fall from height (245 people), followed by electrocution (223 people), inhaling poisonous gas or suffocation (91 people), wall/mud/roof/stair/earth collapse (78 people), crushed by object (64 people), explosion (two people) and others (nine people). The data suggests that the considerable disregard for safety concerns by construction workers and owners of construction sites is the direct cause of the fatalities.

Read more

When death is built into the system

Safety precautions in construction sites are frequently ignored in Bangladesh since owners, contractors, and workers are often unwilling to ensure them because of carelessness and a lack of understanding, training, and knowledge. If we look at the causes of deaths mentioned above, we can see that the casualties caused by falling from a height, being electrocuted, and breathing in poisonous gas or suffocating could be easily reduced if those in charge of the construction site take some precautions or pay a little more attention to safety.

Some experts may bring up the issue of implementing the Bangladesh National Building Code, 2020 (BNBC), but doing so is not an easy task at the moment. Furthermore, without an efficient regulatory authority throughout the country, BNBC implementation will not be successful. Nevertheless, we cannot wait for such an authority to be established, because the death toll is increasing year after year. Along with pressing the government to establish a regulatory authority for BNBC, we must strive to raise awareness and disseminate knowledge and training among workers and construction site owners about the importance of using safety equipment and taking precautions.

Read more

Shipbreaking yards or graves for workers?

Such awareness must be raised through the combined efforts of the public and private sectors, and worker rights organisations and relevant NGOs must take the initiative to do so. A great example of this can be seen in Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST), which has a long history of providing legal aid and assistance to workers. More recently, as part of the "Empowering Workers for Justice" initiative, BLAST has supported construction workers through a variety of initiatives, including raising awareness of construction workers' rights and responsibilities regarding safety and legal protection at workplaces. Such initiatives should be continued as well as broadened by strengthening affiliation with government and other organisations. I believe, with all of our efforts, we may be able to make significant headway to prevent fatalities and injuries from such avoidable causes.

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Fahad Bin Siddique is research officer at Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST).

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Views expressed in this article are the author's own.

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Trump’s Deregulatory Bonanza Leaves Workers Unsafe on the Job

Hayley Brown

 July 25, 2025

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Earlier this month, the Trump Department of Labor (DOL) unveiled a sweeping deregulation plan targeting a range of labor protections, including key workplace safety rules. Officials framed the effort as “a push to put the American worker first,” an Orwellian spin on policies that make it easier for employers to endanger their employees and harder for workers to hold them accountable. By weakening rules that protect health, safety, and dignity on the job, the plan is clearly designed to cut costs for employers by shifting risk and harm onto workers.

Undermining OSHA’s General Duty Clause

One of the most significant changes is a proposal to restrict how the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) enforces its General Duty Clause, which requires workplaces to be “free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm.” The clause functions as a key backstop for OSHA enforcement, empowering the agency to address serious workplace hazards that fall outside the scope of more targeted regulations. The Trump regime wants to limit enforcement of this clause in industries it deems “inherently risky,” such as sports and entertainment, opening the door for employers in other industries to make similar arguments. The proposal echoes Brett Kavanaugh’s 2014 dissent in SeaWorld of Florida v. Perez, where he opposed applying the General Duty Clause after an amusement park trainer’s death, arguing that the risks were inherent to the job.

The COVID-19 pandemic has already shown how employers exploit the notion of “inherent risk” to avoid investing in meaningful prevention and safety measures. The new proposal solicits input on what should be considered inherently risky, opening the door to intense lobbying by industry heavyweights eager to avoid investing in worker safety.

Because no regulation can specify every possible hazard, the General Duty Clause is one of OSHA’s most important enforcement tools. Without the clause’s broad protections, OSHA would be far less able to respond to emerging hazards or to hold employers accountable for known dangers that fall between the gaps of existing rules. Weakening it would undermine worker protections across industries, though the proposal is likely to face legal challenges. Employers already have broad discretion to define what is “essential” to a job and to set workplace norms, especially in non-unionized settings. This tactic mirrors how some employers skirt their obligations under the Americans with Disabilities Act by insisting, for example, that lifting 50 pounds is an essential function of an office job, or by declaring that tasks incompatible with accommodations are non-negotiable rather than finding creative ways to make work safer and more accessible.

Downplaying the Ongoing Toll of COVID-19

Speaking of COVID-19, the administration also plans to formally remove COVID-19 emergency reporting rules for healthcare settings from federal regulations and end OSHA’s separate system for tracking COVID-related fatalities and hospitalizations. They would revert to the general reporting standards for workplace hazards, under which employers are only required to report hospitalizations if they occur within 24 hours of the workplace exposure. Reverting to OSHA’s baseline reporting standard would effectively erase most workplace-related COVID cases from the record, since most COVID-related hospitalizations happen several days or even weeks after exposure.

Officials argue that the emergency workplace reporting rules are no longer necessary, equating COVID-19 with seasonal flu and other common diseases. But while influenza and other respiratory illnesses are serious and deserve stronger prevention measures than they currently receive, COVID-19 remains more deadly(especially for seniors), more transmissible, and more likely to cause long-term disability. It continues to kill thousands of people in the US each year. It leaves many more with Long COVID, a devastating collection of chronic symptoms following an acute infection that can impair multiple organ systems. COVID-19 is also associated with increased risks of cardiac events, strokes, and other serious health complications months or even years after infection.

Ending separate COVID-19 reporting undermines our ability to track how and where the virus is spreading in workplaces, particularly in healthcare settings where vulnerable patients may be at risk of exposure. Accurate, up-to-date information about COVID-19 in medical facilities is essential to keeping those settings safe, protecting access to care, and preventing outbreaks that disproportionately harm people already at risk. Rather than abandoning COVID-specific reporting, OSHA should strengthen its surveillance of all infectious hazards and adopt a broader, prevention-focused approach to keeping workers and the public safe.

Ignoring Musculoskeletal Injuries

Another proposal would roll back employer reporting requirements for musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), even though these injuries are among the most common and costly workplace hazards. MSDs are not conditions workers simply develop on their own — they are injuries caused or aggravated by poor workplace ergonomics, repetitive motions, heavy lifting, and other physically demanding tasks performed without proper protections.

MSDs are especially widespread in warehousing and transportation, and are the number one cause of injuries among warehousing and “last-mile delivery” workers. These are jobs where inadequate equipment and unsafe work practices routinely put workers at risk. OSHA currently has no dedicated ergonomics standard and relies on the General Duty Clause to cite employers for hazardous conditions. Congress blocked OSHA from issuing an ergonomics rule in 2001 and barred the agency from adopting another similar rule without new explicit legislation. However, dedicated tracking could improve the data necessary for lawmakers to revisit this issue. Eliminating dedicated MSD reporting threatens to further delay progress on one of the most common workplace health and safety issues.

Delaying Heat Protections

Outside of the deregulation plan, there are other indications of the White House’s contempt for worker safety. Amid rising temperatures and a surge in heat-related workplace deaths, the Trump Labor Department has shown little urgency in finalizing OSHA’s proposed heat protections. Under the Biden administration, OSHA drafted a rule with basic safeguards, including access to water, shaded or cooled break areas, and acclimatization protocols when temperatures reach 80°F. At 90°F, the rule would entitle workers to 15-minute breaks every two hours. These modest protections were intended to reduce heat-related illnesses and save lives.

Yet progress has slowed, and the administration’s choice to nominate David Keeling to lead OSHA underscores its disregard for workers’ safety. Keeling previously oversaw health and safety at Amazon and UPS, two companies widely criticized for failing to protect workers from dangerous heat. His nomination reflects the Trump administration’s anti-worker agenda and raises serious concerns about the future of OSHA’s heat protections and other workplace safety initiatives.

At the same time, the administration has already gutted other heat-related efforts, including firing staff at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Healthwho were focused on protecting farm and construction workers from deadly heat. OSHA’s proposed heat rule has not yet been formally withdrawn, and the agency’s National Emphasis Program for Outdoor and Indoor Heat-Related Hazards remains in place through April 2026. But without strong leadership and urgency, these protections risk being delayed, weakened, or quietly abandoned, leaving workers exposed to an increasingly deadly threat.

The Trump Department of Labor’s deregulation push is not about putting workers first. It shields employers from accountability, even when their actions lead to injury, illness, or death. From weakening the General Duty Clause to slow-rolling data collection and protections against heat stress and long-term injuries, the Trump regime’s deregulatory push signals a willingness to sacrifice workers’ health and lives for the sake of corporate profit, as if efficiency requires treating workers as though they’re expendable. This is not about clearing away outdated or unnecessary rules. It chips away at the very principle that workers are entitled to safe and dignified working conditions. It signals to employers that cutting corners is acceptable and that the government will look the other way while workers are exploited and then discarded.

The government has shown it is prepared to gut key safety requirements to boost corporate profits. But workplace protections exist because workers fought for them. They are not favors from employers or politicians, but rights that workers won through struggle and sacrifice. The Trump Labor Department’s agenda makes it clear that those rights can be taken away if the working class becomes complacent. Protecting workers’ health, safety, and dignity depends on holding employers and the government accountable and rejecting the notion that preventable harm is simply part of the job.

This first appeared on CEPR.

Hayley Brown is a Research Associate at the Center for Economic and Policy Research.

Big Spike in “Legionnaires’ Disease” Has

 Public Health Experts Worried

Stewart Lawrence

July 25, 2025

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Image by CDC.

In 1976, thousands of patriotic veterans of the American Legion gathered in Philadelphia for the nation’s Bicentennial Celebration. It should have been a festive occasion, but it soon proved deadly. Nearly 300 attendees contracted an unfamiliar form of pneumonia that left them coughing, sneezing and in many cases, struggling to breathe.

In the end, nearly two dozen of those sufferers died in one of the worst infectious disease outbreaks in the city’s modern history.

An enterprising young Philadelphia Inquirer reporter was on hand to report on the outbreak but no one at the paper knew what to call the illness. After calls to local public health officials proved fruitless, the paper’s editor struck upon a name for the illness: “Legionnaires’ Disease.” It stuck.

Legionnaires’ Disease is said to be fairly rare, with less than 10,000 full-blown cases reported annually. But experts believe the real number may be closer to 70,000, or even higher. That would make Legionnaire’s the leading waterborne-borne infectious disease in the country – but you’d hardly know it from the dearth of attention it’s received.

While about 10% of those that contract the illness die from it, a large number only suffer moderate flu-like symptoms — “Pontiac Fever” — that do not require hospitalization. That’s one reason the illness still exists largely under the radar.

Legionnaire’s is also unique – and seemingly less threatening — because it is not contagious from one person to the other. Individuals are exposed by inhaling bacteria that grows in stagnant water through the air or soil.

Hospitals, spas, gyms and hotels – sometimes their hot tubs and showers, but just as often their HVAC systems — are the most common breeding grounds.

The incidence of Legionnaire’s Disease grew nine times between 2000 and 2017. 2018 saw the highest number of Legionnaires cases in over two decades. There’s some evidence that the incidence rate might have slowed somewhat since then, but sporadic outbreaks spiked in 2024. Public health specialists remain largely baffled by the overall trend — and in the absence of aggressive federal and state prevention efforts, are increasingly worried about what the future may hold.

Origins and causes

It’s generally agreed that America’s decaying infrastructure, coupled with the nation’s steadily ”graying” population. is a major spur to the disease. As older buildings continue to deteriorate, their piping systems become corrupted with large build-ups of water in temperature ranges that facilitate the growth of Legionella. And older Americans, those over 50-years-old, with weaker immune systems, including retirees living in congested facilities, are much more likely to find themselves vulnerable to sudden attack – and death.

These conditions were clearly in play in 1976 when large numbers of seniors attending the same event and staying in the same hotels were struck with the disease. With the US population still aging rapidly, and despite recent efforts to tackle big infrastructure problems (bridges, roads, etc.) legislatively, public and commercial buildings are continuing to deteriorate, so the risk of further Legionella spikes remains.

Ethnicity – or “systemic racism”– is another factor. Arguably, the most dilapidated housing and unsafe water systems are located in low-income minority-dominated neighborhoods. Residents there suffer other disease problems, including asthma, diabetes and poor sleep, disproportionately. Several studies have documented substantially higher incidence rates for Legionnaires disease among minority residents of dense, multi-family inner-city neighborhoods.

Minority families not only have a greater likelihood for Legionella in their homes, they also have fewer resources to spend on costly water testing and filtration systems.

Has “Going Green” Increased the Risk?

One of the ironies – though little discussed – is that modern “green” buildings, which tend to conserve water at moderately warm temperatures, may also be causing the number of Legionella cases to rise. This trend is the opposite of the decay factors associated with dilapidated buildings and infrastructure.

Green-certified or LEED buildings, under the banner of the “One Living Building Challenge,” are designed to be independent of water facilities. These buildings use water-saving equipment to reduce water consumption, in addition to rainwater collection, reservoirs, and other methods. LEED-certified green buildings typically save 20–50% of drinking water, for example. However, such design configurations pose unique challenges and corresponding public health problems. Water-saving measures, by their nature, increase stagnation and overall water age. The problem is found at both the municipal level – the primary water distribution system – and at the building level.

Another potential problem with green-building design is lowering the temperature of the water in the name of “energy-saving.” According to one authoritative study: “Lowering the temperature of water heater outlets could increase the possibility of Legionella detection and the degree of contamination of faucets significantly. Moreover, turning off the recirculation system at night causes stagnation for up to 8 hours or longer. Even in thermal insulation systems, water reaches the desired temperature for Legionella growth during such a long arrest period.”

Other common green-building measures, including the use of heat pumps and solar water heaters, can also lead to water temperatures beneficial for Legionella growth. One authoritative study found that the added storage incurred by a solar water heater in a net zero energy home increased the hot-water age from 1 day to as much as 3 days; on cloudy days, a preheated tank contained water squarely within the optimal temperature range for Legionella growth, the study found.

The upshot? When cities in concentrated urban areas go “green,” they may be inadvertently increasing the risk of generating Legionella growth across an entire swath of new environmentally-sustainable residential units.

Legionella and COVID-19

The massive shutdown of public buildings and commercial facilities, followed by their sudden re-opening after the COVID-19 pandemic has created another potential breeding ground for Legionnaire disease outbreaks. It turns out that the two diseases, in their earliest stages, often resemble each other. Both often start with a fever and a cough, though there may be additional gastrointestinal disturbances with Legionnaires.

Moreover, research strongly suggests that the two diseases are frequently “co-occurring,” which means that one can mask the other, disguising the heightened mortality risk. Increased screening for COVID-19 alone hasn’t necessarily made it easier to detect Legionnaires, which despite heightened risk-awareness among public health professionals, remains mysterious and difficult to predict – and remediate – with precision.

While some national surveillance data has failed to detect a significant spike in Legionella cases in the immediate post-pandemic period, regional and state-level data strongly suggests otherwise. Many of these cases were concentrated in the Northeast, especially New York, or in the Midwest.

For example, in 2021 Michigan’s Health Department recorded a nearly 600% increase in Legionella cases compared to 2020 and a 261% increase from 2019. Similarly, the Chicago government has reported an increase of three times from the cases reported for 2020 and 2019. In 2025 alone, severe outbreaks have been recorded in Las Vegas, NV, Columbus, OH, and most recently, Baltimore, MD.

Maryland has been especially hard hit. Since July 2024, 15 government buildings across the state have tested positive for high levels of Legionella, with the bacteria showing up in July, November, December, January and February — at times recurring in the same buildings – despite treatment.

Remediation efforts hampered

Defective water systems are clearly one root cause of Legionnaires; these water systems, once identified, need to be flushed out – or replaced. Since 2017, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has mandated that health care facilities have water management plans in place to deter the growth of Legionella, the bacteria behind the disease.

However, even good water management plans are not necessarily effective, research shows. In Missouri in 2017, a study of 61 hospitals, nursing homes and hotels in the state found 7 to be infected with Legionella. But all 7 had water management plans in place.

“Legionella finds places within large complex water systems to hide,” says Jonathan Garoutte, administrator of the Missouri health department’s section for environmental public health.

Some observers note that the new CMS guidance, while useful in theory, also lacks enforcement teeth. In fact, many private health care providers have refused to comply, citing the exorbitant costs, and forcing CMS to back down.

In 2020, the agency said it would not formally require health care facilities to test for Legionella or other waterborne pathogens. “Testing protocols are at the discretion of the provider,” the directive said.

In response some public health officials are pushing back and demanding even stronger guidelines.

In a report released in August 2019, the prestigious National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) called for sweeping national protocols to reduce the threat from Legionnaire’s Disease. These included:

Extending the scope and standards of the federal Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) beyond public water supplies to include all public and private buildings vulnerable to Legionella growth

Requiring all public buildings to have a formal water management plan subject to regular inspections and fines for non-compliance.

Mandatory monitoring of water temperatures in all buildings, public and private, including “green” buildings, to deter Legionella growth.

New recommended codes and guidelines for water heating and air cooling systems manufactured in private industry.

Expanding communications to private homeowners on the need to flush their shower and bathroom taps to prevent the build-up of stagnant water.

The NASEM report, the first of its kind, is suggestive of just how seriously federal health authorities now take the potential threat from Legionnaire’s Disease.

In a 2022 op-ed, three health scientists with the Bloomberg School of Public Health called on federal health authorities to take even stronger measures. Noting the ethical duty to protect vulnerable at-risk groups, the authors urged the CDC local health departments and HUD to compel stronger housing inspection guidelines in low-income neighborhoods and to provide dedicated financial and technical support to assess the potential for Legionella poisoning alongside of other notorious home hazards (e.g. lead poisoning).

“The public health community needs to go outside the box to help ensure healthy drinking water,” the authors urged.

Some sectors of private industry are likely to take new steps to comply with these recommended guidelines, if only to reduce the threat of legal liability from a future outbreak. But mandating a tougher enforcement regime nationally may still be years away. The Biden administration, despite growing alarm from public health specialists., largely ignored the brewing Legionella crisis. And his successor, who is decimating federal health agencies, can’t be counted on to address the crisis, either. It’s not even on his radar screen.

Experts say we should expect an uptick in severe Legionella outbreaks in the coming years, some of them fatal, most of which could be prevented with greater policy attention and a renewed commitment of budget resources.

Conclusion

A half century ago, Legionnaires Disease came out of nowhere to shock the public health establishment into recognition of new waterborne infection threats. And yet despite the passage of time, much about the disease remains mysterious. Because its scale is still relatively low, Legionnaires has not received the priority attention it deserves, given the severe mortality risk, if not treated promptly. The continuing decay of old housing infrastructure, the ongoing “graying “ of the US population and the perverse and paradoxical challenge posed by popular “green” building initiatives provide good reason to be concerned about the possibility of future Legionella disease outbreaks. But for diverse reasons, neither of the two parties has chosen to focus federal and state resources on Legionella as a looming public health threat.

And the global prognosis could well be much worse. Legionella regulations and standards in developed countries were created fairly early, with well-established national and state-level surveillance systems already in place. That’s less true in developing countries, such as China, which has yet to list Legionnaires’ disease as a national infection threat. Without ongoing surveillance, and limited public awareness, the risk of transmission escalates. It’s also less true in some major Western nations. In 2024, as in the US, there were severe outbreaks in Australia, New Zealand and Italy. Legionnaires, like COVID, is no respecter of national boundaries.

Surveillance systems need not be technologically advanced to be effective, experts say. In fact, there are multiple low-cost approaches available to detect and quantify Legionella, but there must be the political will to overcome entrenched private interests, bureaucratic obstacles and even ideological resistance (from sustainability advocates) to authorize improved analysis of the sources of Legionella infections.

There is some good news about Legionnaires. Effective treatment is readily available. The two most potent classes of antibiotic available are the macrolides (azithromycin), and the quinolones (ciprofloxacin, levofloxacin, moxifloxacin and gemifloxacin). But sufferers need to obtain the medicine quickly, or the risk of death, especially for those with pre-existing conditions, increases rapidly. That’s especially true in the developing world, where obtaining ready access to expensive medicines at affordable prices – assuming a prompt screening and proper hospital care – is likely to remain a challenge for some time. But a lack of health equity is a persistent US problem, too. Sadly, it may just take another Legionella outbreak on the scale of the 1976 event to finally get policy-makers to focus.

Stewart Lawrence is a long-time Washington, DC-based policy consultant.  He can be reached at stewartlawrence811147@gmail.com.