One of the most troubling consequences of BP’s Deepwater Horizon fiasco is the toll it has taken on displaced workers. After the disaster, a moratorium was placed on all deep-water drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, meaning those who rely on rig work for their livelihood are now without a source of income.

At the urging of President Obama – though BP claims the move was entirely voluntary – BP has put forward $100 million to support those displaced workers. The fund will be managed by the Baton Rouge Area Foundation (BRAF) and will be accessed by individual workers who may submit an application beginning on Sept. 1. Grants will pay as much as $30,000 to a qualifying worker.

The official word comes from the Gulf Coast Restoration and Protection Foundation, a branch of BRAF:

Deepwater-rig workers laid off as a result of the recent federal moratorium have a right to be concerned. We understand the financial hardship they face from a decision outside their control. To soften the hardship, BP has donated $100 million to Gulf Coast Restoration and Protection Foundation – a support organization for the Baton Rouge Area Foundation, or BRAF.

BP claims they will make this right and foot the bill – let’s make sure they do. If you’re a misplaced worker or know someone who is, make sure the proper preparations are made so all workers get what they deserve. Below is a list of FAQs provided by BRAF. Visit www.rigreliefgrants.org for more info.

Who qualifies? Under the agreement with BP which established the Rig Worker Assistance Fund, the grant program is limited to people who worked on deepwater rigs on May 6. Based on available information, it’s estimated that up to 9,000 people worked on the 33 deepwater rigs on May 6. If there is money available after the first round of grants, the agreement stipulates a second round of grants may be made to direct support workers.

What are the grant amounts? BP has established a range of $3,000 to $30,000 for the grants. Amounts will be based on financial hardship, which will be determined by several factors, including lost wages and expenses.

What are the key dates? The program will open for applications on Sept. 1. The application period will close Sept. 30. We expect to mail all award checks to approved applicants by Oct. 30.

What’s the phone number to the grant application hotline: The application hotline is (866) 577-8141, and information will be available online at RigReliefGrants.org. Until Sept. 1, the line has a recorded message. On Sept. 1, the line will go live to accept applications. We are hopeful the hotline will begin taking information from applicants before Sept. 1. If the line does go active before then, we will post the information at RigReliefGrants.org.

What can potential applicants do until the application process opens? Rig workers affected by the moratorium should begin gathering documents for the application process. At this time, we expect needed documents will include most recent pay stubs listing year-to-date income, verification of employment on one of the 33 deepwater rigs affected by the moratorium, W-2, 1099 and/or income tax returns for most recent calendar year, information related to spousal income, insurance proceeds, unemployment payments, payments from other relief funds and information about average monthly expenses for at least three months prior to May 6.

How will the grant process work: The Foundation is contracting with a third-party administrator to accept and complete grant applications. The administrator will open a call center at the hotline on Sept. 1 to begin accepting applications. We understand many applicants face financial difficulties so we have made every attempt to keep the grant process as simple as possible while offering extra help to those who may need it. Applications can be initiated online, or applicants can receive a package to be filled and returned by mail or by fax.

What happens after the application? The Foundation will review all applications to determine whether there is financial hardship and, if so, the amount of the grant. Beginning Oct. 4, the Foundation will write and mail grant checks weekly, and expects to mail all award checks to approved applicants by Oct. 30.

Submitted by Patrick McQueen

Since Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis took office in 2009, OSHA has issued citations for 17 egregious violations, a number that more than doubles citations issued by the previous administration. The latest citations include BP Products North America, Kleen Energy, and Cooperative Plus and have often been accompanied by record-setting fines. OSHA is proud of its recent increase in citations, saying that they are ever-more vigilant in holding those companies who choose to put their employees in danger accountable. These egregious violations refer to companies who put their employees in harm in a deliberate way, ignoring previous citations and safety standards, and flagrantly continuing to lets hazardous situations persists. The citations are therefore all the more important, targeting companies who have already expressed that they are unwilling to protect their employees without a measure of government-enforced motivation. And so, OSHA continues to hold these companies accountable.

“We will not tolerate this type of blatant and egregious disregard for the health and safety of workers,” said OSHA Assistant Secretary David Michaels. “Employers need to know there will be consequences.”

Do you feel reassured by OSHA’s citations? Is there more they can do? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Submitted by Andrew Fatato.

According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, the first half of 2010 has seen an average of 187 people, per month, die in industrial accidents in China. It is a distressing trend as many industrial complexes there sit in the middle of large urban centers. As a result, when something goes wrong at the plant, the causalities in the surrounding communities become unnecessarily high.

China has already seen a host of serious industrial disasters this year. In one incident, 1,000 containers of 160,000 kilograms of trimethylchlorosilicane (a dangerous chemical that, when mixed with water produces hydrochloric acid) was washed into the Songhua River. Additionally, this month, in the Fujian province, a mining company inadvertently allowed the collapse of their wastewater basin, killing a significant amount of the fish in the Songhua river.

In another incident, a propylene-gas line in a plastics factory in Nanjing exploded killing at least 12, and injuring hundreds. The blast destroyed several hundred feet around the plant, sending so many to the local hospital that they begin to run out of blood. 

Unfortunately, this trend of industrial accidents is not unexpected. With a Chinese government in thick collusion with the corporations, there is little accountability for safety standards. And, further, most of these complexes have been placed within large, urban areas, making the consequences for accidents far worse. The minute incentive to run a safe plant is further deteriorated by the population‘s desperation for jobs. The people will work in these dangerous environments because they simply need the money.

China is a harsh reminder of what can happen when safety standards are allowed to become lax. What do you think about the way workers are treated in China? What do you think about the standards we’ve set up in the US? How can we insure we don’t slide into more dangerous workplace trends? Let us know in the comments below.

Submitted by Andrew Fatato.

OSHA, through a recent directive, has expanded their National Emphasis Program to include facilities with highly toxic or flammable materials and chemicals. The hope is that with this new expansion, inspections will be able to curb the sorts of devastating accidents these materials can cause when improperly handled. OSHA cites the 1991 explosion at the Agnus Chemical Company/IMC Fertilizer Group plant in Louisiana. 8 workers were killed and 120 were injured at an explosion at the plant, and OSHA fined the company $11.5 million, one of their highest penalties.

The new directive will make sure that companies have process safety management programs in place to prevent these sorts of accidents. OSHA provides resources for the establishment of process safety management programs at a designated site. The site offers a catalogue of regulations governing the control of hazardous materials in the workplace as well as training programs for workers and managers. They also provide very specific instructions on how to recognize and contain hazardous materials as well as important evaluation rubrics for safety standards in the workplace.

Do you think this new directive will affect you or your plant? Do you think your plant may be violating any of these regulations? Do you find it useful that OSHA provides such easy access to their materials? Let us know in the comments below.

Submitted by Andrew Fatato.

Every day for 30 years I drove past the memorial where the unidentified remains of the victims of the 1947 Texas City explosion are buried. 600 people were killed and thousands were injured. It served as a reminder to me as I headed for work each day how hazardous a job I had.

My memory of the first day of training was very frightening. The instructors gave us handouts and talked about past incidents explaining what went wrong and what has been done to prevent reoccurrences. I went home that afternoon overwhelmed and to tell you the truth I did not share the day’s experience with my wife who would soon give birth to our first child. First I did not want to frighten her about the hazards and secondly I really needed the job especially with the insurance we so desperately needed.

During the classroom training the instructors kept sharing personal experiences and lessons learned around each topic. The training on such subjects as physics, chemical reactions, and even the boiling of water were laced with what has or could go wrong.

Finally when the classroom was finished and I was assigned to a process unit. The stories of failures and near fatalities continued. All of the “old timers” I worked with could recount where they were or what they were doing the day of the 1947 explosion. Some were at work, others were still in school or they lost loved ones but it seemed like everyone had a story to tell. I must say the “Fear Factor” was vivid in their minds and they wanted it in ours too.

Sadly to say things changed. Before long the intuitional memory retired and the stories seemed to disappear. The lessons learned were soon replaced with computer based training that is so very impersonal and professionally done with actors. No longer did the new guys hear the stories told with a tear in the eye from survivors as they remembered their buddies who were killed or injured. No longer were the past failures remembered and the precautions discussed.

I find today we know of incidents that have occurred in our various industries but most people still in these industries do not know what caused or allowed the incident to occur. Too often the reports are so slow in coming and sanitized for legal reasons they are delegated to history and the valuable lessons are not used as teaching material for the future.

I recently came across this account of the 1947 Texas City explosion:

While it is a good read and has a lot of information I still miss the personal touch of someone sharing the account of the incident. I also miss the group discussion of the failures and the reality of the ultimate question that causes us to understand what went wrong …“Could it happen again in my workplace?”

Submitted by Glenn Erwin, TMC Staff.

Though it seems it hasn’t been easy for green jobs to get the kind of traction and government support that is necessary to foster a booming industry, a recent Pew Foundation study has found that, in recent years, jobs in green industries have grown more than two times faster than overall jobs in the US. It’s an encouraging sign for a growing industry and one that will hopefully spur law makers to send more support toward environmentally sustainable employment.

President Obama, during a visit to a Kansas City, Mo plant, expressed encouragment about federal stimulus, and how it’s connection to green jobs could act as as catalyst for important job growth. “Thanks to our new focus on clean energy and the work that’s taking place in plants like this, we could have as much as 40% of the world’s market by 2015,” President Obama said. “We’ve got a long way to go but it’s absolutely clear that we’re moving in the right direction.”

With both the study and the President pointing to a brighter future in green employment, new programs for training workers in sustainable industries will only become more important. You can learn more about a program that does just that near by in our post on the Green Jobs Academy.

Are you hopeful for environmentally sound jobs in the future? Are you taking any steps to prepare yourself for the coming changes in industry? If so, what have they been? Let us know in the comments below.

Submitted by Andrew Fatato.

OSHA has recently opened a web forum intended to allow workers to submit hazardous chemicals they think need to be regulated by OSHA. Though the numbers are generally thought to be underestimated, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports some 55,000 illnesses in 2007 were due to chemicals deemed able to damage vital organs within workers. OSHA has established exposure limits for 429 chemicals, but they’re looking to establish limits for many more hazardous chemicals in an effort to reduce these injuries. The web forum is meant to do just that, allowing workers to identify the hazardous chemicals they come in contact with and explain why they should have exposure limitations. Visit the forum to watch a video message from OSHA’s Assistant Secretary, David Michaels. The forum ends August 27th, so be sure to visit the site before then.
Submitted by Andrew Fatato

Will you visit the forum and help OSHA identify hazardous chemicals? Do you think current exposure limitations placed on hazardous chemicals are enough? Let us know in the comments below.

On February 7, 2008, 13 employees of the Imperial Sugar Plant in Port Wentworth, Ga., were killed when combustible sugar dust ignited and exploded. At the time OSHA Administrator Edwin G. Foulke Jr. said he was ”outraged that this company would show a complete disregard for its employees’ safety by knowingly placing them in an extremely dangerous work environment.” OSHA subsequently filed an excess of $8 million in fines against the company and Imperial Sugar promptly protested.

Recently, Imperial Sugars protests were finally overcome, and the final fine total came to $6 million. OSHA found that the company had repeatedly and willfully put their employees in danger, ignoring repeated calls for reform and improved safety standards. With these new fines and penalties agains Imperial Sugar, they will hopefully be forced to change their practices.

From the OSHA press release: “The 2008 explosion took the lives of 14 people and seriously injured dozens of others. Clearly, health and safety must become this company’s top priority,” said Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis. “This agreement requires Imperial Sugar to make extensive changes to its safety practices, and it underscores the importance of proactively addressing workplace safety and health hazards.”

The changes are indeed extensive. Imperial Sugar has corrected all safety violations, or submitted an acceptable schedule for their correction; they will map all areas where combustible dust could collect and establish custodial and preventative measures against a dangerous build up of combustible dust; they must employee a safety control officer approved by OSHA, as well as keep accountable with outside inspectors; and they must keep an accident log current with OSHA.

Over time, the close watch of OSHA will relax, with the hope that eventually the company will start to keep employees safe of their own accord.

Do you think the penalties agains Imperial Sugar are enough? What would you do differently? Do you have any experience with combustible dust? Let us know in the comments below.

Submitted by Andrew Fatato.

We’ve been closely following the developments in the Kleen Energy plant explosion that took place on February 7th of this year. The explosion, which occurred when a gas blow caused a high amount of natural gas to ignite, killed six people and injured 50 more. OSHA has named three construction companies and 14 contractors for 371 safety violations. The total in proposed penalties comes to $16.6 million.

“These employers blatantly disregarded well-known and accepted industry procedures and their own safety guidelines in conducting the gas blow operation in a manner that exposed workers to fire and explosion hazards,” said Assistant Secretary of Labor in an OSHA press release issued last week. “We see this time and time again accross industries when companies deliberately ignore safety precautions in the interest of completing jobs quickly, and workers end up being killed or seriously hurt.”

The largest fines were charged to O&G Industries, for $8.3 million, Keystone Construction and Maintenance, for $6.7 million, and Bluewater Energy Services, for $896,000. You can read the full list of charges here.

In addition to proposed citations, OSHA is also sending a letter to natural gas power plant operators reminding them of the necessary safety precautions they need to be observing. They include (from the press release):

• The venting of gas vertically and above all structures.
• The elimination of all ignition sources if a flammable gas is being used.
• The removal of all non-essential workers from the site.
• The monitoring of air quality during and after completion.

If you work in such a facility, you can call OSHA’s toll-free hot-line at 800-321-6742 if you notice a safety violation.

Do you work in a facility that conducts gas blows? How do you feel about the fines proposed by OSHA? Let us know in the comments below.

Submitted by Andrew Fatato.

We recently featured the efforts of whistleblowers to come forward in the wake of the BP disaster (link: Despite BP’s Best Efforts, Whistleblowers Coming Forward) and the work of OSHA to protect them (link: OSHA Introduces Whistleblower Website). Add to that the work of Congress, as the House last week passed the Offshore Oil and Gas Worker Whistleblower Act of 2010 (H.R. 5851) by a vote of 315 – 93.

The bill protects workers on oil rigs and those involved in spill cleanup on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) when they speak up and notify superiors of unsafe work conditions or refuse to work because of safety violations. The bill mirrors other existing whistleblower protections and achieves the following:

• Prohibits an employer from discharging or otherwise discriminating against an employee who reports to the employer, or a federal or state government official that he or she reasonably believes the employer is violating the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA).
• Protects covered employees who report injuries or unsafe conditions related to the offshore work, refuse to work based on a good faith belief that the offshore work could cause injury or impairment or a spill, or refuse to perform work in a manner that they believe violates the OCSLA.
• Establishes a process for an employee to appeal an employer’s retaliation by filing a complaint with the Secretary of Labor, and allowing a jury trial if the Secretary fails to act in a timely manner.  
• Makes an aggrieved employee eligible for reinstatement, back pay and compensatory and consequential damages, and, where appropriate, exemplary damages.  
• Requires employers to post a notice that explains employee rights and remedies under this Act and provide training to the employees of these rights.

                         -from the House Committee on Education and Labor.

The introduction to the bill (link: http://edlabor.house.gov/blog/2010/07/offshore-oil-and-gas-worker-wh.shtml) on the House’s website provides a chilling explanation of why the bill was necessary in the first place:

Deepwater Horizon workers had safety concerns prior to the explosion. Jason Anderson, who died when the rig exploded, told both his wife and father that working conditions were not safe on the Deepwater Horizon.  According to his widow Shelley’s testimony before the Senate’s Commerce, Science and Transportation committee, Jason was reluctant to talk about these concerns while on the rig and told her: “I can’t talk about it now.  The walls are too thin.”  This fear was so strong that Jason reportedly talked to Shelley about his will and getting his affairs in order not long before the explosion.  

Legislation like this is long overdue. To see if your representative voted for the bill, click here (link: http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2010/roll506.xml).

Submitted by Patrick McQueen