Antonio Flores, a Cincinnati construction worker, still suffers the effects of a severe workplace injury from last December. Working without proper equipment for heavy lifting, he was hurt when a large pipe fell on him, breaking his back.

The National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (NCOSH) has announced the recipients of its prestigious 2023 awards, recognizing standout health and safety activists and organizations. The awards will be presented at the COSHCON2023 Awards Banquet on December 7, part of the National Conference on Worker Safety and Health.
 

Also submitting a comment in support of the proposal was a group of 67 organizations, via a letter. Among the coalition is the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health and Sur Legal Collaborative, an immigrant and worker rights nonprofit. 

“Giving workers the right to select someone as their representative is critical to ensuring their safety and health,” Shelly Anand, co-founder and executive director of the Sur Legal Collaborative, said in a National COSH press release. “Many times workers don’t even know they have the right to participate in the walkaround process.

The National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH) recently revealed that there are major issues in the way that injury and illness from the jobsite are handled. It suggests that improvements to worker safety are highly needed and a top priority.
 

According to a statement from the National COSH,  “the BLS survey, which includes serious injuries and illnesses that require medical treatment beyond first aid, is based on self-reports from employers. The U.S. Congress, the Government Accountability Office and academic experts all agree that BLS significantly underestimates the real toll of pain and suffering. 
 

“In terms of exposure to the airborne nature of [respiratory illnesses], you think about cashiers, they're having lots of close contact with people,” Peter Dooley, a Certified Industrial Hygienist for the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health, said of the large jump in cases of respiratory illnesses among grocery store workers.

The latest BLS injury and illness statistics “show the urgent need for worker-centered safety reforms,” especially since the data only reflects injuries and illnesses that are officially reported, meaning higher numbers of incidents are likely occurring in U.S. workplaces, the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health, a federation of grassroots worker groups, said in a statement.

“Workers more than anyone understand their jobs and worker-centered solutions lead to the most effective safety reforms that can prevent injuries and illnesses before they happen,” said Jessica Martinez, National COSH’s co-executive director. 

“Workers more than anyone understand their jobs and worker-centered solutions lead to the most effective safety reforms that can prevent injuries and illnesses before they happen,” National COSH Co-Executive Director Jessica Martinez said in a statement. 

“Workers are not disposable, so they need urgent protections … in particular in areas such as Miami-Dade where 1 in 4 workers work outdoors,” said Jessica Martinez, co-executive director of the National Council of Occupational Safety and Health, a worker advocacy group affiliated with WeCount. Data from the Union of Concerned Scientists shows that 26 percent of the county’s workforce, or more than 300,000 people, work outdoors.

“Heat illness is one of the most preventable conditions in a workplace environment,” said Peter Dooley, a Tucson-based safety professional for the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH). “The solutions are simple: water, rest, shade. But there needs to be a program in place to prevent it.”
 

Marcy Goldstein-Gelb, the co-executive director for the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health, says there’s been a significant number of workplace homicides at rental apartments across the nation over the last several months.

Wage theft is not uncommon for immigrants to experience, said Marcy Goldstein-Gelb, Co-Executive Director of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health. 

For children to thrive, their parents need access to living wages, safe working conditions and predictable schedules. Three W.K. Kellogg Foundation grantees organizing around these issues are the National Council for Occupational Health and Safety (National COSH), Jobs With Justice, and National Black Worker Centers.

Katelyn Parady from the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health was among the people who spoke on Sept. 6 as Sky Harbor workers announced a complaint they filed with Arizona’s safety watchdog.

The National Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health has a list of worker-demanded heat protections, including access to cool-down areas below 82 degrees.

The National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH) is leading a campaign to push OSHA to quickly develop a heat standard.

“In a just transition to production of climate-friendly modes of transportation, the best practices for ensuring worker health and safety should be enshrined as a matter of standard corporate (and public) practice in union contracts,” Michael Felsen, who worked as an attorney at the U.S. Department of Labor for nearly four decades and now serves as an advisor for the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health, tells In These Times. ​“We urgently need a rapid transition to safe energy alternatives, but we cannot allow worker health and safety to be sacrificed in the process.”

“This Labor Day, we think it’s essential to focus on what’s needed to make all jobs safe and secure,” Jessica E. Martinez, co-executive director of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (COSH), said. The federation includes 26 grassroots worker groups and a broad community of unions, workers’ centers, health and safety professionals, academic specialists and non-profit advocates, and promotes training and support for worker organizing and advocacy.

But OSHA really isn't working fast enough, said Marcy Goldstein-Gelb, co-executive director of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health, at the press conference. "The OSHA normal standard-making process is extremely lengthy," she said. "These rules can take 7 years, and that's too long, because how many workers will die in the meantime?"

“It’s important … that the president recognizes there’s an urgent issue,” said Marcy Goldstein-Gelb, co-executive director of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health. “In some ways there’s a risk of this announcement creating some confusion about what’s needed. What’s really needed is a standard, and fast.”