Tag Archives: OSHA

Welders Exposed To Increased Risk Of Parkinson’s Even If Manganese Within Legal Limits

Posted on February 16, 2017 by Jon Rehm

Welders have an increased risk of Parkinson’s even if manganese exposure is within legal limits according to a recent article in the on-line journal Neurology, which is the journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

Welders who did flux core arc welding in confined spaces were particularly vulnerable to Parkinson’s according to the study. Workers in Nebraska who would attempt to get compensation for manganese exposure would face problems if the onset of symptoms happened after an employee stopped working. A court case in Nebraska held that an employee who didn’t experience symptoms of an occupational disease until after he retired was not entitled to be compensated because he wasn’t earning wages when the injury manifested. Welders and others who are exposed to manganese on a regular basis should recognize the early symptoms of Parkinson’s such as tremors, difficulty sleeping, constipation and loss of smell and report these symptoms to their doctors and employers as soon as possible so they can be treated under workers compensation and receive workers compensation disability benefits.

The study comes on the heel of a final flurry of OSHA rule making at the Obama administration. In May 2016 OSHA finally adopted a silica exposure rule for workers exposed to sand particles which can cause lung problems. Earlier this month OSHA lowered exposure thresholds for berrylium which is another pulmonary hazard, particularly for construction workers.

The example of beryiluim could explain why exposure to manganese levels at supposedly safe levels can lead to occupational disease. Those supposedly safe levels of exposure may not actually be safe. Another explanation about why supposedly safe levels of manganese lead to Parkinson’s could be found in the practices of the coal industry. Howard Berkes of NPR and Ken Ward Jr., author of the excellent Coal Tattoo blog for the Charleston (WV.) Gazette Mail teamed up to report on how coal companies would fudge coal dust level testing to make it appear that miners were exposed to much lower levels of coal dust than they were actually exposed.

OSHA’s rules could also be reversed by Congress under the Congressional Review Act. In 2001, the OSHA ergonomics rule that would have reduced musculo-skeletal injuries was reversed under this law.

Why Immigration Policy Changes Probably Will Impact Workers Compensation

Posted on January 30, 2017 by Jon Rehm

In theory, the changes to immigration policy proposed by President Trump shouldn’t impact workers compensation in Nebraska. Workers compensation laws are state laws and Nebraska, like most states, awards workers compensation benefits regardless of immigration status.

But theory is one things and reality is another.

Mike Elk of Payday Report recently ran an article detailing that workplace deaths among Latinos were the highest in 2015 than they had been since 2007. This spike was attributed in part to aggressive immigration enforcement by the Obama administration which immigrant advocates believed made workers afraid to speak out about working conditions over fear of deportation.

During the Obama administration tougher immigration policies were at least coupled with tougher and even innovative workplace safety enforcement by OSHA. In the Trump era, workplace safety enforcement is expected to be curtailed and new OSHA rules are poised to be rolled back.

Immigration and workers compensation is often thought of in the context of Mexicans and central Americans working in industries like meatpacking and construction. This is a misconception, the meatpacking industry in Nebraska and elsewhere employs an uncounted but significant number of Somali workers. Somalis are one of seven nationalities banned from entering the United States under President Trump’s order. Ironically Somalis were recruited heavily into meatpacking work after raids during the Bush administration lead to the deportation of Latino meatpacking workers. Somalis had refugee status so there were few questions about their immigration status or eligibility to work legally. Under the new executive order, their immigration status is less secure and they may be less likely to speak out about working conditions.

A smaller but growing number of Cubans are coming to Nebraska for meatpacking work as well. Like Somalis, Cubans are deemed to be refugees so their ability to work lawfully is not a question for employers. However in the waning days of Obama administration, President Obama ended automatic refugee status for Cubans in an effort to normalize relationship with the Castro regime. There was little public outcry over this order like there was for the so-called Muslim Ban. However because of an executive order, Cuban nationals working in Nebraska may be less inclined to speak out about working conditions or claim workers compensation benefits due to newfound uncertainty over their immigration status.

Post-Injury Drug Test? OSHA Says Not So Fast

Posted on October 17, 2016 by Jon Rehm

Workers who report an on-the-job injury may not be subject to mandatory drug testing if a new rule from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration that prohibits blanket post-injury drug tests withstands a court challenge from employers.

In May, OSHA published a rule prohibiting employers from having policies that force employees hurt on the job to take drug tests because of concerns about retaliation. This blog has long recognized the potential for retaliation that mandatory drug tests pose and supports the proposed rule by OSHA. OSHA’s new rule was drafted at roughly the same time as the release of the U.S. Department of Labor report that was critical of the shortcomings in state workers’ compensation systems.

Though OSHA implemented the limits on drug testing to limit retaliation, the rules limiting drug testing also help preserve employee doctor choice, which is an integral part of workers’ compensation law in Nebraska and other states. Many employers will inform employees that they must get drug tested at an occupational medicine clinic if they have a work injury even if workers have a right to see their own doctor. This can lead to employees being forced back to work too soon and or not receiving sufficient treatment for their work injuries. Both the fear of retaliation and the circumvention of doctor choice rules lead the costs of work injuries to be borne by employees, which is a major concern of the Department of Labor.

Due to push back from employers, the rule’s enforcement will be postponed until Nov. 1 and will likely be delayed longer due to a court challenge to the rule. A challenge to a Labor Department rule deeming that home health aides were employees for the purposes of the Fair Labor Standards Act took over a year to work its way through the federal courts, until it was upheld by a federal circuit court in June.

Even if the rule is implemented, post-injury drug testing will not disappear from the workplace. Employers can still test if they have a reasonable suspicion of intoxication or drug use. Most federal and defense contractors will be exempt from the OSHA rule, as well as truckers and railroad employees. Furthermore, in states with drug-free workplace laws, mandatory post-injury testing may still be permitted, depending on the language of the statute. Nebraska allows employers to fire an employee who refuses a lawful request for a drug test. If the new OSHA rule is ultimately upheld by the federal courts, I would expect a push by employers to amend drug-free workplace laws.

Keep Ag Worker Safety in Mind this Harvest Season

Posted on September 22, 2016 by Rod Rehm

As harvest kicks off on the Great Plains, please take the time to be safe and make sure you understand the safety policies of your business, whether you’re a worker, a supervisor, or the employer.

The information and resources below are a sometimes-stark reminder of the need for safety all year when it comes to agricultural jobs, especially at harvest, when long hours and the urgency of the time available all affect a person’s decision-making abilities.

First, here’s a summary of a news release from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigation that was the result of an elevator supervisor’s death in a soybean bin in March of this year. Sympathies go to the “41-year-old elevator superintendent’s” loved ones. This person’s death is especially tragic because Cooperative Producers Inc. has been cited seven times since 2011 for grain handling safety violations. This most recent violation resulted in a proposed fine of $411,540 and also earned the Hastings, Nebraska-based company a spot in OSHA’s Severe Violator Enforcement Program.

In this most recent incident, the worker was with two others in a soybean bin, and he “suffocated when his lifeline tangled in an unguarded and rotating auger,” according to the news release.

“OSHA investigators determined three workers, including the elevator superintendent, had been standing over the unguarded auger using a pole in an attempt to dislodge soybean debris in a grain bin that contained more than 50,000 bushels of soybeans sloped 12 to 20 feet up its walls.

“During its investigation, the agency found CPI failed to:

Disconnect a subfloor auger before allowing workers to enter.
Test atmospheric conditions in grain bins before allowing workers to enter.
Implement procedures to prevent sudden machine start-up or unintentional operation, a process known as lockout/tagout.
Install adequate machine guarding to avoid contact with moving parts.”

The Nebraska State Patrol on Twitter at @NEStatePatrol recently shared a news release that focused on being even more careful and aware of other vehicles than usual, which was the other motivation for today’s blog post.

Harvest is really ramping up just in time for the days to get shorter and machinery operators to be traveling to and from the fields at hard-to-see hours, especially dawn, dusk and at night. In addition, with the school year starting recently, more inexperienced drivers are driving with school permits on rural roads and might not be able to react as quickly as other drivers would anticipate.

“Combines, grain carts, tractors, and other agricultural implements typically travel at slower speeds,” according to the patrol’s news release. “Due to their dimensions and loads, operator visibility is often reduced. Motorists are reminded to be aware and utilize caution when approaching, following or passing farm vehicles.

“‘Harvest time means tall crops and often limited visibility at rural intersections,’” said Colonel Brad Rice, superintendent of the Nebraska State Patrol in the news release. “‘Motorists should also be aware of the possibility of wildlife moving around due to the increased activity in the fields.’”

Here are some of the firm’s previous blog posts with additional resources about agricultural jobs and workers’ compensation, grain-handling safety, and harvest.

Please take the time during harvest, and all of the time, to know and follow safety policies and procedures in agricultural jobs. If you’re an employer or manager, it is essential that workers are trained in and implement safety efforts, regardless of the hustle and bustle of the season, harvest or otherwise.

Make sure to contact an experienced workers’ compensation lawyer if you or a loved one has questions about a work-related incident or injury.

Cutting Corners in Construction Costs Lives

Posted on June 23, 2016 by Rod Rehm

Today’s blog post was shared by the U.S. Labor Department and comes from blog.dol.gov

This is quite the article that looks at the journey of keeping one Florida construction company accountable for workers’ safety. The original incident sadly resulted in one worker’s death and 20 workers’ injuries. The company, Southern Pan, when faced with a $125,000 fine, went through the appeals process to try to avoid paying the full fine. The company’s lawyers were successful, so the Labor Department’s lawyers appealed, and after eight years of the process, this happened: “… an administrative law judge affirmed OSHA’s citations and ordered the company to pay the full penalty of $125,000.”

Although this situation happened in Florida, deaths because construction businesses took shortcuts in safety are all too common. Here’s a link to a blog post from 2015 that was a follow up to an OSHA investigation in Nebraska where one worker died and another was seriously injured when their employer didn’t provide any fall protection and the workers fell 16 feet off a roof.

“According to OSHA rules, employers have the responsibility to provide a safe workplace.”

This thought was highlighted in a previous blog post from a guest author Catherine Stanton, who works at a New York City law firm. In her blog post, she wrote about the need for safety enforcement in construction and other industries.

As I wrote in a recent blog post, violating safety codes are unlawful acts.

“As a representative of injured workers, I have seen hundreds, if not thousands, of work injuries or deaths caused by gross disregard of safety codes and regulations by employers.”

If a business follows OSHA regulations – many of these construction deaths, whether in trenches, as a result of falls, or when a company completely disregards the safety of its workers like in Florida – should be preventable.

It would take a much longer discussion to debate how to make these businesses understand even part of the loss that the loved ones of the workers who died feel, and you can read a few thoughts on this topic at this recent blog post. Because everyone should be able to return home to their loved ones after an honest day’s work.

an image of the collapsed parking garage

In the construction industry, precision matters – corners need to be square, lines have to be level and plans must be followed. Following the rules keeps buildings and people safe. But when construction companies cut corners, workers often pay the price.

That is exactly what happened in Jacksonville, Florida, in December 2007. A construction company called Southern Pan thought eliminating basic safety procedures would save time and money. The result? A six-story parking garage came crashing down, killing one worker and injuring 20 others. The worker who was killed, Willie Edwards, was only there that day because he decided to pick up an extra shift to buy Christmas presents for his children.

This horrific tragedy could have been easily avoided.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration enforces construction standards designed to keep workers safe from building collapses like this. To keep a building from collapsing during construction, a process called “shoring” is used, which involves wood or steel beams to help support the weight of concrete and other construction loads.

In violation of OSHA’s construction standards, Southern Pan chose to remove most of the shores from the first two floors of the parking garage, ignoring blueprints that required all shoring to remain from top to bottom until the building was completed. The company then knowingly permitted workers, including Edwards, to work in the…[Click here to see the rest of this post]

Series Shows Reality for Workers at Meatpacking Plants

Posted on June 20, 2016 by Rod Rehm

Here are many recommended reading links for people who care about how workers are treated at places that process the meat that lands on their tables.

I have recently written about how packing plants are still brutal places to work, according to the Government Accountability office, and the articles below reinforce those perceptions.

Harvest Public Media and NET Nebraska recently collaborated on reports that show the reality of life for the majority of people who work in meatpacking plants. Because there is different information in the audio and the written reports, I think it’s best to read and listen to both. The series is appropriately called: Dangerous Jobs, Cheap Meat

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA for short, considers work in food plants to be high-hazard manufacturing industries, and recently completed a 90-day regional emphasis in Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri that focused on such businesses.

Getting hurt working in a meatpacking plant is so common. As a person can read at the links, injury incidents range from repetitive motion problems for workers on the line to a maintenance worker being killed by machinery without the right guards and also amputations for employees struggling to earn a wage and keep up with line speeds.

Even with new reporting requirements that OSHA has, some experts say that injuries are underreported in meatpacking plants. A recent report also showed that working conditions were bad, specifically in poultry plants.

“The rate of meatpacking workers who lose time or change jobs because they’re injured is 70 percent higher than the average for manufacturing workers overall, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics,” as quoted in the NET Nebraska article about safety efforts. However, the article says that “meat processing is drastically safer than it was 20 years ago.”

Knowing that a workplace is safer but is a place where “meat and poultry workers are still hurt more often than other manufacturing workers” is a small assurance to those who work there.

The article talks about how companies are trying to change their culture and safety records.

It’s hard to not be skeptical, as injured workers are rushed back to the line, denied treatment, or fired for being unable to perform their jobs. That’s one reason that we represent meatpacking plant employees and families who suffer a wrongful death.

Greta Horner said this in the article about her husband’s “preventable” death as a maintenance worker at a meatpacking plant, and I firmly believe it.

“They need to realize that everybody that works there is a human being with a life and it’s not just a statistic, it’s a person.

“Their employees aren’t cattle that go through the chutes. They’re people with families.”

Why Not Prosecute Employers for Manslaughter When They Cause Worker Deaths?

Posted on June 16, 2016 by Rod Rehm

Earlier this week, I read a blog post about a contractor facing criminal charges for gross violations of safety regulations leading to the death of an employee in a trench.

Also recently, another blog post describes large Occupational Safety and Health Administration fines levied against Nebraska businesses for serious OSHA violations relating to a cave-in fatality in Alliance, Nebraska.

Several years ago, I represented a young mother who lost her husband in a cave-in that took four lives in Nebraska and resulted in an initial penalty of more than $200,000 for multiple violation of OSHA.

On the way to work the other day, I heard part of an NET series on the radio that talked about the many safety risks in meatpacking plants. What many people don’t know, and that the NET link points out, is that fines are related to the safety problems and violations found, not necessarily related to how badly someone was injured or whether a worker died in the incident that prompted OSHA’s inspection.

“The agency assesses fines based on violations to the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, not based on injuries or fatalities those violations actually cause, (Herb Gibson, OSHA area director for the Denver office) says. A worker death, and possibly a serious worker injury, will spur OSHA into action to conduct an inspection, but a worker death doesn’t necessarily influence the final fine the company pays, even if one of the violations plays a role.

“‘In my personal opinion, the fines could be modified for fatal cases but that’s not what the law — it doesn’t have a separate penalty for a fatality,’ Gibson says. ‘And that would require legislation to change that particular provision.’”

As a representative of injured workers, I have seen hundreds, if not thousands, of work injuries or deaths caused by gross disregard of safety codes and regulations by employers. Trench deaths are an example of such situations. They are highly preventable if OSHA regulations are honored.

Yet, I am unaware of a Nebraska prosecutor filing criminal charges, even though we have statutes supporting such charges.

In Nebraska, one definition of manslaughter states: “A person commits manslaughter if he … causes the death of another unintentionally while in the commission of an unlawful act.”

Violating safety codes or OSHA violations are unlawful acts. Causing human beings to work in trenches that do not follow OSHA is an unlawful act. Why not make examples of businesses that violate safety laws? Perhaps then more employers would treat safety in the workplace with more diligence and respect for workers and their families.

Heat Injuries Are Included in Workers’ Compensation

Posted on June 6, 2016 by Rod Rehm

How is your summer going? Is it hot enough for you? Are you used to the heat yet?

These are all good questions for folks to ask each other as the calendar start of summer is coming. When you and your loved ones work outside, do you take breaks? What kind of training has your employer provided to make sure safety is followed in the outdoor workplace?

This link from the U.S. Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration was found on the Workers’ Injury Law & Advocacy Group’s Twitter feed and has some excellent resources available, including a smartphone app. These key words are really helpful for safety in the summer heat: “Water. Rest. Shade. The work can’t get done without them.” The link also includes educational resources, information about using the heat index, training, and an online toolkit.

Please review and follow these tips with loved ones before someone you know gets overheated this summer. Keep in mind that if a heat-related injury does occur at work, it’s important to talk to an experienced workers’ compensation lawyer for advice on what to do next.

Workers' Compensation Watch

Published by Rehm, Bennett, Moore & Rehm

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Tag Archives: OSHA

Welders Exposed To Increased Risk Of Parkinson’s Even If Manganese Within Legal Limits

Why Immigration Policy Changes Probably Will Impact Workers Compensation

Post-Injury Drug Test? OSHA Says Not So Fast

Keep Ag Worker Safety in Mind this Harvest Season

Cutting Corners in Construction Costs Lives

Series Shows Reality for Workers at Meatpacking Plants

Why Not Prosecute Employers for Manslaughter When They Cause Worker Deaths?

Heat Injuries Are Included in Workers’ Compensation

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