Farmworker Exclusion from Workers' Compensation Coverage Deemed Unconstitutional

N.M. Field and Dairy Laborers Win Right To Workers’ Comp—Court Calls Exemption ‘Absurd’

BY JOSEPH SORRENTINO

New Mexico dairy farm work can be hazardous.   (Joseph Sorrentino)

The New Mexico Court of Appeals ruled in June that excluding field and ranch workers from workers’ comp protection is unconstitutional. It was the second victory for New Mexico’s farmworkers in less than a year—and that’s big news in a low-wage sector made up primarily of immigrant workers, where victories tend to be few and far between.

The first victory came last August when farmworkers finally started getting paid the correct minimum wage. Farmworkers were routinely, and incorrectly, paid the federal minimum when they were entitled to the New Mexican minimum wage, which is 25 cents per hour higher. It only amounts to $8 or $10 a week, but it is significant for these workers, who are among the poorest in the United States.

And now, after six years of legal battles, the state Court of Appeals has upheld a District Court ruling that New Mexico’s farmworkers are not to be excluded from workers’ comp protection.

Read the full article here.

Ground to Dust: Fracking, Silicosis, and the Politics of Public Health

Attempts to block new standards for exposure to silica dust highlight tensions between public health and corporate power in America’s fracking boom.

In the bitter cold, residents of North Dakota protest against fracking in February 2014. Photograph: http://bsnorrell.blogspot.co.uk/

Michael Halpern

Wednesday 15 July 2015 12.27 EDT Last modified on Thursday 16 July 2015 11.18 EDT

Let me tell you an outrageous yet all-too-common tale of how public health science is politicized to serve powerful interests. There are many poison pills attached to a recent funding bill passed by a U.S. Senate committee, but none taste as bitter to scientists and advocates of worker safety as a provision that would prevent the government from protecting workers from exposure to silica dust.
Silica dust is created through construction, mining and other industries that grind down rock, concrete, masonry and sand. Over-exposure to the dust causes an irreversible scarring of the lungs called silicosis. Approximately 2.2 million American workers are exposed to this hazard, and this contributed to the death of 1,437 Americans from silicosis between 2001 and 2010.
It also leads to other diseases. The U.K. Health and Safety Executive estimates that around 600 British people die each year from lung cancer associated with silica dust exposure. Yet with the proper equipment, this disease is completely preventable. We don’t need one single death. Not one. 

Read the full article here.

Nurses Decrying Workplace Violence

Unions representing nurses and hotel workers are raising awareness at the CAL/OSHA office and trying to get legislation that will reduce workplace violence.

Many people don't realize just how bad the problem is for nurses and other health care workers, as well as those working in housekeeping, but according to this article, "more than 19,000 healthcare workers report being assaulted annually or one every 30 minutes."

Read the full article.

Newest Studies Show Significant Health Risks from Office Photocopiers

Find out more at this health and safety website.

Gouvernor Cuomo Unveils Task Force to Protect Immigrant Workers

Here

E-Waste Recycling Workersat Risk for Take-Home Toxins

Green doesn't always mean safe.  Workers in recycling centers can be exposed to hazardous material in levels that can affect their helath and the health of their family members, if the residue remains on their clothes, when they return home at the end of the day.  Click here for the full article.

Injured on the Job?: An Employee's Guide to Workers' Compensation in New York State

Here is the link to the New York State Guide for workers to navigate the Workers' Comp System.

A Tattered Safety Net for Workers

For many chemicals, legal exposure limits carry high cancer risks

OSHA’s limits for known or likely human carcinogens almost always fall far short of protections the government seeks to give the general public. That’s according to an analysis by Adam M. Finkel — a former OSHA health regulatory divisions director now at the University of Pennsylvania — and the Center for Public Integrity.

The analysis estimates excess risk over time: If 1,000 workers are exposed to a chemical’s legal limit over their entire careers, how many will likely get cancer as a result? OSHA considers a 1-in-1,000 risk to be “clearly significant.” Below, compare estimated risks at OSHA limits to the risks at often-tighter “Threshold Limit Values” recommended by the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists, a nonprofit supported in part by industry. The method isn’t exact — no risk calculation is — but it shows how much hazards can vary under the law. (Details about how and where such chemicals are used, meanwhile, are partial rather than comprehensive because such information is limited.) Read about our methodology here.

Click Here for the full article.

Keeping Nurses Safe on the Job Is not Only the Right Thing to Do, but it Saves Big Money

A new report released by Public Citizen looks at health providers who use safe patient handling equipment consistently and who have successfully reduced worker injuries, leading to big cost savings.  Click here for the full report.

OSHA Initiative to Help Keep Nurses Safer

OSHA To Go After Hospitals For Ergonomic Hazards                    

By VERONICA VOLK 

Hospitals could be penalized by the federal Occupation Safety and Hazard Administration for risking injury to nurses. OSHA announced it intends to issue fines for ergonomic hazards in hospitals. The nursing profession has the highest rate of on-the-job injuries of any other in the country.

Jennifer Chesebro is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Nurse Practitioning at Brockport. She says she thinks hospitals want to do more to protect nurses, and this push from OSHA might incentivize them to do so.

"I think this encouragement, this great website OSHA has talking about how important it is, and how important it is to try to protect our nurses from all the injuries, how many injuries there really are, and things that can be done to help: I hope that makes a difference. I think it might."

Chesebro says she sees physical therapists used in training new hospital employees, but that does not go far enough. OSHA announced it will partly focus on whether or not hospitals utilize equipment to help nurses move patients.