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(c) 2010-2024 Jon L Gelman, All Rights Reserved.

Friday, October 17, 2014

East Penn board accused of asbestos cover-up

Today's post was shared by Take Justice Back and comes from www.wfmz.com

A barrage of questions – as well as accusations of an asbestos cover-up – was fired at by several residents Monday night.
East Penn School BoardThey challenged the school district’s handling of construction debris containing potentially hazardous asbestos that was dumped, then buried, last year on wooded school district property next to Wescosville Elementary School.
“Is the school district engaged in a cover-up of illegal acts?” asked resident Chris Donatelli. “It has been confirmed both by the EPA and the DEP that no one is permitted to bury these types of materials. It’s against the law.”
“Who knew about the asbestos problem at the Wescosville school?” asked resident Charles Rhoads. “Who is responsible? Who ordered the cover-up? When will the cover-up end?”
No one on the school board provided any answers.
District superintendent J. Michael Schilder did report that all the buried construction debris has been removed from the site. He said the removal began Oct 6 and concluded Oct. 9.
Schilder said the material being removed was tested on site – although he did not reveal results of that testing -- and that the excavation was monitored by a representative of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
“No identifying information was found in any of the material that was removed,” said the superintendent, meaning no clues were unearthed to shed light on the source...
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Jon L. Gelman of Wayne NJ is the author of NJ Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thompson-Reuters) and co-author of the national treatise, Modern Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thompson-Reuters). 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.
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Death Toll Linked to G.M. Defect Reaches 27

Today's post was shared by Take Justice Back and comes from www.nytimes.com

The death toll linked to General Motors’ defective ignition switch has now more than doubled from the company’s original estimate.
Twenty-seven wrongful death claims filed to the company’s victim compensation program have been deemed eligible for payment, according to a weekly update posted on the program’s website on Monday. For months after it began recalling cars with the faulty switch, G.M. estimated that 13 people had died in accidents linked to the defect, though executives held out the possibility that the number could rise.
G.M. has given Kenneth R. Feinberg, the victim compensation expert who is running the company’s payment program, sole discretion to determine the number of eligible claims for deaths and injuries associated with the faulty switch — a flaw that can cause power to cut out in a moving car, disabling air bags, power steering and power brakes. This year, G.M. has recalled 2.6 million cars that could have the faulty switch defect, more than a decade after engineers inside the company first spotted a problem.
As of Friday, the Feinberg program had received a total of 1,371 claims, 178 of them for wrongful deaths, and had accepted a total of 52 claims for payment. Many of the others are still under review, awaiting further evidence. Some have been rejected, though the fund did not report how many.
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Jon L. Gelman of Wayne NJ is the author of NJ Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thompson-Reuters) and co-author of the national treatise, Modern Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thompson-Reuters). 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.
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Senators to FDA: Stronger warning labels needed for e-cigarettes

Today's post was shared by Take Justice Back and comes from thehill.com

Senate Democrats urged the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to require stronger warning labels for e-cigarettes.
Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.) wrote to FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg Thursday asking her to finalize proposed rules to expand the agencies ability to regulate all nicotine products.
The senators wrote that because of a lack of federal regulations, e-cigarette companies are producing their own warning labels that fail to list all of the health threats. They said the pending FDA proposal warning also wouldn’t go far enough.
“In FDA's proposed 'deeming regulation,' the agency includes a warning label for e-cigarettes that does not adequately warn consumers on the known dangers of nicotine use. The proposed label reads 'WARNING: This product contains nicotine derived from tobacco. Nicotine is an addictive chemical,'” the letter stated. “We support requiring a label on nicotine's addictive properties, but we ask the FDA pursue requirements for more extensive warnings that address health risks that e-cigarettes pose.”
More lawmakers have grown concerned over e-cigarette use as nicotine poisoning incidents rise.
The Democratic senators have also introduced the Protecting Children from Electronic Cigarette Advertising Act, which would ban marketing e-cigarettes to minors. 
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Jon L. Gelman of Wayne NJ is the author of NJ Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thompson-Reuters) and co-author of the national treatise, Modern Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thompson-Reuters). 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.
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ISO is failing the standard test

Today's post is shared from ituc-csi.org/
Standards underpinning safety management at work should be a good thing, right? Right – but only if they are good ones. And the draft standard cooked up by the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO), warns ITUC general secretary Sharan Burrow, is far from good.


When the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) decided in 2013 to proceed with its own international standard for an Occupational Health and Safety Management System – ISO 45001 - it knew there were sensitivities.
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) – which “gives an equal voice to workers, employers and governments to ensure that the views of the social partners are closely reflected in labour standards and in shaping policies and programmes” - had earlier made clear the far less transparent ISO shouldn’t be treading on its toes. Unions led by ITUC were similarly alarmed, and objected forcibly to ISO’s intrusion.
ISO, after all, does not have an expert mandate in occupational health and safety, and it doesn’t have to listen to those who have. Its membership is restricted to national standards bodies. These bodies at national level might allow unions and employers a say but they are, like ISO, constituted to set standards for “consumers.” The British Standards Institute (BSI), which chairs and provides the secretariat for the ISO 45,001 standard, has about 10,000 members, few of whom will have worker safety on their...
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Thursday, October 16, 2014

Malala Yousafzai: By the Book

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

The activist and co-author of “I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up for Education and Changed the World” relished “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” the first book she read in the hospital when recovering from an attack by the Taliban. New York Times correspondent Jodi Kantor will continue the conversation with Malala Yousafzai at a Times Talk this evening; click here to watch it live or afterwards.

What book are you reading right now?

I’ve been reading “Of Mice and Men,” by John Steinbeck, which is on the school curriculum. It’s a short book, but it is filled with so much. It really reflects the situation of 1930s America. I was fascinated to learn how women were treated at the time, and what life was like for poor itinerant workers. Books can capture injustices in a way that stays with you and makes you want to do something about them. That’s why they are so powerful.

What’s the last truly great book you read? 

“The Alchemist,” by Paulo Coelho. I like it because it is hopeful and inspiring. It tells the story of a boy who embarks on a journey to find a treasure, but as he goes along, he learns from every part of his journey and every person he meets. In the end, he finds his treasure in a very interesting place. His story tells you that you should believe in yourself and continue your journey.  

Who are your favorite contemporary writers?

Deborah Ellis (author of “Parvana’s Journey”)...

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Workers Need Adequate Protection from Ebola, Infectious Diseases


By Alberto Grant, Jr., Airway Terminal Cleaner, John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York

Dozens of New York area airport workers took part in an awareness training provided by SEIU trainers and healthcare professionals. The training came as workers have revealed their lack of training to deal with infectious diseases in light of the Centers for Disease Control's updated advice on preventing the spread of Ebola in our airports.
I was really glad to know that we would be getting this training, because I don't think we are getting what we need to keep ourselves safe at the airport.
A lot of us are worried about this because we know there's a risk of passengers coming through who have Ebola. The equipment we have is just not good enough to deal with that. Also, this training is more than we've gotten so far from my company. They told us yesterday we should wash our hands and use gloves, and we could get gloves if we asked. I've been working here for a while and just like some contractors, they don't like to buy good equipment.
When we clean the bathrooms, we are exposed to everything, so I am really glad to know that I'm getting this training. In the past, contractors have told us just to wash our hands and use gloves. Cleaning kits are not readily available to protect against the various bodily fluids we encounter every day. Sometimes all we have are paper towels to wipe down the bathrooms.
That can be a real problem because we have to deal with some tough things -- vomit,...
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Scott Walker: I Don't Think Minimum Wage 'Serves A Purpose'

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



V2zq6tczkzigfsiphtkzWisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) seemed to argue that the minimum wage doesn't "serve a purpose."
The topic came up during an interview with an editorial board on on Tuesday.
"Well I'm not going to repeal it but I don't think it serves a purpose because we're debating then about what the lowest levels are at," Walker said during a televised interview with the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. "I want people to make — like I said the other night — two or three times that."
Walker went on to say that the policies his administration has been pushing are meant to raise Wisconsinites above the minimum wage level.
"The jobs I have focused on, the training we've put in place, the programs we've put in place is not for people to get minimum wage jobs," Walker continued. "It's the training whether it's in apprenticeships, whether it's in our tech colleges, or our UW system —it's to try and apply the training, the skills, the talents, the expertise people need to create careers that pay many many times over."
That comment came less than a week after Walker was asked at a debate on Friday about the minimum wage. He refused to give a straight answer on whether it should be increased and instead said that he wanted to create "jobs that pay two or three times the minimum wage."
Walker's opponent, Democratic candidate Mary Burke, meanwhile said she strongly supports raising the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour.
The TPM...
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