Algorithmic Burnout: Amazon's Warehouse Workers Under Siege

In a groundbreaking investigation, the United States Senate has exposed a disturbing reality within Amazon's warehouse operations: a systemic approach to worker productivity that comes at an unprecedented human cost. The report reveals a stark and troubling correlation between the company's relentless pursuit of efficiency and the physical well-being of its workforce.

NJ Contractor Cuts Corners, Risks Worker Lives

In a stark reminder of workplace safety, New Jersey contractor Jose Correa has pleaded guilty to a serious environmental crime that endangered construction workers in East Harlem. During a supermarket renovation project in late 2022, Correa made a dangerous and illegal decision that could have had devastating consequences.

OSHA Proposes a Workplace Heat Standard

OSHA’s proposed new workplace heat standard requires employers to develop a plan to identify and address heat hazards. This plan must include monitoring heat conditions, providing water, and training employees about heat safety. The standard also sets requirements for acclimatization for new and returning employees.

The New York Game: A Baseball Tale Steeped in Labor Struggles

Kevin Baker's "The New York Game" isn't just a love letter to baseball and the Big Apple. It's a rich tapestry that weaves the evolution of America's pastime with the burgeoning organized labor movement and the fight for workplace safety. While baseball takes center stage, Baker doesn't shy away from the harsh realities early ballplayers face.

OSHA Cites Oakland NJ Company with $257,931 in Penalties

A U.S. Department of Labor inspection in June 2023 at an Oakland, NJ manufacturing company — that followed reports of two workers being injured — found employees exposed to dozens of serious safety and health hazards.

Workers' Compensation Judges Exempt from Gun Permit Requirement

A Federal Judge, in a multifaceted decision, upheld a New Jersey law exemption that allows specific individuals to carry a concealed weapon without a permit. Workers’ compensation judges actively handling cases are one of the groups of individuals who are exempt from the permit requirement. 

United Hospital Supply Corp. faces $498K in penalties after amputation incident

An employee's first day of work at a southern New Jersey manufacturing facility ended tragically when he suffered the amputation of three fingers while operating a press brake without required safety guards, similar to violations cited by federal safety investigators at the facility in 2010 and 2015.

NJ Supreme Court Enhances Workplace Safety and Adopts an Updated Standard for Medical Causation

A divided NJ Supreme Court upheld a verdict for an employee who suffered mesothelioma, a fatal cancer, as a result of a product manufacturer’s failure to warn of the lethal nature of the product in the workplace. The Court acknowledged that even minor exposure to asbestos could cause disease.

"Unmasking COVID" in 2022, Where Are We Now?

A panel of infectious disease experts and public health specialists of the Veterans Administration who have been involved in the national COVID response discuss strategies to contain the spread of the Omicron variant and stay safe.

Investing for the Next Pandemic

Preparing for the next pandemic is an essential need for all employers, employees, and insurance companies.  The failure of the public health system to handle COVID-19 is evident as the death toll (675,400) fatalities) has now exceeded the 1918 Spanish Flu mortality rate.  The US CDC is encouraging preparation by announcing the opportunity for final investment. It is also incumbent upon the workers’ compensation industry to expand its efforts for pandemic preparation  

National COVID-19 Aerosol Workplace Standard Urged

Leading public health and workplace safety experts have urged the Biden Administration to invoke immediate measures to reduce the aerosol spread based COVID-19 virus. In a letter to the national pandemic response team leaders, the experts have stated that urgent action is needed on a national scale.

Protecting Workers During the Pandemic

Workplace safety is a significant issue in the waning days of the Trump Administration as Congress struggles to pass legislation before the end of the calendar year when CARES Act support terminates for many American workers. As the winter/holiday season coronavirus surge challenges hospital capacity and causing additional closure of non-essential jobs, the Republicans remain adamant about restricting lawsuits against employers.

Investigative Reporting: "Should NJ hospitals be required to tell public about staff COVID-19 outbreaks?"

Northjersey.com reporters Lindy Washburn and Dustin Racioppi have published an insightful.  investigative article on the incidence of COVIS-19 occurring in New Jersey hospitals.

The Biden Plan to Strengthen Safety in the Workplace Anticipated

As New Jersey re-implement stricter controls to contain the new surge the COVID-19, a stronger federal policy appears to be on the horizon from the incoming Biden Administration. Employers will need to prepare for the anticipated rules.

Testing Can’t Promise You a Rose Garden. But What Can It Promise?

Developing a pandemic preparedness strategy for the workplace is critical in control of COVID-19. Today's guest author, Michael Gelman, MD PhD, discusses the how the application of the latest medical information can achieve that goal.

The events of the past week have made it very clear:

Michael A Gelman MD PhD

there is no testing strategy that, alone, can guarantee safety from COVID-19. Rather, a strategy of targeted layered containment represents the best hope for reducing the risk of transmission. Even with the best testing achievable, masks help; distancing helps; being outdoors helps; reducing mass gatherings definitely helps; and in extremis, closing in-person schools and non-essential businesses helps. That’s why Governor Cuomo’s cluster action initiative, as advised by multiple nationally-recognized epidemiologists, is being implemented. It’s uncomfortable and onerous - but the shutdown in March and April was uncomfortable and onerous, and until there’s a lot more immunity than there is now, it’s the best we can do.

Workplace Testing - Pandemic Preparedness Strategy for Success

Maintaining a safe workplace is a crucial strategy in the era of COVID-19. Today's guest author, Michael Gelman, MD PhD, discusses how testing can play a critical role going forward.

A lot of people are getting very excited about Michael Mina’s proposed strategy of cheap, rapid, frequent testing. From his Op-Ed in the Times, to his appearance on TWiV, to this article in the Atlantic, there’s a lot of hope around the potential for inexpensive antigen tests, like the Abbott BinaxNow - which quickly got bought up by the Department of Health and Human Services through December’s anticipated production. It’s possible that another company funded by a U.S. Government initiative might come out with something as good, or better, in the near future. (And no, I don’t have any inside information on any of this. Not that I haven’t asked around.) All this comes amid the CDC’s controversial revision of its testing guidelines, as well as a recent FDA statement that points out the unknowns around repurposing a test, which was originally developed for diagnosis, to screen large numbers of asymptomatic persons. Meanwhile, another Times article points out what many of us have known for months: that a positive PCR test late in the course of illness may be more of a hindrance than a help. 

Health Care Workers' Hazard: Cloth Based Masked Face Masks

Infection in the workplace is now becoming a major concern as new epidemics of disease spread worldwide facilitated by the ever increasing global transportation network. The recent and urgent concerns over Flu, Ebola, Measles and Polio highlight the need to protect health workers.

A recent study published the British Medical Journal focuses on the inadequacy of current medical practices. The study of Clinical respiratory illness (CRI), influenza-like illness (ILI) and laboratory-confirmed the spread of respiratory virus infection and highlights the the problems with cloth face masks.

"We have provided the first clinical efficacy data of cloth masks, which suggest HCWs should not use cloth masks as protection against respiratory infection. Cloth masks resulted in significantly higher rates of infection than medical masks, and also performed worse than the control arm. The controls were HCWs who observed standard practice, which involved mask use in the majority, albeit with lower compliance than in the intervention arms. The control HCWs also used medical masks more often than cloth masks. When we analysed all mask-wearers including controls, the higher risk of cloth masks was seen for laboratory-confirmed respiratory viral infection."

Click here to read the entire report.
"A cluster randomised trial of cloth masks compared with medical masks in healthcare workers"
BMJ Open 2015;5:e006577 doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2014-006577

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Mexican Consulate, Labor Dept. Partner On Worker Protection

Today's post was shared by US Dept. of Labor and comes from indianapublicmedia.org

Photo: Sam Klemet/WFYI Students walk outside the Mexican Consulate in Indianapolis. The United States Department of Labor is partnering with Mexican Consulates across the country, including in Indiana, to ensure worker protection. Juan Manuel Solana Morales says some Mexicans who come to the United States to work, often don’t know about all of their rights. “Sadly, we have detected that when we have new immigrants, they have different laws, different knowledge, different culture,” said Juan Manuel Solana Morales. “And, when they arrive here in the United States, sometimes they don’t understand the kind of rights that they have.” Morales is the Consul of Mexico in Indianapolis.

Saving Money, Poisoning Workers

This is a case for employers to act with moral responsibility to maintain a safe work environment, stronger regulations and changes in statutory provisions to make the workplace safer. This post was shared by Jordan Barab and comes from www.nytimes.com

The workers at Royale Comfort Seating in Taylorsville, N.C., had a simple but grueling job. For 10 hours at a stretch they spray-glued pieces of polyurethane foam into shapes that became the spongy filling of cushions sold to many top furniture brands. Unfortunately, the glue contained a dangerous chemical known as n-propyl bromide, or nPB, and the spray guns left a yellowish fog in the air that coated everything in sight. Exposure to the toxic fumes left some workers so dizzy at the end of the day that they walked as if drunk.

Worse yet, many developed long-term ailments. One worker can no longer stand or sit for more than 20 minutes without feeling excruciating pain in her spine and legs. Another lost control of his hands and could not put on clothes without help.

Jersey City, NJ, theatrical equipment company cited by OSHA for exposing workers to workplace safety and health hazards

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Acadia Scenic Inc., which builds scenery for the entertainment industry, with 22 safety and health violations, including two willful. The citations followed an April inspection, prompted by the agency's Health-High-Hazard Top 50 Local Emphasis Program and its Amputations and Combustible Dust Emphasis Program. Proposed penalties total $49,600.

The willful violations, with $28,000 in penalties, were cited for a lack of guarding on hand-fed circular ripsaws and crosscut table saws. A willful violation is one committed with intentional, knowing or voluntary disregard for the law's requirements, or with plain indifference to worker safety and health.

The 19 serious violations, with $21,200 in penalties, include the company's failure to keep the workplace clean and orderly; prevent accumulations of explosive dust; provide railings on stairs; establish or implement a written respiratory protection program for workers required to wear respirators; have fire extinguishers mounted and readily accessible for use; and provide an educational program on the general principles of fire extinguisher use and hazards involved for workers expected to fight incipient stage fires.

The company was also cited for failing to provide machine guarding for a miter saw; provide spreaders and nonkickback devices on two hand-fed circular ripsaws; properly adjust a work rest on grinding machinery; determine each employee's exposure to methylene chloride; provide appropriate gloves and eyewash facilities for workers using methylene chloride-containing adhesives; and develop and implement a written hazard communication program that includes training for workers exposed to hazardous chemicals. A serious violation occurs when there is a substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known.

"Each of these hazards threaten the company's ability to provide employees with a safe and healthful work environment, and should be corrected immediately," said Kris Hoffman, director of OSHA's Parsippany Office. "OSHA will continue to hold employers responsible when they fail to protect their workers."

Inspectors also cited the company for one other-than-serious violation, which carries a $400 penalty, for not recording a workplace injury on the employer's OSHA Form 300 Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses. An other-than-serious violation is one that has a direct relationship to job safety and health, but probably would not cause death or serious physical harm.

Acadia Scenic Inc. has 15 business days from receipt of the citations to comply, ask for an informal conference with OSHA's area director in Parsippany or contest the citations and proposed penalties before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

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