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AGRICULTURE
CLICK HERE for the AGRICULTURE TOPIC
ASBESTOS
- Resources and links
- GENERALLY
- Click here for an excellent overview with both legal and medical information.
- Asbestos: Medical and Legal Aspects (5th edition) by Barry Castleman - reviewed by NYCOSH. To order click here
- Click here for links to Jordan's blog regarding asbestos
- HEALTH ISSUES
- ASBESTOS SCREEINGS
- SUPPORT GROUPS
- American Cancer Society - Click here to find out about events, news, resources, etc. in your community.
- American Lung Association
- ADAO - Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization - founded by asbestos victims and their families to give them a united voice to help ensure their rights are fairly represented and protected. This includes the right to medical research and treatments aimed at early detection, prevention and a cure for asbestos related diseases; the right to file suit based on the merits of our individual asbestos related injustice; and the right to fair compensation. See also Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization
- AVA - Asbestos Victims of America - provides medical, legal and emotional counseling to asbestos victims and their families. You may reach the group by e-mail or by callling (831) 440-0282.
- National Cancer Institute - Call (800) 422-6237 and ask for the Cancer Information specialist who will have resources about support groups in various locations.
- White Lung Association - Consults with victims of asbestos exposure and others interested in identifying asbestos hazards. May be able to provide information about support groups in your area. Click here for some specific support groups.
- ADVOCACY GROUPS
- GOVERNMENT RESOURCES and LINKS
- UNION & WORKER GROUPS
- OTHER GROUPS
- Laws, Regulations & Enforcement
- Cal/OSHA
- Click here and then enter asbestos to search for Cal/OSHA regulations
- Asbestos-related work. Click here to read a definition of asbestos-related work in Labor Code Section 6501.?.
- Click here to find information about Cal/OSHA "registration" requirements for anyone who does asbestos-related work
- Click here to find out whether a person is "registered" to do asbestos-related work
- California State Contractors' Licensing Board
- Click here to find information about the CSLB's "certification" requirements for contractors who do asbesots-related work
- Click here to find out whether a contractor is "certified" to do asbestos-related work
- PROPOSED LEGISLATION
- Senate Bill 825 - Arlen Specter (R-PA)
- Proposed US asbestos fund seen running short of funds* - A proposed $140 billion compensation fund for asbestos victims may run short of money before it can pay all claimants, according to a new report from the US Congressional Budget Office. Legislation to set up such a fund was approved by a key US Senate committee in May, but it is not clear that the legislation has enough support to survive a full vote of the Senate. The proposed fund would pay asbestos victims on a no-fault basis, but also limit the exposure of companies and insurers to asbestos lawsuits. The fund would be managed by the federal government but privately financed by asbestos defendants and insurers. The non-partisan CBO said that the fund would have to pay out between $120bn and $150bn to those who meet certain criteria for asbestos-related illness. The revenue collected by the fund from companies that made asbestos products and their insurers "could be significantly less" than the maximum of $140bn proposed in the legislation, the report said. "Consequently, the fund may have sufficient resources to pay all asbestos claims over the next 50 years, but depending on claim rates, borrowing and other factors, its resources may be insufficient to pay all such claims," the report said.
Patti Waldmeir - Financial Times - August 26, 2005 (*subscription required for complete story - so when you click on the link you won't get the story without a sub)
- Click here to read the full CBO Report S 852, Fairness in Asbestos Injury Resolution Act of 2005 dated August 25, 2005
- Asbestos Bill Worries Ex-Shipyard Workers - The Vallejo Times Herald, July 26, 2005
- Panel OKs bill to create asbestos fund - World Peace Harold, May 27, 2005
- Senate Asbestos Fight Heating Up - CBS News, May 27, 2005
- Bill to Create Asbestos Disease Fund Goes to Senate for Vote - New York Times, May 26, 2005
- Asbestos Health Crisis Wrongly Labeled a 'Litigation Crisis' - LA Times, February 18, 2005
- How Can Congress Create a Fair Trust - ATLA statement of Judiciary Committee
- Asbestos Claims Solution Sought
Bill Would Set Up Trust Fund, Not Rule Out Courts
By Albert B. Crenshaw - Washington Post Staff Writer - January 4, 2005
- Training Material
- Media
- WORKSAFE! articles
- Other article
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BLOODBORNE PATHOGENS
- Resources and links
- GOVERNMENT RESOURCES and LINKS
- UNION & WORKER GROUPS
- UNIVERSITY GROUPS
- Laws, Regulations & Enforcement
- Training Material
- Cal/OSHA Publications
- A Best Practices Approach for Reducing Bloodborne Pathogens Exposure (English)
- Don't Risk Your Health (English html) - this guide is intended to acquaint employees with the Cal/OSHA regulation
- Don't Risk Your Health (Spanish html) - this guide is intended to acquaint employees with the Cal/OSHA regulation
- Don't Risk Your Health (Tagalog html) - this guide is intended to acquaint employees with the Cal/OSHA regulation
- Exposure Control Plan for Bloodborne Pathogens (English)
- NYCOSH - Factsheet on how you can use OSHA's Bloodborne Pathogens rules to protect your safety and health.
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CONFINED SPACES
- Resources and links
- GOVERNMENT RESOURCES and LINKS
- UNION & WORKER GROUPS
- UNIVERSITY GROUPS
- Laws, Regulations & Enforcement
- Click here and then enter confined spaces to search for Cal/OSHA regulations
- Training Material
- Media
- Death in the Workplace (10k pdf) (from WORKSAFE! Newsletter, May 1998) - discusses criminal prosecutions for occupational safety and health related matters.
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CONSTRUCTION
CLICK HERE for the Construction Topic
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DIACETYL
- QUICK Links
- CLICK HERE to jump to more information about this issue on our regulations webpage.
- CLICK HERE to jump to more information about this issue on our legislation webpage
- CLICK HERE to jump to the Cal/OSHA webpage with details about this regulatory advisory committee.
- Resources and Links
- GOVERNMENT RESOURCES and LINKS
- Don't forget to check further down in this section for information related to efforts to secure a Cal/OSHA regulation to protect workers from the hazards of DIACETYL. We are also trying to post some of the documents that are being filed with the OSH Standards Board or with the Division of Occupational Safety and Health that will be considered in the rulemaking process.
- CALIFORNIA ALERT - FOOD & FLAVOR MANUFACTURING WORKERS - DANGER from DIACETYL (butter flavor chemical)
- Click here for the Occupational Health Branch page on diacetyl (for the most up to date versions of documents referenced below)
- Click here to jump directly to the OHB publications on diacetyl
- The Calfiornia Department of Health Services Occupational Health Branch is seeking workers in the food flavoring manufacturing industry, their employers, and their health care providers, to alert them about two cases of a life-threatening lung disease, bronchiolitis obliterans, among workers (both English fluent Latinos) in companies located in southern California. Food flavoring companies that may have exposed workers are also located in northern California. The disease is associated with inhalation exposure to diacetyl, a butter flavoring chemical. The lung disease is also known as "microwave popcorn lung disease" based on cases among workers in that industry.
- click here for the workers' factsheet in English
- click here for the workers' factsheet in Spanish
- click here for case reports on two workers with bronchiolitis obliteran
- click here for a letter to employers from the California Department of Health Services
- click here for a letter to health care providers from the California Department of Health Services
- click here for a letter of Jan 11, 2007 to Sally Lieber (Speaker Pro Tempore) from the California Department of Health Services in response for a request for information about injured workers.
- click here for the DHS summary of the eight workers being evaluated for bronchiolitis obliterans
- NIOSH information
- click here for the National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health page on DIACETYL
- UNION & WORKER GROUPS
- IBT - International Brotherhood of Teamsters
- click here for the Teamster Press Release of July 26, 2006
- UFCW - United Food & Commercial Workers
- click here for the chronological history
- click here for the UFCW Press Release of July 26, 2006
- click here for the UFCW press release of August 28, 2006
- Scientific Research
- Defending Science.Org
- Click here for Defending Science.Org Then enter the word diacetyl and search their website for the items below and other information (more studies, news articles, etc.)
- Click here for an excellent background paper
- Click here for a fact sheet on diacety
- Click here for a letter dated January 16, 2007 from David Michaels (Director of the Project on Scientific Knowledge and Public Policy at GWU) to the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board.
- Click here for a study by Fedan et al. on popcorn worker's lung through in vitro exposure to diacetyl, which increases reactivity to methacholine. Toxicol Appl Pharmacol 215(1): 17;22. (2006)
- Click here for a study by Van Rooy et al. on the respiratory effects on workers of a diacetyl production plant with a special focus on bronchiolitis obliterans (evaluation among currently working and retired workers) (December 30, 2005)
- Click here for an article entitled A Case of Regulatory Failure - Popcorn Workers Lung (2005)
- Click here for a BASF study on inhalation toxicity of diacetyl FCC as a vapor in rats under four hour exposure (1993)
- Scientific research
- Click here for an editorial in Am Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine entitled Occupational Bronchiolitis Obliterans Masquerading as COPD by Kay Kreiss (2007)
- Click here for an article from the Am Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine entitled Bronchiolitis Obliterans Syndrome in Chemical Workers Producing Diacetyl for Flood Flavorings by Van Rooy et al.
- Click here for MMWR article entitled Fixed Obstructive Lung Disease Among Workers in the Flavor-Manufacturing Industry --- California 2004 - 2007 April 27, 2007 / 56(16); 389-393
- Click here for an interim letter on the progress of a NIOSH Health Hazard Evaluation Report (HETA 2007-033) at the Gold Coast Ingredient plant in Commerce, CA (March 29, 2007)
- Click here for an article entitled Flavoring-related bronchiolitis obliterans by Kathleen Kreiss
- Click here for an article entitled Popcorn-worker Lung Caused by Corporate and Regulatory Negligence - An Avoidable Tragedy by David Egilman et al (2007)
- Click here for the NIOSH HHE Report on Severe Fixed Obstructive Lung Disease in Workers at a Flavoring Manufacturing Plant by Richard Kanwal & Greg Kullman (84 pp) [Carmi Flavor and Fragrance Company in Commerce, CA]
- Click here for an article entitled Diacetyl-Induced Lung Disease by Philip Harber et al, Toxicol Rev 2006; 25(4): 261-272
- Click here for an article entitled Scientific Evidence in the Regulatory System: Manufacturing Uncertainty and the Demise of the Formal Regulatory System by David Michaels & Celeste Monforton
- Click here for an article entitled Clinical Bronchiolitis Obliterans in Workers at a Microwave-Popcorn Plant by Kathleen Kreiss et al (August 2002). This article documents the relationship between exposure to diacetyl and the disease of bronchiolitis obliterans and provides evidence to support immediately regulating worker exposure to this substance.
- Click here for a publication by the industry association entitled Respiratory Health and Safety in the Flavor Manufacturing Workplace (August 2004)
- Click here for NIOSH Alert: Preventing Lung Disease in Workers Who Use or Make Flavorings (December 2003)
- Click here for NIOSH Health Hazard Evaluation Report International Bakers Services Inc in South Bend IN (July 1986)
- Laws, Regulations & Enforcement
- Cal/OSHA
- Cal/OSHA held an initial Advisory Committee meeting on September 28, 2006. Additional meetings were held February 12, March 21, May 18 and July 10, 2007. No meeting is pending.
- Click here for the Cal/OSHA page regarding diacetyl including agendas and minutes.
- If you are interested in participating in our pre-meetings, contact fcs@worksafe.org or call (510) 302-1071.
- Click here for the Worksafe page on regulatory activity (by date).
- REGULATORY CHRONOLOGY (most recent on top)
- Click here for the July 6, 2007 Worksafe letter to Cal/OSHA requesting information in order to make recommendations regarding the draft regulation and following up the unanswered letter of May 3, 2007.
- Click here for the May 3, 2007 Worksafe letter to Cal/OSHA requesting an administrative subpoena for information about where California flavor manufacturers are shipping their product and also requesting educational material, changes in MSDSs, and expanding the special emphasis program to downstream users.
- Click here for the May 18, 2007 Cal/OSHA draft standard on diacetyl.
- Click here for the Mar 21, 2007 Cal/OSHA meeting minutes.
- Click here for the Mar 21, 2007 Cal/OSHA draft standard on diacetyl.
- Click here for the Feb 13, 2007 Cal/OSHA meeting minutes.
- Click here for the Jan 18, 2007 Worksafe letter to the OSH Standards Board in support of an emergency temporary standard for diacetyl
- Click here for the Jan 18, 2007 proposed OSH Standards Board decision for OSHSB Petition 486. This petition requests that the Board adopt an emergency temporary standard to protect workers from exposure to diacetyl and begin rulemaking proceedings to establish a permanent standard to protect workers from exposure to all food flavorings.
- Click here for the Jan 17, 2007 letter to the OSH Standards Board from Assembly Member Sally Lieber (Speaker Pro Tempore)
- Click here for the Jan 11, 2007 letter to Sally Lieber (Speaker Pro Tempore) from the California Department of Health Services in response for a request for information about injured workers.
- Click here for the Sep 28, 2006 notes from the Cal/OSHA Advisory Committee meeting
- Click here for the Sep 28, 2006 Cal/OSHA notice of an initial advisory committee / stakeholders meeting in Oakland
- Click here for the Sep 11, 2006 Cal/OSHA response to the Legislature
- Click here for the Sep 8, 2006 Worksafe notes from the Cal/OSHA Advisory Committee meeting with background information on the Petition and enforcement activities.
- Click here for the Aug 28, 2006 UFCW press release
- Click here for the Aug 21, 2006 California Labor Federation & UFCW & IBT Petition to the California OSH Standards Board for an EMERGENCY standard to protect workers exposed to diacetyl.
- Click here for the Aug 16, 2006 California Legislature's Petition to the California OSH Standards Board for an EMERGENCY standard to protect workers exposed to diacetely.
- Federal OSHA
- click here for the UFCW & IBT Petition to Federal OSHA for an EMERGENCY standard to protect workers exposed to diacetyl
- click here for the UFCW Press Release of Jul 26, 2006
- click here for the Teamster Press Release of Jul 26, 2006
- click here for the AFL-CIO letter in support
- click here for the medical and scientific experts letter in support
- Media Links
- Training Material
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ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS (EMFs)
- Resources and links
- GOVERNMENT RESOURCES and LINKS
- UNION & WORKER GROUPS
- UNIVERSITY GROUPS
- Laws, Regulations & Enforcement
- Training Material
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EMERGENCY RESPONSE & FIRST AID
- 9/11 workers must REGISTER
- Register now to protect your right to workers comp for 9/11-related work. Click here for a PDF with detailed information. Registration must be completed by August 14, 2007. Go to www.nycosh.org for more information.
- Cal/OSHA Regulatory Advisory Committee meeting
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Click here for information on the Cal//OSHA Advisory Committee meeting related to several petitions and see below.
November 3, 2006, in Oakland CA
- Resources and links
- GOVERNMENT RESOURCES and LINKS
- NIOSH - National Instititute of Occupational Safety and Health
- Emergency preparedness for business - click here for more information
- Emergency response and rescue in mining - click here for more information
- Emergency response resources - click here for more information
- World Trade Center Response (WTC) - click here for more information
- ADVOCACY GROUPS
- UNION & WORKER GROUPS
- UNIVERSITY GROUPS
- Laws Regulations & Enforcement
- Cal/OSHA currently has NUMEROUS regulations addressing emergency medical services and first aid. See Title 8 California Code of Regulations
- Section 1512 (Construction Safety Orders)
- Section 3400 (General Industry Safety Orders)
- Section 6512 (Petroleum Safety Orders)
- (Worksafe opinion)
- The OSH Standards Board is convening an advisory meeting that will consider three petitions from the public. This meeting will take place on Friday, November 3, 2006 from 10 AM to 3PM at the Elihu Harris State Building on 1515 Clay St, Oakland, CA in Room 1314.
- Click here for further information on the meeting.
- Petition No. 481 requests amendments regarding medical services and first aid. Click here for the petition.
- Petition No. 482 requests the adoption of standards that would ensure employees have access to 911 emergency phone lines at places of employment. Click here for the petition.
- Petition No. 483 requests amendments regarding first aid materials and the consulting physician. Click here for the petition.
- Training Material
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ERGONOMICS
- Resources and links
- SUPPORT GROUPS
- ADVOCACY GROUPS
- GOVERNMENT RESOURCES and LINKS
- UNION & WORKER GROUPS
- UNIVERSITY GROUP
- OTHER GROUPS
- RESEARCH & REPORTS
- Laws, Regulations & Enforcement
- California Regulations on Repetitive Stress Injuries - (English) (Spanish)
- Reg being developed - California - Ergonomics - 8 CCR 5110
- Enforcement of Title 8 Section 5110 - Ergonomics - Statistics Presentation to 5110 Working Group November 15, 2002
- History of California's Ergonomics Regulation
- Standard being developed - national - Ergonomics
- Standards being developed - international - Ergonomics
- History of Federal Ergonomics Regulation
- Federal OSHA Ergonomics Forums - in Washington, D.C. on July 16, 2001; in Illinois on July 20, 2001, and in California on July 24, 2001.
- July 2001 Ergonomics Alert - information about the Federal OSHA hearing held at Stanford California on July 24, 2001 to determine whether a Federal ergonomics standard should be issued
- California Regulations on Repetitive Stress Injuries - (English) (Spanish)
- Training Material
- Media Resources
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FATIGUE
- Resources and links
- GOVERNMENT RESOURCES and LINKS
- UNION & WORKER GROUPS
- UNIVERSITY GROUPS
- Laws, Regulations & Enforcement
Click here to jump to the WORKSAFE e-news with information about a DLSE sponsored Forum regarding meal and rest breaks.
- Click here for the CA Labor Federation Lunch Break Hearing flyer.
- Click here for an explanation by the CA Labor Federation of the issue.
- Click here for a sample letter.
- Click here for the Aug 1, 2007 WORKSAFE! letter opposing regulatory changes to meal and rest periods being addressed by the Division of Labor Standards at their Forum.
- Click here for the Feb 28, 2005 WORKSAFE! letter opposing regulatory changes to meal and rest periods being proposed by the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement
Research & Science
- Click here for a recent NIOSH study regarding rest breaks which found that supplementary breaks minimized discomfort, and did not Impair productivity. Click here for a PDF version.
Training Material
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