Concerns -- News & Commentary

• 2006 March 1 -  OSHA Issues Final Standard on Hexavalent Chromium - [February 28, 2006] Workplace Rules on Chromium Intake Revised - "The Labor Department reduces the maximum acceptable levels of exposure to hexavalent chromium. It's a metal breathed in by jewelers, steelworkers and welders. The new limit is five times higher than what was recommended two years ago." -- by Elizabeth Shogren…click here to listen on National Public Radio. 
  
  

  The new standard is not nearly protective enough..."That means, to put it frankly, that people will die." - Mike Wright, Director, USW Health, Safety & Environment Department

• 2006.Feb 16 - USW Unveils Website on DuPont's Safety Failures - The USW launched a website that reveals facts about DuPont's record on health and safety at the plants and communities in which it operates...click here to visit website.
• 2006.Feb 7 - MSHA Pursues New Mine Evacuation Rules - Special Rulemaking Action Used Only Twice Before
  WASHINGTON - David G. Dye, acting assistant secretary of labor for mine safety and health, today announced that the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) is pursuing a rarely-used emergency temporary standard to better protect miners and help them safely evacuate a mine during an emergency. The emergency temporary standard rulemaking process has been used only twice before by MSHA. http://www.msha.gov/MEDIA/PRESS/2006/NR060207.asp
• 2006.Jan - EPA proposes weakening Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) reporting
  See Docket ID No. TRI-2005-0073
  See the USW letter dated Jan 12, 2006 to EPA 
• 2005.June 29 - "Lessons from Texas City," Confined Space, News and Commentary on Workplace & Safety, Labor and Politics by Jordan Barab - "The lesson here for workers and investigators is that major alarm bells should go off any time you read that the cause of an accident was 'worker error.' Keep asking why the worker made the alleged mistake, and with every answer, ask why again until you reach a point where nothing can be done to correct the problem."
  
  

  "Otherwise, the real cause of the incidents will never be revealed, and to paraphrase George Santayana, 'Those who do not learn the real causes of accidents are condemned to repeat them.'"

2006.3.1