Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH
of Lecturer, Texas State University & Professorial Lecturer Milken Institute School of Public Health.
cmonforton
Posts by this author
July 15, 2016
What kind of deal should OSHA cut with an employer after one of his workers has a foot amputated because of an improperly guarded conveyor?
A couple of years later at the same worksite this happens: Both legs of another employee are amputated because of unguarded equipment. What should the deal be…
July 13, 2016
Advocates for government transparency, including journalists and watchdog groups, were pleased to witness President Obama signed the FOIA Improvement Act. He did so on June 30 without fanfare. After it was signed into law, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (RCFP) commented:
“The…
July 8, 2016
Citizens shot by police. Police shot by citizens. Citizens shot by citizens.
Too many victims. Terror. Tears.
Somebody else's neighborhood. Never in mine.
Racism, disrespect, mental illness, hatred, anger, economic inequality, hopelessness.
Rationalizing? History. Reality.
##
The Gun Violence…
July 6, 2016
The maximum civil monetary penalty for a serious violation of an OSHA regulation will increase on August 1 from $7,000 to 12,471. Congress directed this and other changes to OSHA’s penalty as part of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015. The penalty amounts of other Labor Department agencies are also…
June 28, 2016
Eric McClellan’s work-related death could have been prevented. That’s how I see the findings from Virginia-OSHA in the agency’s citations against his employer Reynolds Metals, a subsidiary of Alcoa.
The 55 year-old was working in November 2015 at the company’s plant in Chesterfield County, Virginia…
June 27, 2016
The Supreme Court of Canada ruled this month that breast cancer can be considered work-related under the country’s workers’ compensation law. The 7-1 ruling supported the case of three women who were employed as lab technicians at a hospital in British Columbia. Over a 20 year period, exposures in…
June 23, 2016
Priorities for a successor? That’s what I wondered when I reviewed the worker safety topics on the OSHA's latest regulatory agenda which was issued last month. In addition to rulemaking projects already identified by the agency, I count five new topics listed on the agenda for possible future…
June 22, 2016
President Obama signed into law today a bill to improve the way toxic substances are regulated and allowed into products that enter our homes, schools, and workplaces. The Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act is the first amendment in 40 years to the Toxic Substances Control…
June 17, 2016
Factcheck.org has a growing list of Donald Trump's erroneous statements. But it's not the only source for dissecting Trump's uninformed and ignorant statements. On the topic of asbestos, I can't think of anyone better to school the Republican candidate than a strong woman who is a widow because of…
June 14, 2016
Kenneth Schultz work-related death could have been prevented. That’s how I see the findings of California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) in the agency’s recent citations against his employer, Labor Ready.
The 56 year-old was working in October 2015 at a construction project in Oceanside, CA. It’s the site of a…
June 9, 2016
A major health and environmental law is headed to the President’s desk for his signature. The Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety Act passed the US Senate this week by a bipartisan voice vote, and earlier passed the House by an overwhelming 403-12 margin. Science magazine’s Puneet Kollipara wrote…
June 8, 2016
When you retire, would you spend the time and the gas to drive 70 miles several times a week to your former worksite to ensure the company is following the law? The Huffington Post’s Dave Jamieson profiles a 62-year old Kentucky coal miner who does exactly that.
Flip Wilson worked as a coal miner…
June 2, 2016
Agrey Emile Coudakpo, 32, suffered fatal traumatic injuries on Friday, May 27 while working at Hanson Concrete Products. WBFF reports:
Howard County (Maryland) police say the victim “died after becoming trapped in a piece of heavy machinery.”
Police and fire units were dispatched at about 5:20 a.m…
May 25, 2016
The food safety group Food & Water Watch (FWW) is publicizing data listing the companies and brands of chicken and turkey that have adopted the USDA's controversial "modernized" inspection system. The New Poultry Inspection System (NPIS) shifts responsibility for inspections from USDA…
May 19, 2016
I heard the headline from CBS News on my car radio:
“NTSB to cite operator error in deadly Amtrak derailment.”
The news story came on the eve of the National Transportation Safety Board’s (NTSB) public hearing regarding the May 2015 disaster outside of Philadelphia. The derailment killed eight…
May 16, 2016
The US Chamber of Commerce says it will “falsely brand” a company as unsafe. The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) says it will “lead to unfair and unnecessary public shaming” of businesses. Both groups are referring to a new regulation issued last week by OSHA. The rule to improve…
May 11, 2016
It wasn’t too long ago that OSHA issued a citation to Allen Harim Foods, a poultry producer in Delaware, for failing to give their workers access to the bathroom.
“Employees were not granted permission to use them [toilets] and/or were not replaced at their lines, waiting up to 40 minutes to use…
May 6, 2016
Henry William Gray, 56, suffered fatal traumatic injuries on Monday, May 2 while working at an excavation site in Denver, Iowa. The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports:
The incident occurred at about 11:30 am.
"Crews were doing excavating work when a wall collapsed.”
The location is a “historic…
May 3, 2016
Justin ‘J.D.’ Jorgensen’s work-related death could have been prevented. That’s how I see the findings of Iowa OSHA in the agency’s recent citations against his employer, JRS Excavating.
The 30 year-old was working with a crew in a residential area in Altoona, IA. They were digging water and sewer…
April 29, 2016
If only The Pump Handle had a crew of correspondents to report from the many Worker Memorial Day events held this past week. If you attended a Worker Memorial Day event, I’m calling on you to share some highlights from it in the comment section below.
I spent time in Houston, TX where Mayor…
April 29, 2016
There was an amazing scene this week at the annual meeting of DuPont shareholders. The reporting by Jeff Mordock of the The News-Journal made me feel like I was in the room witnessing it for myself.
Mordock writes:
“DuPont Co.'s safety record - not its upcoming $130 billion merger with The Dow…
April 25, 2016
During 1999-2000, reporter Andrew Schneider blew the lid off the asbestos disaster in Libby, Montana. Schneider’s original stories, published in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, drew national attention to the public health catastrophe in the town. The culprit was the W.R. Grace Company, with…
April 22, 2016
Tim Cooper’s work-related death could have been prevented. That’s how I see the findings from OSHA in the agency’s citations against his employer Independence Tube.
The 49 year-old was working in October 2015 at the company’s plant in Decatur, Alabama. The initial press reports indicated that…
April 20, 2016
“Bad math” and “slippery language” is how Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI) characterized some of the testimony at this week’s congressional hearing on OSHA’s silica regulation. It was a hearing before the Subcommittee on Workforce Protections of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, and…
April 15, 2016
Nurses and other healthcare workers joined Members of Congress yesterday at a news conference to discuss violence on the job in the healthcare industry. Ms. Helene Andrews, RN recalled being assaulted by a 25 year old psychiatric patient at Danbury Hospital. She was handing him mediation and a…
April 13, 2016
Joshua Halphin, 25, suffered fatal traumatic injuries on Thursday, March 24 while working at a construction project in Springfield, MO. The News-Leader reported first:
[The victim] “…was off-loading supplies from a lift onto the fifth floor of the complex when he lost his balance and fell.”
The…
April 6, 2016
Beware residents and workers in San Antonio, TX: Some companies in your town are chronic and willful violators of rules to protect people from asbestos.
One Eighty Construction, Roscoe Properties, and Varco Renovations come to my attention just in time for Global Asbestos Awareness Week (April 1-7…
April 6, 2016
It’s been six years and one day since 29 men were killed by a coal-dust explosion at former Massey Energy’s Upper Big Branch mine (UBB). Today, U.S. District Judge Irene Berger sentenced the company’s former CEO Don Blankenship for his practices that contributed to the disaster. Berger order him to…
April 1, 2016
I spend a lot of time each March preparing to commemorate Worker Memorial Day on April 28. I end up reading way too many news stories about workers who were killed on-the-job. I search here and there trying to identify the victims by name and figure out the circumstances that contributed to their…
March 28, 2016
Last Thursday, OSHA announced a new standard to protect workers who are exposed to respirable crystalline silica. Here are some of my favorite quotes and remarks in response to OSHA's news:
“Safety advocates worked for years to get this rule in place. Controlling silica dust is especially important…