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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OSHA Holds Maersk Line Limited Accountable for Whistleblower’s Firing

Mike Schuler

July 20, 2023

The U.S. Department of Labor has found that Maersk Line Limited (MLL), the US-flagged shipping arm of Danish conglomerate A.P. Moller-Maersk, violated whistleblower provisions of the Seaman’s Protection Act by suspending and later terminating a seamen who reported safety concerns to U.S. Coast Guard.

MLL says it disagrees with the decision and plans to appeal.

The Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has ordered MLL to reinstate the seaman and pay $457,759 in back wages, interest, compensatory damages, along with $250,000 in punitive damages.

The Seaman’s Protection Act allows seamen to report safety concerns or violations of maritime laws directly to the USCG and cooperate with federal officials at any time, regardless of company policy.

“Federal law protects a seaman’s right to report safety concerns to federal regulatory agencies, a fact every maritime industry employer and vessel owner must know,” said OSHA Regional Administrator Eric S. Harbin in Dallas. “Failure to recognize these rights can instill a culture of intimidation that could lead to disastrous or deadly consequences. The order underscores our commitment to enforcing whistleblower rights that protect seamen.”

OSHA investigators learned the seaman reported safety concerns about MLL’s containership Safmarine Mafadi to the U.S. Coast Guard in December 2020, including issues with lifeboat gear, unsupervised trainees causing spills, leaks in the starboard tunnel causing flooding, and rusted and corroded deck sockets needing repair. The seamen also reported alcohol consumption by crew members.

Maersk responded by suspending the seaman that same month before terminating them in March 2021, for making the complaint without notifying the company first.

“The U.S. Coast Guard is committed to partnering with OSHA in protecting whistleblowers and to vigorously enforce the Seaman’s Protection Act. We encourage everyone within the maritime domain to support and abide by these protections,” said Rear Admiral and Assistant Commandant for Prevention Policy for the U.S. Coast Guard Wayne Arguin.

Maersk Line Limited, headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia, operates the largest U.S. flag fleet in commercial service. The company employs around 700 U.S. mariners.

In addition to paying backpay and wages, MLL must also change its policy to allow seamen to contact regulatory agencies before notifying the company.

MLL said it disagrees with and is disappointed by OSHA’s “flawed” ruling:

“Maersk Line, Limited (MLL) disagrees with, and is disappointed by the Regional Administrator’s opinion in this case and fully intends to appeal this flawed decision. MLL is proud of its safety culture and its highest priority remains the safety and security of our mariners and shoreside colleagues. MLL cooperated fully with the U.S. Coast Guard in its investigation of these same events and the U.S. Coast Guard’s official report “[i]dentified no evidence that the vessel/crew was not taking appropriate actions to address any safety or equipment concerns.” The U.S. Coast Guard’s report further concluded that it discovered no evidence of violations of law or regulation. The U.S. Coast Guard’s report was in addition to an arbitrator’s decision who considered the same allegations made by this individual which found that the individual’s “sole motivation” was not safety but an “effort to thwart” a disciplinary action against him, concluding, “I find there was no need for urgent action on December 29, and Grievant knew it…In this light, Grievant’s complaints to the Coast Guard were neither reasonable nor in good faith.”

Nevertheless, the case highlights the importance of whistleblower protections for mariners and the need for a transparent safety culture in the maritime industry.

OSHA enforces whistleblower provisions for over 20 statutes that protect employees who report violations of various workplace safety and health, environmental, financial reform, and other laws.

Maersk Line Ltd Ordered to Rehire Chief Mate Who Tipped Off Coast Guard

File image courtesy MLL

PUBLISHED JUL 20, 2023 10:30 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

 

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has ordered Maersk's American division to pay an officer more than $700,000 after it dismissed him for telling the U.S. Coast Guard about alleged deficiencies aboard the boxship Maersk Tennessee (ex name Safmarine Mafadi). 

On December 29, 2020, after a disagreement with his captain about alleged drinking on board, the chief mate aboard the Safmarine Mafadi reported a list of concerns about the ship's condition to the Coast Guard. According to the chief mate, the ship's lifeboat block and releasing gear were inoperable, crew members were drinking or in possession of alcohol on the ship, the emergency fire pump was broken, trainees were standing watch unsupervised, and the cargo hold bilge system was causing flooding. 

A Coast Guard inspection team came aboard at 1745 hours the same day to look at the ship. The inspectors made note of a leak in the fire main in the starboard tunnel, a cracked safety rail, and lifeboat blocks in need of replacement.

As soon as the inspection was over, the captain suspended the chief mate and ordered him off the ship, according to OSHA. The mate was fired three months later for reporting problems to the Coast Guard "without discussing the issue(s) with the Ship Superintendent, Fleet Group, and the Marine Standards team," in violation of written company policy. 

OSHA ruled that Maersk Line Limited's policy and its decision to fire the chief mate both violated the U.S. Seaman's Protection Act. The act allows merchant mariners to report problems aboard a U.S.-flagged vessel to the U.S. Coast Guard, without first going up the chain of command within their company - even if the company says that this is prohibited.

"Federal law protects a seaman's right to report safety concerns to federal regulatory agencies, a fact every maritime industry employer and vessel owner must know," said OSHA Regional Administrator Eric S. Harbin. "Failure to recognize these rights can instill a culture of intimidation that could lead to disastrous or deadly consequences."

OSHA determined that if the mate had not complained to the Coast Guard, he probably would have been promoted to master, based on his performance evaluations and related correspondence. It characterized his dismissal as an "illegal action" which had caused the mate "extreme hardship, financial stress, and suffering."

In its response, Maersk Line Limited argued that the ISM Code requires crewmembers to report issues up the chain of command, and it asserted that the mate had made the report in bad faith. It noted that the Coast Guard had cleared the ship to sail after the inspection. 

OSHA has ordered Maersk Line Limited to reinstate the chief mate, promote him to the rank of master, and pay him about $460,000 in back pay, interest and compensatory damages, plus attorney's fees. The agency added the maximum possible punitive damages award ($250,000) to counteract what it described as the "chilling effect already present from Respondent’s illegal policy," and it ordered MLL to revise its internal rules for reporting.

Maersk Line Limited has the option to appeal OSHA's decision to an administrative law judge. 

"The U.S. Coast Guard is committed to partnering with OSHA in protecting whistleblowers and to vigorously enforce the Seaman's Protection Act. We encourage everyone within the maritime domain to support and abide by these protections," said Assistant Commandant for Prevention Policy Rear Adm. Wayne Arguin in a statement. 

OSHA kills emergency anti-COVID standard on order of right-wing Supreme Court

January 26, 2022 BY PAI

AP
WASHINGTON (PAI)—The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has permanently yanked its Emergency Temporary Standard requiring firms with at least 100 workers to develop and implement plans to protect employees against the coronavirus. But it’ll keep working on a permanent standard to achieve that goal.

OSHA’s January 26 decision obeys the January 13 ruling by the GOP-named six-person majority on the U.S. Supreme Court against the ETS. Those justices said OSHA exceeded its authority because the ETS is supposed to apply only to workplaces, not the wider society. The wide application made the ETS a key part of the Democratic Biden administration’s campaign to curb the virus’s spread.

The justices also left OSHA, for now, with the vague and hard-to-enforce “General Duty Clause” as its only weapon against firms that don’t protect their workers against the modern-day plague.

In its announcement, OSHA continued to urge employers to voluntarily protect their workers. OSHA’s ETS would have protected some 84 million workers, including front line workers such as meat packers, teachers and delivery truck drivers, by requiring masking and vaccinations, or—for workers who refuse vaccines—passing weekly anti-coronavirus tests.

Another several million workers, in health care, remain covered by another standard ordering hospitals and nursing homes to protect them or lose Medicare and Medicaid money. The justices, by a 5-4 vote, left that requirement in place.

“Although OSHA is withdrawing the vaccination and testing ETS as an enforceable emergency temporary standard, the agency is not withdrawing the ETS as a proposed rule,” it said. That point was buried deep in the original 253-page ETS. “The agency is prioritizing its resources to focus on finalizing a permanent Covid-19 Healthcare Standard,” it added, using the virus’s official name.

The justices dumped the ETS after an emergency Supreme Court hearing January 7 on both rules. The so-called National Federation of Independent Business, a key cog in the radical right, and 27 companies all of which had “Christian” in their names, sued OSHA.

And in oral arguments before the justices, their attorney candidly admitted preserving corporate revenues and profits was a key motivator of the challenge to the ETS. He claimed imposing it would drive up costs as droves of workers would leave.

“After evaluating the court’s decision, OSHA is withdrawing the Vaccination and Testing ETS as an enforceable emergency temporary standard,” the agency’s Federal Register notice said. It also dumped the public comment period on the withdrawal as “impracticable, unnecessary, and contrary to the public interest… because it would unnecessarily delay the resolution of ambiguity for employers and workers alike.

“This becomes effective immediately both because there is good cause and because the action removes a requirement on the regulated community,” i.e. businesses, OSHA stated. Its decision upset the labor-backed National Council on Occupational Safety and Health.

“Covid-19 vaccines are safe, effective and an important way to reduce the risk of the deadly virus that is spreading rapidly throughout U.S. workplaces,” Jessica Martinez, a public health specialist and the council’s co-Executive Director, emailed to Press Associates Union News Service.

“It’s extremely unfortunate the Supreme Court, which operates with strict Covid protocols, denied similar protections to tens of millions of U.S. workers,” Martinez continued.

“It’s vitally important–literally a matter of life and death–that OSHA proceed with implementing permanent standards to protect all workers against Covid-19 and other infectious diseases, not just for health care workers but for workers in all industries. The agency must also enforce current rules that require all employers to provide a workplace free from known hazards.”

National Nurses United, whose RNs are on the frontlines of the fight against the coronavirus, had denounced the High Court’s ruling yanking protections from all other workers, while lauding protections for health care workers.

“At a time when we’re closing in on 850,000 Americans having died in the worst global pandemic in a century, and when infections and hospitalizations are continuing to soar, it is the obligation of our public agencies to require and enforce essential public safety measures to protect the lives and health of all American workers,” NNU President Zenei Triunfo-Cortez, RN, said then.

In a prior letter, United Food and Commercial Workers President Marc Perrone urged CEOs of large grocers, retailers and warehouse firms whom his front-line members toil for to protect their workers, regardless of the fate of OSHA’s anti-virus rule. Many haven’t.

“With the new winter surge and emergence of the Omicron variant, it is critical for our nation’s largest retail and food employers–including Amazon, Walmart, Kroger, and Whole Foods–to take immediate steps to protect essential workers and members of the public,” he wrote them last month.

“Waiting for this pandemic to once more spiral out of control is not an option. These actions must be taken now to help reduce the risk of more essential worker infections and deaths.”

Calls and emails for comment to the AFL-CIO’s job safety and health department, the National Employment Law Project and the National Partnership for Women and Families were not immediately returned.


CONTRIBUTOR

PAI
Press Associates Union News Service provides national coverage of news affecting workers, including activism, politics, economics, legislation in Congress and actions by the White House, federal agencies and the courts that affect working people. Mark Gruenberg is Editor in chief and owner of Press Associates Union News Service, Washington, D.C.

U$A

Extreme heat is holding the economy back. Don't expect federal legislation to help any time soon.

Noah Sheidlower

INSIDER
Aug 4, 2023

David McNew/Getty Images

There are no federal regulations protecting workers in extreme heat.

Biden announced plans to protect workers last week with more enforcement of heat-safety violations.

But this kind of legislation takes years to implement, and some states have even reversed similar laws.

Millions of workers in the US have been struggling to do their jobs as the nation experiences a fierce heat wave — and new legislation may not be coming anytime soon.

Though the Biden administration has proposed federal protections, none have been finalized. This is partly due to opposition to similar proposals over the last few years from business lobbyists including construction and agriculture groups at the federal and state levels. Some argued in statements over the last two years that employers are already practicing fair labor standards and could be stretched thin if workers are allowed to take more time off.

Marc Freedman, vice president of employment policy at the United States Chamber of Commerce, told The New York Times, "I don't think anyone is dismissing the hazard of overexposure to heat," though he asked, "Is an OSHA standard the right way to do it? A lot of employers are already taking measures, and the question will be, what more do they have to do?"

Algernon Austin, director for race and economic justice at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, told Insider his reading of the situation "is that companies are focused on short-term, quarterly profits." He added that if companies "reduce the number of hours that workers are working because of extreme heat, then they're going to have lower output, and if they have lower output, then they're going to have lower sales and lower profits."

Research shows heat-related productivity losses are holding the economy back, as employees are working fewer hours and working at slower rates.

Last week, President Joe Biden announced new plans to protect workers from extreme heat, including directing the Labor Department to issue a Hazard Alert and better enforce heat-safety violations and inspections at agriculture and construction sites. As part of these plans, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration committed to invest as much as $7 million to improve the detail and accuracy of weather forecasts. In California, Colorado, and Washington, the Department of the Interior is investing $152 million on climate resilience and water storage efforts.

More than 50 Democratic and independent lawmakers introduced a bill in the House and Senate last week that would push the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to develop interim heat safety standards.

"The number 1 weather-related killer is heat. Six hundred people die annually from its effects — more than from floods, hurricanes and tornadoes in America combined," Biden said last week.

While OSHA has been working to create a national standard for workplace heat-safety rules, that process often takes years — and sometimes decades — to finalize. OSHA, which has recently increased its heat-related inspections, began developing heat standards in 2021, though some regulatory experts believe OSHA is still over two years away from putting into place a final plan.

Some Democrats have considered these plans modest, as 112 Democratic Congressmen called on the Biden administration to develop heat safety regulations for indoor and outdoor workplaces, which include protections such as water, rest breaks, and medical trainings.

"These heat waves are dangerous, they are life-threatening, and – with the devastating effects of climate change – they are only getting worse," Senator Bernie Sanders, who signed the letter, said in a statement. "I urge the administration to move quickly to create this national heat standard to protect workers on the job.

Still, with no federal regulations that protect workers in hot conditions, many workers are left to decide whether to continue subjecting themselves to extreme heat to make ends meet or reduce their hours to stay safe. Some companies have already provided more resources to employees such as cold water or new uniforms, though without nationwide regulations for water breaks or reduced hours, some workers have no choice but to brave the high temperatures.

States haven't made much progress on protecting workers, and some have even rolled back heat safety standards

Only a handful of states have passed heat-related labor protections, a perhaps surprising statistic given that in 2020, heat exposure cost the US economy around $100 billion from loss of productivity. This value is expected to grow to $500 billion by 2050. Last year, business groups sued Oregon over extreme heat worker protection rules, arguing the state overstepped its statutory authority in requiring employers to pay workers during breaks.

Texas, which has recently rolled back some legislation mandating water breaks, contributes to nearly a third of the nation's labor productivity losses, or around $30 billion.

In states including California, Michigan, and Georgia, Amazon workers have gone on strike over the company's labor practices, partly in response to complaints about heat exposure and lack of air conditioning in delivery vans. Around 340,000 UPS workers went on strike in part because of extreme heat — between 2015 and 2022, at least 143 UPS employees were hospitalized for heat-related issues, according to the company's Occupational Safety and Health Administration records. UPS agreed to install air conditioning in most delivery vehicles in June.

This all comes after years of proposals for workplace safety rules, such as a "national emphasis program" for heat inspections and "unprogrammed inspections" by OSHA. The Asuncion Valdivia Heat Illness and Fatalities Prevention Act of 2022 called for "a standard that requires employers to implement certain measures for protecting workers from heat stress and related illnesses or injuries," though Congress never took it up.


After the OSHA announcement in 2021, some powerful lobbyist groups spoke out against the proposed changes.

"As OSHA moves forward with this process, it is imperative that OSHA avoids placing duplicative or overly burdensome regulations on our nation's producers," wrote the American Farm Bureau Federation in comments after the announcement. The AFBF added that "variances in agricultural work and climate" could make it difficult for OSHA to create solutions without imposing "onerous burdens on farmers and ranchers that will lead to economic losses."

The National Demolition Association responded that "issues of heat exposure and the means to address it on the variety of construction worksites across the country are extremely complex," adding that defining what "excessive heat" means "depends upon personal characteristics."

However, some experts believe that investments to protect workers, such as rearranging shifts or changing uniform colors, pay off since workers can be more productive in the longer run.

"The business community really needs to recognize that this is a real problem that you can't hide behind, that you absolutely have to address," Austin said. "You might as well start addressing it now rather than putting it off until you're forced to."

The Labor Department only fines businesses on average $8,500 when a worker dies from a heat-related illness

Katie Hawkinson

INSIDER
Jul 16, 2023

The Department of Labor fines businesses an average of $8,539.98 for the heat-related death of an employee. 

Andrew Kelly/Reuters


The average federal fine for a US employer, when a worker dies from heat-related illness, is $8,539.98.

Some state-level fines are closer to $20,000, but these are still low penalties for loss of life, one expert says.

Some heat-related deaths in the United States resulted in no penalties at all.

As record-setting heat consumes parts of the United States this summer, people who work outdoors are facing serious threats to their lives.

Heat-related illness and death were already becoming more common among workers in the United States. The three-year average of heat-related worker deaths has doubled since 1990, a 2021 report from NPR and Columbia Journalism Investigations revealed.

And with the death of US Postal Service carrier Eugene Gates Jr. last month in Dallas on a day when the heat index reached 115 degrees Fahrenheit, many workers and their families are on edge. A 46-year-old construction worker named Felipe Pascual also died in June in Houston from heat stroke.

Businesses must stop placing profit and efficiency over worker safety, said Richard Gleason, an associate teaching professor on workplace safety and occupational health at the University of Washington, especially in excessive heat.

"There has got to be some extra emphasis on responsibility and liability," he said.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, meanwhile, is not adding much punitive incentive for companies to do more to protect workers in the heat. According to federal data reported between 2017 and 2022, the Department of Labor fines businesses governed by federal OSHA regulations an average of just $8,539.98 if an employee dies because of heat-related illness. These fines are for the workplace hazards — for example, insufficient water breaks — that caused the fatality.

Several individual penalties were as low as $2,000, according to Gleason.

"$2,000 — come on, that's crazy," Gleason told Insider. "And that's typical for federal OSHA."

There are 22 states that have state-run OSHA plans that govern both public and private employees. State OSHA plans tend to be more proactive when creating workplace safety rules and have more inspectors who can monitor conditions, Gleason said.

"They have to be at least as strict as [federal] OSHA, but they can be better and safer," Gleason said.

Some incidents in states governed by federal regulations — such as an unnamed employee who died of heat exhaustion while working with a coke oven in West Virginia — resulted in no fines at all. The lowest non-zero fine came out of Wisconsin in 2022: The federal office required a business to pay just $1,000 for the heat-related death of 37-year-old Thomas Linkous, a construction worker who died of heat stroke. The case is still open as of July 15, so the company — Farrell Quality Carpentry Inc. — can still appeal that penalty, meaning it may end up even lower.

"The codes and penalties are very small," Gleason said.

The average fine for states with the strictest state-level OSHA penalties — like California, Washington, and Oregon — tends to be closer to $20,000, according to Gleason. But, Gleason said, "Even $20,000 is pretty low when you think about it."

Gleason also noted that federal OSHA fines for worker deaths are significantly smaller than that of other federal agencies.

"The average Environmental Protection Agency penalty is 10 times that of federal OSHA for a worker that dies," Gleason said. "It's pretty weird, if you ask me."

One major barrier to progress includes the slow pace at which the federal OSHA office can change its policies, Gleason said. He estimated it would take 10 years to update its heat-related safety guidelines, while states can do so far more quickly — within a single legislative session, even.


"The states can be a little more efficient, they can change their own rules," Gleason said.

The Department of Labor declined to comment on the record for this story.