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The Year in U.S. Occupational i Health & Safety Fall 2017 – Summer 2018 7th Edition By Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH & Kim Krisberg Labor Day, 2018 The Year in U.S. Occupational Health & Safety: 2012 Report Kim Krisberg is a freelance writer who specializes in public health. She was on the staff of the American Public Health Association and continues to write for the association’s newspaper, the Nation’s Health. She contributes several times a week to The Pump Handle blog. Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH, is project director of Beyond OSHA and a lecturer in the Department of Health and Human Performance at Texas State University. She contributes weekly to The Pump Handle blog. The authors thank Liz Borkowski, MPH, for her editorial assistance. The full-page photos in the yearbook were taken on Dec. 5-7, 2017 at the National Conference on Worker Safety and Health in Baltimore, MD (COSHCON17). Appearing is: Chee Chang, International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT); Ella Ellerbe, UFCW Local 1208 in Tar Heel, NC; Kayla Kelechian, Worker Center of Central New York; Manuel Pérez, Cincinnati Interfaith Workers Center; Jim Moran, PhilaPOSH; and Steve Kreins, BLET 236/ IBT in Portland, OR. This report was produced with funding from the Public Welfare Foundation, but the views expressed in it are those of the authors alone. Graphic Design: TheresaWellingDesign.com Table of Contents Introduction and Overview I. The Federal Government and Occupational Health and Safety ......................... 1 OSHA, MSHA, and NIOSH ................................................................................................................3 Poultry and Meatpacking Workers Challenge USDA Policies .................................................... 10 Chemical Safety Board and EPA ................................................................................................... 14 II. Addressing Occupational Health and Safety at the State and Local Levels ... 21 State-Specific Victories and Setbacks .......................................................................................... 21 COSH Groups: Fighting for and Winning Safer Workplaces ...................................................... 24 Hurricane Recovery and the COSH Network ............................................................................. 30 Worker Memorial Week 2018 ....................................................................................................... 32 III. News Coverage of Worker Health and Safety Topics ...................................... 37 National and Local Reporting ....................................................................................................... 37 #OurTurnatWork ............................................................................................................................ 44 The MeToo Movement .................................................................................................................. 46 IV. New Research on Worker Health and Safety ................................................... 49 Peer-Reviewed Literature ............................................................................................................. 49 Reports from Non-Profit Organizations ...................................................................................... 55 The Year Ahead ........................................................................................................ 61 Bibliography of Peer-Reviewed Research on Occupational Health & Safety Topics (August 2017 through July 2018) ............. 62 ii The Year in U.S. Occupational Health & Safety: 2018 Yearbook Introduction and Overview hile barely a thing is getting done in Congress, the Trump cabinet is busy advancing its anti-regulatory agenda. As many expected, the last year saw a continued rollback of Wworker health and safety protections, even as annual worker fatalities reach their high- est rates since 2010. Just before publication of this yearbook, the advocates, researchers, workers, and officials administration made headlines with two of can use as a source of education, connection, the year’s more egregious worker safety roll- and motivation. backs. In late July, OSHA proposed eliminating Released on Labor Day, the report, which spans Obama-era injury reporting rules that require August 2017 through July 2018, documents large employers to electronically submit illness some of the most notable events, legislation, and injury data — data they are already col- news stories, and research of the last year. In lecting. the following pages, you’ll read about: That last detail made it hard to argue that the • Action on the federal level, including a rule — which would give researchers critical judicial victory to secure OSHA’s silica stan- insights into how to prevent workplace injury dard and a proposal to rollback chemical and death — was a burden on employers. So plant safety rules. instead, the Trump administration is arguing that the rollback is intended to protect the • Action on the state and local levels, includ- privacy of injured workers. Advocates, includ- ing new workers’ compensation protec- ing former OSHA officials, quickly called the tions for firefighters in Florida and New 1 administration out, describing the move as a Hampshire, as well as a new regulation in clear attempt to shield irresponsible employers California for hotel housekeepers. from embarrassing scrutiny. • Outstanding news reporting on worker Meanwhile, the Environmental Protection health and safety, including investigations Agency (EPA) proposed a framework to allow into the dangerous world of garbage col- for new uses of asbestos. Even for the Trump lection, injuries at Tesla, and the conditions administration — hardly an ally of worker facing night shift workers at meatpacking health and safety — it was hard to believe. plants. EPA’s own staffers objected to and expressed • New worker safety research and reports, shock over the proposal, according to internal including data on injuries among janitorial emails obtained by The New York Times. workers and temp workers, post-traumatic The two proposals are just a small sample of stress disorder among prison workers, and the administration’s attempts to scale back the impact of rest break rules on construc- worker protections. It’s dismaying and frustrat- tion workers. ing to watch, but it’s also familiar territory for The following pages also include highlights advocates who are used to the steep climb from this year’s Worker Memorial Week and toward justice on the job. So it’s with that in coverage of grassroots actions from COSH mind that we present the seventh annual “The groups, both of which serve as reminders that Year in U.S. Occupational Health and Safety,” despite what’s happening in Washington, D.C., our attempt to document and preserve the workers won’t be deterred from fighting for year’s successes, challenges, and losses. This justice in their communities. To download a report is not totally exhaustive and we had copy of this year’s report as well as its previous to make tough choices on what to include, editions, visit https://bit.ly/2MZVRwq. but our goal was to create a “yearbook” that Introduction and Overview 2 The Year in U.S. Occupational Health & Safety: 2018 Yearbook The Federal Government and Occupational Health and Safety he Trump administration made its mark over the last 12 months with a proposal to reorganize the government, including plans to merge the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and THealth Administration (OSHA), Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), and Wage and Hour division into a single enforcement agency; consolidate the National Institute for Occupa- tional Safety and Health (NIOSH) under the National Institutes of Health; and eliminate the Chemi- cal Safety Board. Congress — which would have to approve any such reorganization — mostly shrugged at the plan, but it did underscore the President’s disdain for government agencies and their role in protecting workers and communities from unchecked business interests. Within agencies that have responsibility for since 1994. Mugno’s confirmation hearing was worker health, appointees continue to push for held in early December 2017. Mugno told Sena- less regulation while advocates and researchers tors that safety is a “team sport” and if con- raise concerns about injuries and illnesses that firmed he intends to consult with career staff to occur with alarming frequency under current make decisions. As of August 15, 2018, Mugno safeguards. The U.S. Senate has yet to confirm had not been confirmed by the Senate. The an assistant secretary to head OSHA, but that highest ranking political appointee at OSHA has not stopped the Labor Department from is deputy assistant secretary Loren Sweatt. She proposing a rollback of an injury reporting was appointed to the post in July 2017 and rule. Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics previously worked for Republican leadership released in December indicated the annual on the House Committee on Education and 3 rate of fatal injuries reached a six-year high. the Workforce’s Subcommittee on Workforce A move by MSHA to weaken requirements Protections. for pre-shift safety checks is the subject of a lawsuit brought by the United Mine Workers and the United Steelworkers. Alarming stud- ies by NIOSH researchers reveal an epidemic of black lung disease in central Appalachia. Public health and worker advocates were hopeful that amendments to the Toxic Substances Control Act

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