It will now be easier for the government to inspect shops where workers might get exposed to lung-damaging silica dust. But it's unclear how much it will affect countertop workers.
The story of the first worker in the U.S. to suffer lung damage after cutting a new kind of countertop material shows the way a workplace hazard emerged in this country.
In a letter, they urge the Labor Department to ensure safe levels of silica dust at workplaces that cut popular "engineered stone." At least 18 workers have recently suffered severe lung damage.
Irreversible lung disease has started to show up among young workers who cut, grind and polish countertops made of increasingly popular "engineered" stone. The material is more than 90% silica.
The Trump administration says its crackdown helps discourage illegal immigration. But workers' advocates warn it leaves vulnerable employees open to exploitation and unsafe working conditions.
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Employers who contest citations from the Nevada Occupational Safety and Health Administration receive reduced fines about half the time.
Labor statistics specialists under George W. Bush and Barack Obama warn that if the safety regulation is repealed, record keeping on worker injuries will become less accurate and less reliable.
Oil worker Dustin Bergsing, 21, was found dead on top of a North Dakota oil tank in 2012. A journalist and a doctor looking into the death found a pattern of similar fatal accidents.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration will begin enforcing safe patient handling practices to prevent hospital workers from suffering debilitating injuries.
