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New scrutiny of worker safety excludes some chemical plants

By Chris Hamby

Worries about catastrophes at chemical plants prompts special inspection program, but some sites remain off-limits.

Excerpts from this story referencing "chemical facilities":

"… “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 S …"

"… pilot program, which began in 2009.Michaels said inspectors would “cover chemical facilities nationwide to ensure that all required measures are taken to protect worke …"

IMPACT: Agency task force conducting ‘top-to-bottom review’ of ‘model workplaces’ program

By Chris Hamby

A federal task force is conducting a “top-to-bottom review” of a program that exempts “model workplaces” from regular safety inspections.

Inspector general to examine ‘model workplaces’ program

By Chris Hamby

Labor's Inspector General will examine a federal 'model workplaces' program highlighted in Center investigation
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Massachusetts workers killed, injured at facilities touted as 'Model Workplaces'

By Beverly Ford

Safety risks, injuries and even fatalities plague Mass. worksites touted by OSHA as among the nation's safest

In U.S. Steel town, fatal gas explosion goes unpunished by OSHA

By Jim Morris

The 2009 death of Nick Revetta exposes flaws in the system designed to protect American workers.

Unchecked dust explosions kill, injure hundreds of workers

By Chris Hamby

After bureaucratic hurdles, industry pushback and political calculations, there is no fix in sight.
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OSHA whistleblower wins court victory

By Jim Morris

A federal court found that Robert Whitmore, an OSHA economist, was fired for raising concerns about flawed injury and illness data.

OSHA rules on workplace toxics stalled

By Jim Morris

Rules that would reduce worker exposures to two well-known lung hazards, beryllium and silica, are stuck in the regulatory pipeline.

OSHA reforms Voluntary Protection Programs

By Alice Su

Labor Department official announces changes to a program that rewards supposedly safer-than-average workplaces

Black lung surges back in coal country

By Chris Hamby

Despite decades-old law, cheating, legal loopholes expose miners to deadly dust.

Excerpts from this story referencing "miner":

"… compensate him for the disease that steals his breath — the old bane of miners known as black lung. In mid-century, when Marcum worked, dust filled the …"

"… Marcum worked, dust filled the mines, largely uncontrolled. Almost half of miners who worked at least 25 years contracted the disease. Amid strikes through …"

"… before we learned more about it,” Rasmussen, now 84 and still diagnosing miners, said in a recent interview at his office in Beckley, W.Va. “I was dead …"

"… nbsp;resurgence represents a failure to deliver on a 40-year-old pledge to miners in which few are blameless, an investigation by the Center for Public Int …"

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