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Model Workplaces

Eastman Chemical Company's plant in Kingsport, Tenn., is a government-recognized "model workplace." Chris Hamby/iWatch News

New scrutiny of worker safety excludes some chemical plants

By Chris Hamby

Worries about fires, explosions and chemical releases prompted the federal agency in charge of workplace safety on Wednesday to expand a special inspection program focusing on the nation’s chemical plants. Regulators believe the industry is particularly vulnerable to such hazards, meriting the closer attention.

Yet some plants will continue to be shielded from the special inspections, despite past worker deaths, because of their status as “model workplaces.”

“Far too many workers are injured and killed in preventable incidents at chemical facilities around the country,” said David Michaels, the head of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, in announcing the broadening of the pilot program, which began in 2009.

Michaels said inspectors would “cover chemical facilities nationwide to ensure that all required measures are taken to protect workers.”

But the agency opted to exempt sites that participate in its Voluntary Protection Programs, known as VPP. As iWatch News has reported, more than 80 workers have died since 2000 at these sites OSHA has deemed “model workplaces” – from power plants to paper mills and shipyards. 

Companies, however, have rarely faced serious consequences, even when inspectors identified safety violations related to the fatal accident.

The exemption from regular inspections, including those conducted under special emphasis programs, has particular resonance for companies in the chemical manufacturing industry, which is both the target of the new initiative and the largest industry sector in VPP. 

Model Workplaces

Scott Manning died after a preventable leak released toxic chemicals at Eastman Chemical Company’s Kingsport, Tenn., plant - a "model workplace" for safety. Chris Hamby/iWatch News

Deaths at ‘model workplaces’ missing from list of federal overseers

By Chris Hamby

More than 80 workers have died since 2000 at "model workplaces," more than appear in a database of the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Fatal accidents at similar "model workplaces" overseen by 21 states aren't tracked by OSHA at all. Scott Manning wasn't even a number.

Model Workplaces

The Washington, D.C., office of the Labor Department, which houses the Occupational Safety and Health Administration Evan Bush/iWatch News

OSHA acknowledges database of fatal accidents incomplete

By Chris Hamby

Federal workplace safety regulators track deaths at sites deemed exemplary and exempted from regular inspections. But the Occupational Safety and Health Administration admitted recently that its list was incomplete.

Model Workplaces

A Postal Service mail processing center. Ric Francis/AP

Lost letter: How government fails to deliver on worker safety

By Chris Hamby

With one hand, OSHA tries to encourage companies to comply with safety standards through cooperative programs between employers and regulators. With the other, the agency strives to enforce the law through inspections and penalties. At the Postal Service, which has more OSHA-certified "model workplaces" than any other U.S. employer, unaddressed hazards persist.

Fueling Fears

The Marathon Petroleum Company refinery in Catlettsburg, Ky. Vbofficial/Wikimedia Commons

Highly toxic acid used by refineries sends workers to hospital — again

By Chris Hamby

For the second time this year, a cloud of highly toxic acid used at about a third of the nation’s oil refineries has escaped at a Marathon Petroleum Company unit, sending workers to the hospital.

Fueling Fears

Tesoro Corp. refinery in Anacortes, Wash. The gas flare is part of normal plant operations. Ted S. Warren / The Associated Press

IMPACT: Refinery union to seek safety fixes in contract talks

By Corbin Hiar

A major U.S. refinery workers’ union says it will make prevention of catastrophic accidents the centerpiece of upcoming contract talks with oil companies. The union abandoned demands for additional safety measures in their last negotiation.

The United Steelworkers, which represents 30,000 workers at petrochemical facilities nationwide, crafted its bargaining position in response to the sorts of disasters and near-misses profiled in the Fueling Fears series by the Center for Public Integrity’s iWatch News.

The series has found that the nation’s aging refineries are plagued by recurring equipment failures and sometimes-fatal fires, explosions and chemical releases that in many cases could have been prevented.

Specifically, the union is focusing on “process safety management” – steps that refineries can take to reduce the risk of catastrophic accidents, including tough self-inspections of equipment and repairing or replacing it when necessary.

“We’ve got time bombs out there, and we want to have a discussion with [oil companies] about it,” United Steelworkers International Vice President Gary Beevers, lead negotiator for the union, said last week. “We’ve got problems in these old refineries and we need changes…Partnering with this industry to make these refineries safer is my number one goal.”

Fueling Fears

An ExxonMobil refinery in Bayton, Texas. AP file photo

Safety risks underscored by violations at ExxonMobil refinery

By Alexandra Duszak

As an investigation by the Center for Public Integrity’s iWatch News has shown, oil refining is one of the country’s most dangerous industries, where even seemingly small recurring events such as equipment breakdowns and fires can have fatal consequences.

090511 Hamby tweet Philly refinery

Sunoco getting out of oil refining: http://ow.ly/6mHS0. Meaning this refinery in Philadelphia will be sold or shuttered: http://ow.ly/6mHYk
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Perils of the New Pesticides

Head lice Gilles San Martin/Flickr

A crawling issue: Head lice treatments worse than the pest itself?

By Jeremy Borden

As many as 12 million young children get head lice every year. Most parents are not aware that the regular remedies contain pesticides like lindane, permethrin and malathion.

Public HealthHealth and Safety

Acme Ink tattoo parlor in Louisville, Ky. The Pug Father/Flickr CC

Inkling of concern: Chemicals in tattoo inks face scrutiny

By Brett Israel

The End Is Near tattoo parlor in South Park Slope could pass for one of the neighborhood's upscale boutiques. Local artwork covers the light blue walls. Ornate body jewelry fills a glass showcase. A stuffed badger greets visitors. There's just one thing that gives the parlor away – the unmistakable electric hum of a tattoo needle.

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