High Court in Japan Holds Government Negligent for Asbestos

For the first time ever, a Court has held a government liable for the negligent use of asbestos. Today's post is shared from Koyoto News kyodonews.jp and from Laurie Kazan-Allen #Ibasecretariat

The Osaka High Court on Wednesday became Japan's first high court to hold the government responsible for failing to prevent workers from being exposed to harmful asbestos.
In a suit seeking 700 million yen in damages filed by 58 plaintiffs including former asbestos spinning mill workers in southern Osaka Prefecture, the court also awarded more in damages than the Osaka District Court had in an earlier ruling.
The Osaka High Court ordered the government to pay 340 million yen in damages, nearly twice the 180 million yen awarded by the district court in March 2012.
Read the complete article at http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2013/12/263418.html

Found on

Related articles

• Asbestos and Cigarettes (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• "Trying to Make a Living" - Rebecca's Story (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• "Scientists Who Help Asbestos Industry Sell Asbestos" by Kathleen Ruff (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• A Twist of Fate: Italian Asbestos Victims' Investigator Finds Evidence Stephan Schmidheiny's Avina Foundation Donated to Yale University by Linda Reinstein (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Driving instructor killed by asbestos exposure in 1960s (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• South Lanarkshire Council asbestos ruling 'ends uncertainty' (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)

Company Is Scolded for Mistakes at Fukushima

Companies need to be honest with both their and employees and the public about safety issues. The age of conspiracy one would think is long passed. This post is shared from the NY Times and highlights the failings of corporate transparency. In an unusually public scolding, Japan’s nuclear watchdog agency criticized the operator of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant on Friday for making mistakes that allowed radioactive water to leak into the Pacific Ocean, and ordered it to fix the problems quickly. The agency, the Nuclear Regulation Authority, summoned the president of the operator, the Tokyo Electric Power Company, to explain the accidents and spills that have plagued the cleanup of the Fukushima Daiichi plant since it suffered a triple meltdown two years ago. In the most recent mishap, workers spilled 114 gallons of contaminated water this week while trying to fill an already overflowing tank, said the company, known as Tepco. It said some of the water might have run into the ocean. In a public hearing, an official at the regulatory agency, Katsuhiko Ikeda, dressed down Tepco’s president, saying the problems raised serious questions about the company’s ability to operate its other nuclear plants, like the huge Kashiwazaki-Kariwa facility, which Tepco wants to restart. “That these leaks occurred due to human error is very regrettable,” Mr. Ikeda told the president, Naomi Hirose. “The failure to make rudimentary checks reflects a clear deterioration in the ability to manage the site.” Mr. Ikeda said Tepco should consider emergency measures like bringing in workers from its other nuclear plants to help improve the cleanup. Such blunt and direct...

[Click here to see the rest of this post]

Found on

Related articles

• NRA to Tepco: Fix water mess, even add workers (japantimes.co.jp)
• Japan's Nuclear Regulator not happy with Fukushima Plant's Operator (nuclear-news.net)
• 'Significantly Deteriorating': Fukushima disaster "causing irreversible radioactive damage" says top nuclear official - Tepco now admits it's "affecting the environment" (VIDEO) (enenews.com)
• Fukushima Watch: Watchdog Says Tepco's Priority Shouldn't Be On Reactor Restarts (blogs.wsj.com)
• TEPCO says was reluctant to worry public over leak (bigstory.ap.org)
• Japan: NRA to Tepco: Fix water mess, even add workers (crofsblogs.typepad.com)
• Top Nuclear Official: Fukushima 'Causing Irreversible Radioactive Damage To The Environment' - TEPCO's Management Standards 'Extremely Low' And 'Significantly Deteriorating' (infiniteunknown.net)

Worker error causes Fukushima leak

Today's post from the BBC.

This aerial photo shows the storage tank, fifth from left at left plot, which was found to be overflowing, at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant at Okuma town in Fukushima prefecture,...

Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant has a new leak of radioactive water after workers overfilled a storage tank, its operator says.

The workers miscalculated the tank's capacity as it was tilted on unlevel ground, plant operator Tepco said.

It said around 430 litres (100 gallons) of water may have leaked from the tank, and could have flowed into the sea.

The plant has experienced several leaks since being crippled by an earthquake and tsunami in 2011.

One of the largest leaks took place in August, when Tepco discovered a leak of at least 300 tonnes of highly radioactive water at a different part of the plant.

The latest leak was discovered by workers late on Wednesday.

Tepco official Masayuki Ono said: "We would like to apologise that we have to announce that we've had another leak in our tanks today."

"This is partly because we've had to fill our tanks to the brim in order to deal with the difficult management of rain water overflow following [a typhoon]," he added.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said that Tepco had failed to deal with the leaks successfully.

"It's actually leaking so of course we can't say that [Tepco] have been properly dealing with the issue. It should not be leaking at all," he said.

The 2011 disaster knocked out cooling systems to the nuclear plant's reactors, three of which melted down.

Water is now being pumped in to cool the reactors, but storing the resultant large quantities of radioactive water has proved a...


[Click here to see the rest of this post]




Found on

Related articles

• TEPCO Official: Fukushima is Out of Control (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Radiation Near Japanese Plant's Tanks Suggests New Leaks (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Fukushima radiation levels spike, company says (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Nuclear Operator Raises Alarm on Crisis (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• How Surveillance Changes Behavior: A Restaurant Workers Case Study (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Will Labor's Marriage With Industry Result in A Major Workers' Compensation Opt-Out Movement? (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)

TEPCO Official: Fukushima is Out of Control

International corporate responsibility for worker safety has worldwide ramifications. Today's post was shared by WCBlog and comes from www.commondreams.org

Fukushima nuclear plant in the immediate aftermath of Japan's March 2011 tsunami "I’m sorry, but we consider the situation is not under control." Those were the words of Kazuhiko Yamashita, executive-level fellow for Fukushima plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company when he was pressed by the opposition Democratic Party of Japan. His statements directly contradict the claims of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe, who assured the International Olympic Committee meeting in Buenos Aires Saturday that the situation is under control. TEPCO officials moved quickly to cover Yamashita's tracks, releasing a statement Friday declaring "...It is our understanding that the Prime Minister intended his statement ‘the situation is under control’ to mean that the impact of radioactive materials is limited to the area within the port of the power station, and that the densities of radioactive materials on the surrounding waters are far below the referential densities and have not been on continuous upward trends. According to this understanding, we share the same views. Yet, all evidence suggests that the crisis is far beyond the current abilities of the Japanese government and operator TEPCO to contain it. Each day brings new disasters, with fresh reports on Friday that steam is billowing from a reactor. Radiation levels at the plant were found to be 18 times higher than TEPCO previously claimed, climbing to a high of 1800 millisieverts per hour—enough to kill...

[Click here to see the rest of this post]

Related articles

• Radiation Near Japanese Plant's Tanks Suggests New Leaks (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Fukushima radiation levels spike, company says (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Nuclear Operator Raises Alarm on Crisis (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Workers compensation rates to decline in Oregon in 2014 (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Long Overdue Silica Dust Rule Issued, Final Action Must Be Swift, Says Trumka (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Exxon Mobil subsidiary charged for wastewater spill in Pennsylvania (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• More than 1,100 have cancer after 9/11 (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)

Found on

Fukushima radiation levels spike, company says

Today's post was shared by WCBlog and comes from www.cnn.com

There's been a sharp spike in radiation levels measured in the pipes and containers holding water at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan. But the company in charge of cleaning it up says that only a single drop of the highly contaminated water escaped the holding tanks. Tokyo Electric Power Company said it is confident it can provide safety for workers dealing with the problem. "We will find out the cause of this issue and make proper counter measures immediately, and continue to make every effort to secure safety of workers," the company said in a statement released Sunday. TEPCO found high radiation readings at the contaminated water storage tanks and pipe Saturday. The four locations are the bottom of three tanks and a pipe connecting tanks in separate area. The highest reading as 1800 millisieverts per hour at the bottom fringe of the tank. 220 and 70 mSv were measured at the bottom of other two tanks. And TEPCO said they found a dried stain under the pipe with 230 mSv/h radiation measurement. One drop of liquid fell when a staff member pressed on insulation material around the pipe. But TEPCO said no contaminated water leak is expected as there were no change in the water level in tanks. The enormous tanks are identical to the container that was announced last week to have leaked 300 tons of highly toxic water and sparking a hike to the threat level to "serious." TEPCO will investigate the cause and look further if there were any...

[Click here to see the rest of this post]

Related articles

• Nuclear Operator Raises Alarm on Crisis (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• EPA Updates Oil and Gas Standards for Storage Tanks (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Contaminated Soil and Debris to Be Removed From Superfund Site in South Plainfield, New Jersey (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• EPA Proposes Plan to Address Contaminated Soils and Ground Water at Maywood Chemical Company Superfund Site in Maywood and Rochelle Park, New Jersey; Cleanup Estimated to Cost $17 Million; Plan Will Address Contamination at Former Maywood Chemical Works (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Improving Chemical Facility Safety and Security (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• UPS Won't Insure Spouses Of Some Employees (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)

Found on

Radiation Near Japanese Plant’s Tanks Suggests New Leaks

Today's post was shared by The New York Times and comes from www.nytimes.com

A crisis over contaminated water at Japan’s stricken nuclear plant worsened on Saturday when the plant’s operator said it had detected high radiation levels near storage tanks, a finding that raised the possibility of additional leaks. The operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company, or Tepco, said it had found the high levels of radiation at four separate spots on the ground, near some of the hundreds of tanks used to store toxic water produced by makeshift efforts to cool the Fukushima Daiichi plant’s three damaged reactors. The highest reading was 1,800 millisieverts per hour, or enough to give a lethal dose in about four hours, Tepco said.

Nuclear Operator Raises Alarm on Crisis

Nuclear energy has its safety issues for workers. Last weekn NJ's Salem Reactor was shut down due to a leak. Today's post was shared by WCBlog and comes from www.nytimes.com

The operator of Japan’s tsunami-hit nuclear power plant sounded the alarm on the gravity of the deepening crisis of containment at the coastal site on Friday, saying that there are more than 200,000 tons of radioactive water in makeshift tanks vulnerable to leaks, with no reliable way to check on them or anywhere to transfer the water. Fukushima I nuclear power plant before the 2011 explosion. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) The latest disclosures add to a long list of recent accidents, leaks and breakdowns that have underscored grave vulnerabilities at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant site more than two years after a powerful earthquake and tsunami set off meltdowns at three reactors. They come two weeks after the prime minister, Shinzo Abe, promised that his government would take a more active role in the site’s cleanup, raising questions over how seriously he has taken that pledge. Mr. Abe’s government has continued to push for a restart of the country’s nuclear power program, and he heads to the Middle East on Saturday to promote Japanese exports to the region, including nuclear technology. Mr. Abe also plans to lead Tokyo’s delegation to Argentina for the International Olympic Committee’s final vote, set for Sept. 7, on the host city for the 2020 Olympics. Tokyo, 150 miles south of the stricken nuclear power plant, is one of three finalists competing to host the games. The others are Istanbul and Madrid. Opposition lawmakers here have demanded that Mr. Abe stay home and declare a state of emergency. “The nuclear crisis is real and...

[Click here to see the rest of this post]

….

Jon L. Gelman of Wayne NJ is the author NJ Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thompson) and co-author of the national treatise, Modern Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thompson). For over 4 decades the Law Offices of Jon L Gelman  1.973.696.7900  jon@gelmans.com  have been representing injured workers and their families who have suffered occupational accidents and illnesses.

Related articles

• Tacking Health Care Costs Onto California Farm Produce (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Improving Chemical Facility Safety and Security (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Why Is Obama Caving on Tobacco? (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Respirators Are Not Enough: New Study Examines Worker Exposure to Silica in Hydraulic Fracturing Operations (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Senate fails to revive workers' comp bill for first responders (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Raising the Minimum Wage Is Good for the Economy (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)

Found on

The Compensabilty of Death By Overwork

Late in the 1970s, serious social concern over health problems due to long working hours has arisen in Japan. This report briefly summarizes the Japanese circumstances about long working hours and what the Government has achieved so far. The national statistics show that more than 6 million people worked for 60 h or more per week during years 2000 and 2004.

Approximately three hundred cases of brain and heart diseases were recognized as labour accidents resulting from overwork (Karoshi) by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) between 2002 and 2005. Consequently, the MHLW has been working to establish a more appropriate compensation system for Karoshi, as well as preventive measures for overwork related health problems. 

In 2001, the MHLW set the standards for clearly recognizing Karoshi in association with the amount of overtime working hours. These standards were based on the results of a literature review and medical examinations indicating a relationship between overwork and brain and heart diseases. In 2002, the MHLW launched the program for the prevention of health impairment due to overwork, and in 2005 the health guidance through an interview by a doctor for overworked workers has been enacted as law. 

 Long working hours are controversial issues because of conflicts between health, safety, work-life balance, and productivity. It is obvious that we need to continue research regarding the impact on worker health and the management of long working hours.

Health Problems due to Long Working Hours in Japan: Working Hours, Workers’ Compensation (Karoshi), and Preventive Measures Industrial Health 2006, 44, 537–540

.....

For over 3 decades the Law Offices of Jon L. Gelman 1.973.696.7900 jon@gelmans.com have been representing injured workers and their families who have suffered work related accident and injuries.

Related articles

• Worker at No. 1 nuke plant died from overwork (japantimes.co.jp)
• The U.S. is the Most Overworked Developed Nation in the World - When do we Draw the Line? (corporatedroneblog.wordpress.com)
• Job Stress Doubles Depression Risk (abcnews.go.com)
• Changing the Fundamental Rules of Workers Compensation (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)

US Detects Low Levels of Radioactivity in Eastern States

The Federal government has established a plan to monitor radiation from the failing Japanese nuclear reactor and initially respond to increased radiation levels. An official health advisory has been issued by the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) through its Health Alert Network (HAN).

"As a result of the incident with the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan, highly sensitive radiation monitors operated by EPA and others are detecting very low levels of radioactive material in the air in the United States. These levels were expected and consistent with estimated releases from the damaged nuclear reactors and are far below levels of public health concern.

"Elevated levels of radioactive material in rainwater have also been expected as a result of the nuclear incident after the events in Japan, since radiation is known to travel in the atmosphere. There have been reports received that several states including Pennsylvania and Massachusetts have detected elevated levels of radiation in rainwater following recent precipitation events."

As a result of the incident with the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan, several EPA monitors have detected very low levels of radioactive material in the United States consistent with estimates from the damaged nuclear reactors. These detections were expected and the levels detected are far below levels of public-health concern.

Elevated levels of radioactive material in rainwater have been expected as a result of the nuclear incident after the events in Japan since radiation is known to travel in the atmosphere. There have been reports received that the states of Pennsylvania and Massachusetts have seen elevated levels of radiation in recent precipitation events. EPA is reviewing this data – however, in both cases these are levels above the normal background levels historically reported in these areas.

While short-term elevations such as these do not raise health concerns – and the levels seen in rainwater are expected to be relatively short in duration – the U.S. EPA has taken steps to increase the level of nationwide monitoring of precipitation, drinking water, and other potential exposure routes to continue to verify that. EPA’s only recommendation to state and local governments is to continue to coordinate closely with EPA, CDC and FDA – EPA will continue to communicate our nationwide sampling results as they come in.

In addition to air quality issues, the Federal government is monitoring food safety, and ships and cargo from Japan. The US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) issued a recommendation at this time not to take potassium Iodine (KI) supplements in response to the damaged nuclear reactors in Japan unless advised by your physician, emergency management officials, or public health officials.

Related articles

• A Nuclear Workers' Compensation Disaster (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• State: Low-level radiation found in Mass. rainwater (boston.com)
• Playing the TSA Cancer Lottery (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Pulmonary Disease Linked to World Trade Center Disaster (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• The small world of big nuclear worries (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Radiation in Mass. rainwater likely from Japan (seattletimes.nwsource.com)