Tag Archives: OSHA


Why Do Roofers Fall From Roofs? Is it just because of gravity?

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Today’s post comes from guest author Jon Gelman from Jon Gelman, LLC – Attorney at Law.

Today I received an urgent call from attorney representing a client in New Jersey who fell from a roof. Before she told me the job description of the injured worker, now in a coma, I correctly anticipated that it was probably a roofer who had fallen from a roof, yet again.

This scenario has played out in workers’ compensation claims for decades. How the accident happened is usually an argument with the employer. The employer claims that the employee was either intoxicated or not following safety precautions. My instinct always tell me that this is probably incorrect, since roofers tend to lose their balance and fall for many other reasons, including “gravity.”  Some reason a deprivation of oxygen and/or exposure to toxic neurological irritants contained in the roofing materials, and weather related events that make roofs slippery.

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Let OSHA Do Its Job

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OSHA is being prevented from fulfilling its mission.

Today’s post comes from guest author Paul J. McAndrew, Jr. from Paul McAndrew Law Firm.

In 1970, Congress passed the Occupational Safety & Health Act (the Act), which created the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA). Among other things, the Act requires every employer to provide a safe workplace. To help employers reach this goal, OSHA promulgated hundreds of rules in the decade after it was created. OSHA’s rulemaking process has, however, slowed to a trickle since then.  

While the National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health recently identified over 600 toxic chemicals to which workers are exposed, in the last 16 years OSHA has added only two toxic chemicals to its list of regulated chemicals. This is because Congress, Presidents and the courts have hamstrung OSHA. For example, in March 2001 the Bush Administration and a Republican Congress effectively abolished OSHA’s ergonomics rule, a rule the agency had worked on for many years. 

These delays and inactions have caused more than 100,000 avoidable workplace injuries and illnesses.

These delays and inactions have caused more than 100,000 avoidable workplace injuries and illnesses. Workers are being injured and killed by known hazardous circumstances and OSHA can’t act.

Congress and the President need to break this logjam – we need to free OSHA to do its job of safeguarding workers.

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Cancer Risk, Workplace Carcinogens and a Government Report

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Today’s post comes from guest author Rod Rehm from Rehm, Bennett & Moore.

Our law firm recently completed successful litigation involving eight families against various chemical companies. A member of each family got cancer from working at a local plant where industrial solutions were used to make rubber products.

Stating the obvious, cancer is universally bad, regardless of how much money a person has; what their religious or political views are; how old they are; or how/where/why they got cancer. That being said, I think workers especially need to be aware of the dangers and exposures to carcinogens that can occur because of chemicals in the workplace. According to a United States Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) website, “Carcinogens are agents that can cause cancer. In industry, there are many potential exposures to carcinogens. Generally, workplace exposures are considered to be at higher levels than for public exposures. Material safety data sheets (MSDSs) should always contain an indication of carcinogenic potential.” 

Respected colleague Jon Gelman from New Jersey shares his thoughts on the subject in this blog post at http://workers-compensation.blogspot.com/2012/10/romney-regulation-risk-of-cancer.html. And I thank him for sharing the op-ed resource from a recent Sunday’s edition of The New York Times. 

According to the Times piece, lobbyists associated with the chemical industry want to “shoot the messenger” by limiting or getting rid of the U.S. government’s Report on Carcinogens. Because if workers don’t know about carcinogens in their workplace, they won’t get cancer? Or more accurately, at least they won’t be able to tie that cancer to their workplace? Tell that to the American Cancer Society, whose web site includes a page specific to carcinogens and uses various sources, both national and international, to determine what carcinogens are.

Mr. Gelman also mentions in his blog post that certain lobbyists and politicians want to limit the regulation of these chemicals, which the Times story calls “scientific consensus” for their listing as cancer-causing carcinogens. It’s very challenging for consumers to know what substances, either naturally occurring or made by humans are safe to eat and use. To take that confusion into the workplace by limiting the information available to workers to be as safe as possible in their jobs, especially when long-term consequences like cancer are a possibility, is a shame.

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Death On The Job – AFL-CIO’s Releases Its 21st Annual Report

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Today’s post comes from guest author Edgar Romano from Pasternack Tilker Ziegler Walsh Stanton & Romano.

The AFL-CIO has released its 2012 report on worker fatalities which also examines the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA’s) role in ensuring safe workplaces. The AFL-CIO has been producing this report for 21 years, and we hope they continue to do so.

Since Congress passed the Occupational Safety and Health Act in 1970, workplace safety and health conditions have improved. But too many workers remain at serious risk of injury, illness or death.

In 2010, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 4,690 workers were killed on the job—an average of 13 workers every day—and an estimated 50,000 died from occupational diseases. Workers suffer an additional 7.6 million to 11.4 million job injuries and illnesses each year. The cost of job injuries and illnesses is enormous— Continue reading »

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Tom Domer Quoted On Workplace Deaths In Workers’ Compensation System

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Attorney Tom Domer

Recently our own Tom Domer was quoted in the Oshkosh Northwestern in an article entitled “Special Report: Wisconsin Companies Insulated From Stiff Penalties In Worker Deaths.” The article, based on a review by the paper of 240 workplace fatalities in Wisconsin over an 11-year period, exposed that the fines imposed by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) on companies have been small and are often negotiated down from an already low starting point. Of the 240 workplace fatalities, fines were assessed in just 184 cases, and the median fine was a mere $4,200.

While workplace deaths have dropped dramatically since OSHA implementation in the 1970s, tragedies still occur.  OSHA’s limited penalty mechanisms in these cases “cheapens” the value of life. Wisconsin’s workers’ compensation system also protects employer’s against bad behavior.  A death benefit in Wisconsin is equal to four times the deceased’s annual wages, but the deceased’s family members cannot bring a personal injury claim agains the employer (meaning no recovery for pain and suffering or loss of consortium).  Under the worker’s compensation law, the only “fine” against the employer is a potential safety violation (with a minimal $15,000 cap). In Tom’s words “No matter how evil, nefarious or even negligent an employer is, there is no lawsuit potential.” Tom further remarked that “The law unfortunately protects employers even against their own negligence.”

We recommend that you read the article in its entirety by clicking here.

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Too Much Government Regulation?

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Last week in Chicago I participated in a conference for the Work Injury Law and Advocacy Group (WILG). I have been a Board member since its inception in 1996, and edit its national magazine Workers’ First Watch. The conference commemorated the 40th anniversary of the 1972 Commission on Worker’s (then Workmen’s) Compensation. The conference presenters, Republican appointees of the Nixon administration, concluded that only a few of the 18 basic recommendations for injured workers (sufficient and timely benefits, medical care, etc) had been reached.

One lonely success story was the OSHA record. Nick Walters, a Regional Director of OSHA, presented devastating news for the “we need less government” crowd. He noted before OSHA was created in 1970, fourteen thousand Americans died annually on the job. Forty years later, in 2010, based in large part on OSHA safety regulations, work related deaths were reduced by 70%. For those on the “job-killing regulation” bandwagon, the undeniable fact is that OSHA is helping prevent employers from killing workers. Additionally, a recent Harvard-Berkley study indicated a Continue reading »

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Unsafe Workplaces Equal More Injuries.

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Unsafe Working ConditionsThe connection between unsafe workplaces and the increased frequency of work injuries seems like a no brainer. A study released by NCCI Holdings indicated worker’s compensation claims rose by 3% during 2010 (the first rise in frequency in over a dozen years). The study attributed the increased frequency to several factors

Because of these repeat violations,OSHA cited United Contracting and placed the firm on its “Severe Violator Enforcement Program”

including increases in employment since the onset of the recession in 2008, workers possibly being less fearful of losing their jobs for filing claims, and a lack of light duty jobs to which injured workers could return because of the poor economy.

One factor not referenced is the connection between increasingly unsafe work environments and work injuries. Two recent news stories in Wisconsin underscored this connection. OSHA fined a Wisconsin contractor $150,000

for violations while working on two bridges along highways in Wisconsin. The violation is more alarming because the contractors were working under a State contract to repaint the bridges. OSHA charged that the company did not have proper scaffolding at the bridges exposing workers to falls, and in fact one worker was injured in June after falling from a scaffold at one of the bridges. Because of these repeat violations, Continue reading »

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