Deadly silica standard is killing UK workers

Photo: Jawad Qasrawi Today's post is shared from hazards.org. Silica exposure was the the trigger in the US during the 1059's that incorporated occupational diseases into the workers' compensation acts throughout the US. Silica exposures kill over 1,000 workers a year in the UK and leave many more fighting for breath. But, unlike its US counterpart, finds Hazards editor Rory O’Neill, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is following the industry line and says our deadly silica exposure standard is just fine. When the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) visited Teesdale Architectural Stone Ltd (TASL) in September 2007, it discovered workers were facing unacceptably high exposures to crystalline silica, a dust that can cause lung cancer, the breath-stealing disorder silicosis and other serious diseases. In two letters, the regulator told the Barnard Castle firm to clean up its act. Then it did nothing. After all, the company had written twice to assure the watchdog improvements had been made. Only they hadn’t. Five more years passed before a return HSE visit discovered workers were still facing a lung-clogging and potentially deadly daily dose of dust. What’s the problem? The US regulator says clear the air, the UK regulator says eat dust • In the UK, the official workplace safety regulator the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is resisting behind closed doors any shift to a more stringent silica exposure standard that would help prevent cancers, lung and kidney diseases and other potentially fatal conditions. Affected workers have no say. • In the US, the official workplace safety regulator, OSHA, is arguing at public hearings...

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Mapping the lives and deaths of workers: An emerging way to tell the story of occupational health and safety

Today's post is shared from scienceblogs.com When Bethany Boggess first debuted her online mapping project, she didn’t expect it to attract so much attention. But within just six months of its launch, people from all over the world are sending in reports and helping her build a dynamic picture of the lives and deaths of workers. The project is called the Global Worker Watch and it’s quite literally a living map of worker fatalities and catastrophes from around the globe. When you go to the site, you’ll see a world map speckled with blue dots, each representing a reported occupational death, illness or disaster. Here are just a few I randomly clicked on: In March in Pakistan, four workers died and 18 were injured when a gas cylinder exploded at a gas company. Also in March in Gujarat, India, two workers died of silicosis, an occupational disease caused by the inhalation of silica dust. Three workers have died in the mines of Coahuila, Mexico, since January. In February, a worker at an Iron County mine site in Utah died after getting trapped on a conveyer belt. Just a few days ago, a worker in the United Kingdom died after falling from an electricity tower. And in May, police in Cambodia opened fire during a labor protest, killing four people. “Obviously, I’m only capturing the tip of the iceberg,” said Boggess, a 26-year-old epidemiology student at the University of Texas School of Public Health in Austin. “But if I’m just one person and I can do this in six...

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• Proposed Silica Standard Needs to Be Strengthened (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• American Thoracic Society Welcomes OSHA's Proposed Lower Silica Exposure Standard (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• OSHA Cites Nebraska Food Supplement Plant for 10 Violations (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Midwest Center for Occupational Health and Safety (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Why We're Still Killing Workers in the USA (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Silica: A Long Overdue Proposal (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)