In another sign of ongoing risks facing the refining industry and people who live nearby, a fire broke out Wednesday morning at Sunoco Inc.’s Philadelphia oil refinery. It was at least the fourth blaze this year at the plant, which uses a highly toxic acid that threatens more than 1.3 million people in the Philadelphia area.
The EPA aims to clamp down on little-known ingredients found in lithium batteries, inkjet cartridges, brake fluid, paints and carpet cleaners, and used to make prescription drugs, printed circuit boards and microchips.
Logger Jim Armstrong uses a "stroker-delimber" to pick-up a fallen tree, strip it of branches, cut it to length, and stack it, while working in the Stanislaus National Forest near Dorrington, Calif.Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press
The Obama administration wants to eliminate programs aimed at finding new ways to prevent deaths, injuries and illnesses among loggers, farmworkers and commercial fisherman.
A 2009 explosion killed Laura Manis’ husband, Tommy, who worked at an oil refinery that federal regulators considered a "model workplace" for safety. The government gives refiners special scrutiny because of their unique hazards. "Model workplaces" are exempt.PBS
A similar story line has played out at "model workplaces" across the country, even in hazardous industries: Missed opportunities to detect and fix hazards, a serious mishap, safety violations — and continuation of the government’s stamp of approval.
Workers at plants billed as the nation’s safest - and thus exempt from some inspections - are dying in preventable accidents: explosions, chemical releases, crane accidents and machinery-related crushing and asphyxiation.
Mechanical engineer Ali Hassan Cemendtaur was a few feet from a co-worker blown apart in a 2003 explosion. "I consider myself very fortunate that I had this brush with death," he said. "Death did not get me this time.”Fair Warning
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