Sunday, September 7, 2014

Do fast-food strikes actually work?

Today's post was shared by Steven Greenhouse and comes from www.theguardian.com

Thursday’s national fast-food protests in 100 cities, with the scenes of workers marching through major cities including New York and Las Vegas, may look familiar – and that’s no coincidence. Labor leaders in major unions including the SEIU and AFL-CIO have been supporting one-day strikes for fast-food and hospitality workers for over nearly two years since November 2012.
From the first $15-an-hour protest in Seattle in May 2013 to a convention in July, 60 cities on 29 August 29, and Thursday’s first widespread act of intentional civil obedience in the movement, the development of the fast-food protests has shown evidence of a labor movement ready to re-make itself.
“The unions themselves are recognizing that the old system is broken and they need to retool and try new strategies and new things, and that’s what the fast food strikes represent,” says Professor Ruth Milkman of the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (Cuny), who has co-authored a new report on the progress of the labor movement in New York and the rest of the US.
Today’s strikes are different from previous ones in a number of ways, demonstrating the willingness to innovate, said Milkman. The widespread civil disobedience – courting potential arrest by walking out on the job – is one aspect that has been widely mentioned. Other innovations: the addition...

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Oakland A's Will Pay Back Wages to Interns and Clubhouse Workers

Today's post was shared by Steven Greenhouse and comes from www.businessweek.com

The Oakland Athletics will shell out a quarter-million dollars to settle claims that they illegally underpaid their clubhouse workers and interns. Under an agreement with the U.S. Department of Labor, 86 current or former A’s workers will receive a total of $266,358, a department spokesperson confirmed on Friday.
“We were pleased that we were able to assist in getting workers what they deserve, a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work,” David Weil, the administrator of the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division, said in an e-mailed statement. “WHD continues discussions with [Major League Baseball] and looks for future opportunities to provide meaningful compliance assistance.” In an e-mailed statement, the A’s said that they had conducted their own internal audit in 2013 and they were “pleased that the matter could be resolved quickly and informally with the DOL to both parties’ satisfaction.”
The A’s follow at least two other Major League Baseball teams that have settled with the DOL over alleged wage theft since 2013. The Miami Marlins paid $288,290; the San Francisco Giants paid $765,508. The Baltimore Orioles are also currently under investigation, the Labor Department confirmed on Friday.
Those investigations haven’t gone unnoticed by MLB. In a 2013 e-mail (PDF)...

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See also:
Federal Wage Investigation Snags Another Major League Baseball Team, the Oakland A’s- See more at: http://www.fairwarning.org/2014/09/oakland-athletics-latest-major-league-team-pay-settlement-alleged-wage-violations/#sthash.CEWxbFo8.dpuf Authored by Myron Levin

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Fast food strikes hit 150 US cities

Today's post was shared by Steven Greenhouse and comes from www.msnbc.com

DURHAM, North Carolina — For nearly a month and a half, protesting fast food workers have insisted that they were willing to do “whatever it takes” in order to earn union recognition and a higher wage. On Thursday, they demonstrated what that means.
Hundreds of workers across the United States engaged in non-violent acts of civil disobedience, risking arrest to demonstrate their commitment to boosting wages and working conditions. In Durham, N.C., 23 workers occupied a series of increasingly busy street intersections, sitting on the pavement and block traffic for an hour or so before moving on to the next location. Other workers chanted and danced around those who were obstructing traffic, as a drum line of supporters pounded away on their snare and bass drums.
All told, thousands of fast food workers across 150 U.S. cities walked off the job on Thursday. Hundreds of those workers — nearly 500 of them, according to a public relations firm supporting the strikes — willfully committed civil disobedience as part of their protest, and were subsequently arrested by the police. A member of Congress who participated in one of the protests was also arrested.
In Durham, part of North Carolina’s prosperous and fast-growing Research Triangle, police arrested 26 protesters, including two campaign organizers and one attorney affiliated with the movement. Local police followed the city’s protest for upwards of three hours while making no...

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Raising the minimum wage without raising havoc

Today's post was shared by Steven Greenhouse and comes from www.washingtonpost.com

In July 2013, hotelier Scott Ostrander stood before the city council in SeaTac, Wash., pleading with the town not to adopt a $15 minimum wage.
“I am shaking here tonight because I am going to be forced to lay people off,” he said, according to an account in the Washington State Wire. “I’m going to take away their livelihood. That hurts. It really, really hurts. . . . And what I am going to have to do on Jan. 1 is to eliminate jobs, reduce hours — and as soon as hours are reduced, benefits are reduced.”
SeaTac, a community around Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, went ahead with its plan, becoming, on Jan. 1, the first jurisdiction in the nation to set a $15 minimum wage, according to the labor movement. And Ostrander’s hotel, the Cedarbrook Lodge? It went ahead with a $16 million expansion that adds 63 rooms, a spa — and jobs.
Ostrander, then Cedarbrook’s general manager, told Seattle’s KIRO-TV as the new wage law took effect that it was proceeding with the expansion “to try to recoup significant expenses that will be incurred as a result” of the higher wage. So the minimum-wage hike forced the hotel to add rooms, revenues and workers. The horror!
As fast-food workers demonstrate nationwide for a $15 hourly wage, and congressional Republicans fight off a $10 federal minimum, little SeaTac has something to offer the debate. Its neighbor, Seattle, was the first big city to approve...

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Just 13, and Working Risky 12-Hour Shifts in the Tobacco Fields

Today's post was shared by Steven Greenhouse and comes from mobile.nytimes.com

On many mornings, as tobacco plants tower around her, Saray Cambray Alvarez pulls a black plastic garbage bag over her 13-year-old body to protect her skin from leaves dripping with nicotine-tinged dew.
When Saray and other workers — including several more teenagers — get to the fields at 6, they punch holes through the bags for their arms. They are trying to avoid what is known as “green tobacco sickness,” or nicotine poisoning, which can cause vomiting, dizziness and irregular heart rates, among other symptoms.
Saray says that she sometimes has trouble breathing in the middle of all the heat, humidity and leaves, and that she often feels weary during her 12-hour shifts, when she moves through the rows to pluck unwanted flowers or pull off oversize leaves for the harvest.
“You get very thirsty,” said Saray, who sometimes waits an hour in 90-plus heat for a drink until her crew returns to the opposite side of a field, where the water jugs are parked. “It’s too hard for me, and it’s too hot.”

Saray says she is lucky not to have become really sick, whereas others have become visibly ill. “Last week, they made us work when it was raining, and I got water in my mouth and I felt dizziness and nausea,” Ana Flores said of exposure to wet tobacco leaves — the plants’ nicotine often dissolves in rain and dew. At 16, she is spending her third summer in the tobacco fields. “I...

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Saturday, September 6, 2014

NH Governor Hassan Creates Workers’ Compensation Commission for Reform

In order to help reduce workers’ compensation costs that are a burden on New Hampshire businesses and ensure that injured workers have access to high-quality care, Governor Maggie Hassan today issued an Executive Order creating the Commission to Recommend Reforms to Reduce Workers’ Compensation Medical Costs.

“Employers and workers have done their part to increase workplace safety, but New Hampshire has become one of the most expensive states in the nation for workers’ compensation, a burden on businesses across the state,” Governor Hassan said. “By bringing together business leaders and experts from insurance, health care and labor, the Commission to Recommend Reforms to Reduce Workers’ Compensation Medical Costs provides an opportunity for stakeholders to identify ways to reduce workers’ compensation medical costs and ensure that injured workers have access to quality care. With these reforms, our businesses will be able to re-invest these dollars in growing their companies, creating new jobs and keeping our economy moving in the right direction.”

Tasked with making recommendations to reform New Hampshire’s workers’ compensation system, the commission will review the data behind New Hampshire’s high workers’ compensation costs; analyze efforts by other states to successfully reduce workers’ compensation costs; review how other states ensure continued access to quality care for injured workers; and develop comprehensive reforms that will reduce costs and premiums and improve New Hampshire’s workers’ compensation system while ensuring that injured workers have access to quality care.

According to the Oregon Workers Compensation Rate Ranking Study, New Hampshire rose from the 14th-most expensive state for workers’ compensation coverage in the country in 2008 to the ninth-most expensive in 2012. In addition, data from the National Council on Compensation Insurance shows that workers’ compensation surgical procedures in New Hampshire are 83 percent more expensive than those in the region and more than twice as expensive as they are nationally. For more information on New Hampshire’s workers’ compensation costs, visit www.nh.gov/insurance/media/pr/2014/documents/052214.pdf

.

“New Hampshire is among the most expensive states for workers’ compensation, an unnecessary disadvantage for businesses that operate here,” said New Hampshire Insurance Department Commissioner Roger Sevigny. “I look forward to working with the commission to improve our workers’ compensation system by making recommendations to reduce costs and premiums while ensuring that workers have access to quality care.”

Commissioner Sevigny will be the chairman of the Commission to Recommend Reforms to Reduce Workers’ Compensation Medical Costs. He will be joined on the commission by New Hampshire Department of Labor Commissioner Jim Craig or a designee from the department, as well as a diverse group of experts representing workers, employers, insurance professionals and the health care sector.

The Commission’s final report is due to the Governor on December 1, 2014.

Other members of the commission are:
Brian Allen, Vice President of Government Affairs at HELIOS (formerly Progressive Medical/PMSI)
Donald F. Baldini, AVP and State Affairs Officer at Liberty Mutual Insurance
Pamela Bronson, Administrator at Access Sports Medicine & Orthopedics
Paul W. Chant of Cooper Cargill Chant
Tammy Denver, Director of Claims & Coverage Programs at NH Public Risk Management Exchange (Primex3)
Edward Dudley, Executive Vice President/CFO of Catholic Medical Center
Mark Erdody, Director of New England Claims for Cove Risk Services, LLC
Marc Lacroix, New Hampshire Physical Therapy Association and Director of Specialty Services at Concord Hospital
David Lang, President of Professional Firefighters of NH
Mark Mackenzie, President of NH AFL-CIO
Peter McNamara, President of NH Automobile Dealers Association
Dr. Gregory Soghikian of New Hampshire Orthopaedic Center
Ben Wilcox, President & General Manager of Cranmore Mountain Resort

Full text of the Governor’s Executive Order

3 Reasons Congress Should Renew TRIA

The Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA), enacted to re-insure insurance companies against terrorism losses is about to sunset. Today's post is shared from insurancejournal.com/

U.S. insurance markets, like the rest of the nation, were caught off guard by the Sept.11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Loss of life and property led to an estimated $32.5 billion dollars in insured losses – $43 billion in 2013 dollars – the largest amount ever to that point. Following that, terrorism risk insurance became either extremely expensive or unavailable.

Congress responded by passing the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) in 2002. The act provides government support for the commercial terrorism insurance market through mechanisms for spreading losses across the nation’s policyholders and using government funds to cover the most extreme losses. This has helped keep terrorism risk insurance affordable for businesses.

Congress extended the act in 2005 and again in 2007. However, with the program set to expire this year, Congress had to revisit a crucial question: What is the appropriate government role in terrorism insurance markets? The Rand Corp., a nonpartisan, nonprofit research organization, recently identified three emerging themes:

1.) The act’s expiration could increase federal spending following terror attacks. Many experts predict that the act’s expiration would increase the price and reduce the availability of terrorism coverage, resulting in a reduction in the number of businesses with terrorism coverage. If this occurred, more attack losses would go uninsured. This would increase demand for disaster assistance in the event of an...

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UNC Facing Challenge Over Asbestos Present in Dormitories

Asbestos has been utilized in construction materials for decades. Problems linger now in building that still have asbestos fiber present. Asbestos is a known carcinogen and has been causally connected to: asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma, as well as a many other malignancies.

Today's post is shared from dailytarheel.com/

Recent construction in the quad to remove asbestos has brought attention to the presence of the potentially hazardous material on other parts of campus, such as in residence halls and class buildings.

According to the UNC Department of Housing and Residential Education, since 2009 seven residence halls have been identified as having surfacing materials containing asbestos.

Rick Bradley, associate director of housing and residential education, said that students living on campus should not worry about becoming ill from the asbestos found in their dorms.

“The asbestos is contained and does not pose a health risk,” Bradley said.

In order to ensure the safety of students living in dorms with asbestos, Bradley suggested a few precautions, such as refraining from scraping or attaching items to the walls, ceiling or pipes.

He also said to keep lofted beds at least 3 feet from the ceiling, which is residence hall policy

“The key is to contain the asbestos and to notify individuals as to the precautions that should be taken,” Bradley said.

Junior Kristin Tajlili has lived in a residence hall each year she’s been at UNC. Two of the dorms she has lived in are on the list of buildings tracked for asbestos.

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BASF Must Face Asbestos Coverup Fraud Claims, Court Says

The conspiracy of the asbestos industry to conceal information of the hazards of asbestos has been long alleged and has been a foundation of asbestos litigation. Asbestos is a known carcinogen and has been causally connected to: asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma, as well as a many ofter malignancies. The US 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals. The Appeals Court held:

"We conclude that the District Court erred when it dismissed

the fraud and fraudulent concealment claims. The Amended

Class Action Complaint properly alleges the elements of fraud

and fraudulent concealment—namely that BASF and Cahill

lied about and destroyed the asbestos evidence to plaintiffs’

detriment. Neither the New Jersey litigation privilege nor

pleading requirements stand in the way of these claims."

Filed 09/03/14, No. 13-1089
Kimberlee Williams v. BASF Catalysts LLC
USDC for the District of New Jersey

Today's post is shared from bloomberg.com/

BASF SE (BAS), the world’s biggest chemical maker, was ordered to face claims it fraudulently hid evidence that its talc products contained asbestos as it sought to scuttle thousands of personal-injury lawsuits.

The U.S. Court of Appeals in Philadelphia yesterday revived a suit alleging a unit of BASF, based in Ludwigshafen, Germany, and law firm Cahill, Gordon & Reindel LLP systematically concealed damaging evidence and manufactured documents to defeat claims that its talc contained cancer-causing asbestos. The unit mined talc, a mineral used in products ranging from wallboard to balloons.

The decision comes as BASF is predicting it will hit profit targets despite economic growth that’s falling short of forecasts, as well as unfavorable exchange rates. Chief Executive Officer Kurt Bock told Bloomberg TV in July that the chemical maker is emphasizing efficiency to compensate for markets he described as “volatile and challenging.”

BASF and other makers of building products are still grappling with asbestos litigation, which began in the 1970s and has turned into the longest-running mass tort in U.S. history. Companies and insurers have paid at least $70 billion to settle injury claims tied to asbestos-laden products, according to a 2005 study by the Rand Corp.

Joseph Jones, a BASF spokesman, said the court threw out some claims and left only a small portion of the case to proceed.

“BASF is evaluating its options to obtain further review of the court of appeals’ decision,” he said in an e-mailed statement.

John Villa, a lawyer for Cahill with Williams & Connolly LLP in Washington, said the firm intends to fight claims of wrongdoing in the BASF case.

Click here to read the entire article.

Friday, September 5, 2014

9/11 Responders Urged To Register For Workers’ Compensation Benefits

Next week marks the anniversary of the 9/11 tragedy. Many workers' who may be entitled to benefits have not yet enrolled. Today's post is shared from cbslocal.com

Elected officials and union activists are urging Sept. 11 responders to sign up for New York workers’ compensation benefits.
They say that those who worked around the World Trade Center site should enroll with the state Workers’ Compensation Board.
Next Thursday, the 13th anniversary of the terror attacks, is the deadline to sign up.
The officials said even people who are not sick should register because it preserves their right to get benefits in the future if they do fall ill.
It also is open to workers who live in other states.
Rep. Jerrold Nadler said that “those who have paid such a high price” deserve compensation.
“This does not mean that you are injured or ill now, but it does preserve your ability to file a claim later,” Nadler said.
Nadler was joined at Friday’s City Hall press conference by representatives of several unions, including DC 37 and the Laborers Local 78.
As WCBS 880’s Jim Smith reported, Reverend Bill Minson spent months in and around ground zero working as a chaplain. He’s not sick now, but knows the air was like a ticking time bomb.
“An incubation period for many of these cancers and things can’t be calculated,” he said.
...

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Why Do Doctors Commit Suicide?

Stressful working conditions may have fatal consequences. All too many times personal issues get out of control for workers and they escalate unnecessarily to dire levels. While workers' compensation insures for suicide, it is dramatically for urgent to deal with the stressors at work in the first place. Workers' compensation needs more to deal with prevention than consequences. Today's post is shared from nytimes.com/

Two weeks ago, two medical residents, in their second month of residency training in different programs, jumped to their deaths in separate incidents in New York City. I did not know them, and cannot presume to speak for them or their circumstances. But I imagine that they had celebrated their medical school graduation this spring just as my friends and I did. I imagine they began their residencies with the same enthusiasm for healing as we did. And I imagine that they experienced fatigue, emotional exhaustion and crippling self-doubt at the beginning of those residencies — I know I did.

The statistics on physician suicide are frightening: Physicians are more than twice as likely to kill themselves as nonphysicians (and female physicians three times more likely than their male counterparts). Some 400 doctors commit suicide every year. Young physicians at the beginning of their training are particularly vulnerable: In a recent study, 9.4 percent of fourth-year medical students and interns — as first-year residents are called — reported having suicidal thoughts in the previous two weeks.

Hospitals and residency programs recognize the toll residency takes on the mental stability and physical health of new doctors. In 2003, work hours were capped at 80 hours a week for all residency training programs. Residents are provided confidential counseling services to help cope with stress. My residency program offers writing workshops and monthly...

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BP May Be Fined Up to $18 Billion for Spill in Gulf

Judicial review and enforcement of the Clean Water Act has resulted in major fines against BP flowing from the Gulf Oil Spill. Today's post is shared from nytimes.com

In the four years since the blowout on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig killed 11 workers and sent millions of barrels of oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico, BP has spent more than $28 billion on damage claims and cleanup costs, pleaded guilty to criminal charges and emerged a shrunken giant.

But through it all, the company has maintained that it was not chiefly responsible for the accident, and that its contractors in the operation, Halliburton and Transocean, should shoulder as much, if not more, of the blame.

On Thursday, a federal judge here for the first time bluntly rejected those arguments, finding that BP was indeed the primary culprit and that only it had acted with “conscious disregard of known risks.” He added that BP’s “conduct was reckless.”

By finding that BP was, in legal parlance, grossly negligent in the disaster, and not merely negligent, United States District Court Judge Carl J. Barbier opened the possibility of $18 billion in new civil penalties for BP, nearly quadruple the maximum Clean Water Act penalty for simple negligence and far more than the $3.5 billion the company has set aside.The ruling stands as a milestone in environmental law given that this was the biggest offshore oil spill in American history, legal experts said, and serves as a warning for the oil companies that continue to drill in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico, where high pressures and temperatures in the wells test the most...

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Will ObamaCare mean the end of employer-provided insurance?

The growth in the implementation of the Federal Affordable Care Act is beginning to have major ramifications in the delivery of medical care. Today's post os shared from foxnews.com

President Obama's famous promise that “you can keep your plan and your doctor, no matter what” was not the only misleading argument he made for his health care plan. There is yet another controversy, with even bigger consequences, brewing for Americans who already have health care.

Analysts predict that as ObamaCare takes hold, it will mean the end of employer-provided insurance, with former Obama adviser Zeke Emanuel predicting that80 percent of such plans will disappear within ten years.

"It's going to actually be better for people," Emanuel argued. "They'll have more choice. Most people who work for an employer and get their coverage through an employer do not have choice."

The Wall Street research firm S&P IQ went even further, predicting90 percent of such plans will disappear.

The firm's Michael Thompson explained, "the companies will really be hard pressed to justify why they would continue to have to spend the kind of money they spend by offering insurance through corporate plans when there's an alternative that's subsidized by the government."

Analysts predict this historic change because the penalty for not offering insurance -- $2,000 per worker -- is much less than the cost of providing it.

"For a worker making only $15 an hour, typical employer coverage for a family costs $15,000 or $16,000, that's more than half of that worker’s annual wage," explained health care economist John Goodman.

"So...

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Fatal Meningococcal Disease in a Laboratory Worker — California, 2012

Case Report

On the evening of Friday, April 27, 2012, a 25-year-old microbiologist experienced headache, fever, neck pain, and stiffness. The following morning, April 28, he was transported by automobile to the emergency department at hospital A, where he was employed in laboratory A as a researcher. While on the way to the hospital, he lost consciousness. Upon arrival, the patient was noted to have a petechial rash, was suspected of having meningococcal disease, and was treated with ceftriaxone. He later had a respiratory arrest. Attempted resuscitation was unsuccessful, and he was declared dead approximately 3 hours after his arrival.

On the day of the patient's death, hospital A notified the local health department and CDPH of the case of suspected meningococcal disease. On April 29, hospital A notified OSHA, which notified CalOSHA that the deceased had worked in a laboratory conducting N. meningitidis vaccine research. Hospital A evaluated potentially exposed emergency department staff members and research laboratory employees; all persons found to have been exposed were immediately assessed for symptoms of meningococcal disease and offered postexposure chemoprophylaxis. Laboratory A voluntarily closed on April 30. No additional cases of meningococcal disease were identified among emergency department or laboratory staff members. The local health department identified other close contacts of the patient and ensured that they received postexposure chemoprophylaxis.

Blood and tissue specimens from the patient were sent to the CDPH Microbial Diseases Laboratory for isolation and serogroup identification. N. meningitidis serogroup B was identified in the clinical specimens by polymerase chain reaction. The patient had worked with N. meningitidis serogroup B isolates in the weeks and days before his death.

Investigation Findings

CalOSHA, OSHA, and CDPH initiated an investigation. Laboratory A was inspected, and employees were interviewed about their training as well as laboratory practices and protocols and were asked to demonstrate how procedures were performed. Multiple breaches in recommended laboratory safety practices were identified (Tables 1 and 2), including manipulation of N. meningitidis isolates on an open laboratory bench (2,5). The inspection team made recommendations for safe handling of N. meningitidis isolates and the use of appropriate personal protective equipment. Laboratory A microbiologist working with N. meningitidisisolates had not been offered the quadrivalent meningococcal vaccine, as recommended by ACIP (4). At the conclusion of the investigation, OSHA issued three citations classified as serious for failure to protect laboratory workers.

Discussion

Although occupationally acquired meningococcal disease is rare, it is a known risk among microbiologists who work with N. meningitidis isolates (6–8). Investigations of laboratory-acquired cases of meningococcal disease in the United States have demonstrated a many-fold higher attack rate for microbiologists compared with the U.S. general population aged 30–59 years and a case fatality rate of 50%, more than triple the 12%–15% case fatality rate associated with disease in the general population (9). In almost all cases, infected microbiologists had manipulated sterile-site isolates on an open laboratory bench outside of a biosafety cabinet (2,6). Manipulating N. meningitidis isolates outside a biosafety cabinet is known to be associated with a high risk for contracting meningococcal disease (7).

To decrease the risk of transmission to laboratory workers handling invasive N. meningitidis strains (serogroups A, B, C, Y, and W), CDC recommends the use of enhanced biosafety level two (BSL-2) containment practices, where BSL-2 requirements are met and some BSL-3 practices also are adopted (2). Updated recommendations for microbiologists manipulating N. meningitidis strains were published in January 2012 as a supplement to the Biosafety in Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratories guide and include the use of a nonrecirculating biosafety cabinet and the following personal protective equipment: disposable closed front laboratory coat, double gloves, fit-tested N95 filtering facepiece or higher level respiratory protection, and eye protection (2,5). In California, personnel using respirators also must be enrolled in a respiratory protection program (10).

Although this fatal case of serogroup B meningococcal disease was not vaccine-preventable by meningococcal vaccines currently licensed in the United States, licensed vaccines to protect against serogroup A, C, Y, and W-135 disease are available. ACIP recommends meningococcal vaccination for microbiologists who are routinely exposed to isolates of N. meningitidis (3,4). The CalOSHA Aerosol Transmissible Diseases Standard also requires that California employers offer all vaccinations as recommended by applicable public health guidelines for specific laboratory operations (1,4). A serogroup B vaccine (Bexsero, Novartis) was licensed in Europe, Australia, and Canada in 2013 and has received a "breakthrough therapy" designation from the Food and Drug Administration.

Employers should be familiar with laboratory biosafety recommendations and ensure that a laboratory biosafety program is in place. Employers also should ensure that laboratory staff are trained, adhere to recommended biosafety practices and procedures, and are offered recommended vaccines.

Acknowledgments

Linda Guthertz, MA, Heike Quinn, MS, Gillian Edwards, MS, Robin Hogue, Nancy Caton, Margot Graves, Barbara Materna, PhD, Sharon Messenger, PhD, Rita Brenden, PhD, Herschel Kirk, California Department of Public Health. Diane Portnoy, MPH, San Francisco Department of Public Health. Sandra Huang, MD, Alameda County Public Health Department. Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

1California Department of Public Health, 2California Division of Occupational Safety and Health, 3Division of Bacterial Diseases, National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, CDC (Corresponding author: Channing Sheets, channing.sheets@cdph.ca.gov, 415-254-2582)

References

CDC. Laboratory-acquired meningococcal disease—United States, 2000. MMWR 2002;51:141–4.
CDC, National Institutes of Health. Biosafety in microbiological and biomedical laboratories. 5th edition. Washington, DC: US Department of Health and Human Services, CDC, National Institutes of Health; 2009. Available at http://www.cdc.gov/biosafety/publications/bmbl5.
California Division of Occupational Safety and Health. Aerosol transmissible diseases. Title 8 C.C.R. Section 5199 (2009). Available athttp://www.dir.ca.gov/title8/5199.html .
CDC. Prevention and control of meningococcal disease: recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. MMWR 2013;62(No. RR-2).
CDC. Epidemiologic notes and reports: laboratory-acquired meningococcemia—California and Massachusetts. MMWR 1991;40:46–7,55.
Boutet R, Stuart JM, Kaczmarski ER, Gray SJ, Jones DM, Andrews N. Risk of laboratory-acquired meningococcal disease. J Hosp Infect 2001;49:282–4.
Sejvar JJ, Johnson D, Popovic T, et al. Assessing the risk of laboratory-acquired meningococcal disease. J Clin Microbiol 2005;43:4811–14.
CDC. Guidelines for safe work practices in human and animal medical diagnostic laboratories. MMWR 2012;61(Suppl).
Kimman TG, Smit E, Klein MR. Evidence-based biosafety: a review of the principles and effectiveness of microbiological containment measures. Clin Microbiol Rev 2008;21:403–25.
California Division of Occupational Safety and Health. Respiratory protection. Title 8 C.C.R. Section 5144 (1974). Available athttps://www.dir.ca.gov/title8/5144.html .

What is already known on this topic?

Working with Neisseria meningitidis isolates without adequate protection on the open laboratory bench can result in aerosol transmission of the bacteria. Meningococcal disease is severe and can be fatal. Among laboratory-acquired meningococcal disease cases, the case fatality rate was 50% in one study, significantly higher than the case fatality rate in the general population. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) has published immunization guidelines for laboratory workers who are routinely exposed to isolates of N. meningitidis.

What is added by this report?

A laboratory researcher who worked with N. meningitidis died from serogroup B meningococcal disease. An investigation identified deficiencies in training and practices in laboratory A, including manipulating cultures outside of a biosafety cabinet. Additionally, laboratory workers who routinely worked with N. meningitidis had not been vaccinated in accordance with current ACIP recommendations.

What are the implications for public health practice?

Adequate safety training for laboratory personnel, adherence to recommendations for safe handling of N. meningitidis isolates, and vaccination (where indicated) are necessary to reduce the risk for disease among laboratory workers.

September 5, 2014 / 63(35);770-772

Channing D. Sheets, MSEd1, Kathleen Harriman, PhD1, Jennifer Zipprich, PhD1, Janice K. Louie, MD1, William S. Probert, PhD1, Michael Horowitz, MS2, Janice C. Prudhomme, DO2, Deborah Gold, MPH2, Leonard Mayer, PhD3 (Author affiliations at end of text)

Click here to read the complete article (including Table 1).

Copyright

Sunday, September 7, 2014

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Case Report

Discussion

Acknowledgments

References

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