Last year, Brady Enterprises of Weymouth, MA was fined $66,500 after an employee was caught in a labeling machine while cleaning it. OSHA’s inspection found that the labeling machine’s moving parts were not guarded and its power source had not been shut down and locked out before cleaning. Brady Enterprise had already been cited for failure to follow OSHA’s lockout/tagout requirements in 2006, when a worker lost parts of two fingers in a machine.
On December 30, OSHA celebrated 40 years of preventing countless work-related injuries, illnesses, and occupational fatalities. Yet all too often, workplace safety is treated as a political wedge issue, not as a major bipartisan priority. As a result, OSHA too many employers flout labor laws, and too many lives are lost at workplaces throughout the nation.
“In 2010, we saw some of the deadliest workplace disasters in recent history,” said Tom O’Connor, executive director of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (COSH). Unfortunately, because Congress failed to act this year on legislation that would have protected American workers, we can expect more of the same [in 2011].”
“The need for increased protections could not be any clearer,” said MassCOSH labor-environment coordinator and COSH president Tolle Graham. “National political leadership needs to recognize that the outdated Occupational Safety and Health Act needs a major overhaul since its creation almost half a century ago. Nearly 5,000 workers died on the job in 2010, a staggering figure for the richest, most technologically advanced country in the world.”
To illustrate the need for increased worker protections, COSH has compiled the top five most deadly workplace incidents that took place this past year. Every one of these sad events could have been prevented if OSHA was granted the increased oversight over workplaces workers has been demanding for decades.
1. April 20, 2010 – Deepwater Horizon explosion. An explosion at the
Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico killed 11 workers, injured 17 others and resulted in the largest oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry. Media reports indicate that management knew key safety equipment had been compromised in earlier incidents, but chose to ignore the significance and continue operations.
2. April 5, 2010 – Upper Big Branch mine explosion, Montcoal, W.Va. An explosion at the
Upper Big Branch mine in Raleigh County, W.Va., killed 29 workers. The accident represents the worst mining disaster in the U.S. since 1970. Public documents show that the mine’s owner, Massey Energy, has a long record of safety violations at the Upper Big Branch mine.
3. Feb. 7, 2010 – Kleen Energy Power Plant, Middletown, Conn. Contract workers at the
Kleen Energy plant were performing a “gas blow,” a procedure that uses natural gas at very high pressure to clean pipes of debris. During the process, the gas encountered an ignition source resulting in a massive explosion, killing six workers and injuring 30 others. Following its in-depth investigation, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) called natural gas blows “inherently unsafe practices” and called for the immediate ban on the procedure.
4. April 2, 2010 – Tesoro Refining & Marketing Company, Anacortes, Wash. A ruptured heat exchanger at the
Tesoro Refinery caused an enormous explosion that rocked the plant and killed seven workers. A 6-month long investigation by Washington state OSHA personnel determined that the explosion could have been prevented if the company had carried out proper testing and maintenance of the equipment.
5. Dec. 9, 2010 – AL Solutions Plant, New Cumberland, W.Va. An explosion of undetermined origin killed two brothers working at the plant and injured a third worker. According to media accounts, the AL Solutions plant has earned a reputation as a “dangerous place to work” and the deaths of the two brothers represent the third and fourth deaths, respectively, at the plant in the last 15 years.
