OSHA REPORT ECHOES PROPUBLICA AND NPR’S WORKERS’ COMP FINDINGS. SEPARATE INVESTIGATIONS INTO CHANGES IN THE WORKERS’ COMPENSATION SYSTEM NATIONWIDE FOUND THAT CUTBACKS WERE HURTING INJURED WORKERS AND THEIR FAMILIES.

MARCH 6, 2015

Dennis Whedbee, 52, of Homer City, Pennsylvania, lost half of his left arm in a drilling accident in North Dakota in September 2012. Above, Whedbee shows a photo of himself in front of a safety sign on a job site after the accident. (Jeff Swensen for ProPublica) 

Nearly a year ago, ProPublica set out to investigate the extent of changes to America’s workers’ compensation system and the impact they were having on injured workers. 

Around the same time, researchers at the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration independently decided to do the same thing.

On Wednesday, to our surprise, we published our story and OSHA released its report. Both detailed a system decimated by state lawmakers across the country.

Our investigation, in partnership with NPR, found that since 2003, more than 30 states have cut workers’ comp benefits, created hurdles to getting medical care or made it harder to qualify. The changes have resulted in devastating consequences for some of the hundreds of thousands of workers who suffer serious injuries at work each year.

The reductions in benefits have been driven largely by big businesses and insurers, which cite out-of-control costs. But we found that businesses are paying the lowest rates for workers’ comp insurance since the late 1970s. The costs are being shifted to taxpayers, who shell out an estimated $30 billion a year in medical costs and lost wages not covered by workers’ comp.

OSHA’s report echoed several of ProPublica and NPR’s findings and tied workplace injuries to the national debate over income inequality. The agency, which investigates workplace accidents, said changes in workers’ comp programs have made it increasingly difficult for injured workers to get the benefits they’re entitled to. 

The report noted that workers’ comp pays just 20 percent of the overall financial cost of workplace injuries and illnesses.

“If employers whose workers are being injured had to pay the true cost of these injuries, these employers would have real incentive to prevent the injuries from occurring,” OSHA director David Michaels said in an interview Thursday. “Instead, workers, their families and taxpayers are subsidizing these dangerous employers.” 

OSHA decided to look into the issue, he said, after investigators witnessed workers and their families struggling to make ends meet after workplace accidents. In addition, several workers told OSHA during inspections that they were afraid they’d be fired if they filed workers’ comp claims for their injuries.

OSHA’s report pointed to two recent studies in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine that noted that more than half of hospital patients with work-related amputations in Massachusetts and one-third of those patients in California didn’t receive workers’ comp benefits.

Even with workers’ compensation benefits, studies show that injured workers’ incomes are, on average, almost $31,000 lower over 10 years than if they had not been injured, the report said.

The agency urged states to eliminate roadblocks that prevent injured workers from getting the medical care and adequate wage-replacement payments they need.

“It does appear that there is right now a race to the bottom. State workers’ compensation systems are competing to lower benefits and make it tougher for workers to get the benefits to which they’re entitled,” Michaels said. “We think it’s very important for states to ensure that workers who are injured and made sick on the job get full compensation.”

Source: http://www.propublica.org

75 Scientists Call for Obama to prevent seismic surveys in Atlantic Ocean

Seventy five scientists from Cornell, Duke, the New England Aquarium, Stanford, the University of North Carolina and other U.S. and international institutions have today sent a letter to President Obama to stop a planned oil and gas exploration program off the Atlantic coast. 

The scientists say that using millions of underwater sound blasts that would have “significant, long-lasting and widespread impacts on the reproduction and survival” of threatened whales and commercial fish populations, adding that the seismic blasts, from high-volume airguns that fire every 10-12 seconds, are nearly as loud as conventional explosives and have “an enormous environmental footprint.”

They have cited experts who say airgun noise is loud enough to mask whale calls over thousands of miles.

The letter is the first time that a group of prominent scientists has said that the harm from seismic blasting will be significant and long-lasting for entire populations of marine life off the U.S. coasts.

Because whales depend on sound waves to communicate, feed, mate and travel, the blasting can disrupt the reproduction and feeding of blue whales and other endangered whales “over vast ocean areas,” the letter says. It expresses special concern for the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale, of which only 500 remain.

The blasts also “could have potentially massive impacts on fish populations,” according to the letter. In some countries seismic testing has driven away commercial species, resulting in dramatic drops in catch rates. Studies also show the airguns could kill fish eggs and larvae, interfere with breeding and make some species more vulnerable to predators.

“People are rightly concerned about the dangers of offshore oil spills, but seismic blasting is likely to have a terrible impact on Atlantic sea life before the first well is even drilled,” said Michael Jasny, Director of NRDC’s Marine Mammal Protection Project.

The seismic surveys, used by oil companies to locate oil and gas deposits below the ocean floor, were evaluated last year by the Department of the Interior and would result in more than 20 million seismic “shots” over a multi-year period. 
“The Interior Department itself has estimated that seismic exploration would disrupt vital marine mammal behavior more than 13 million times,” the letter says.

Nine applications for seismic blasting have already been filed, covering most of the Atlantic Ocean continental shelf from Delaware to Florida along with deeper waters further out to sea. The issue assumed new urgency earlier this year when the Obama administration announced plans to allow, for the first time in more than 30 years, offshore oil and gas drilling in the region. The Interior Department has scheduled “open houses” next week in Annapolis, Md., and Charleston, S.C. to receive comments from the public on the proposed drilling leases; additional hearings will take place in Atlantic City, N.J., and Savannah, Ga., and on the Outer Banks of North Carolina later this month.

Separately, Interior says it will hold another series of open houses focusing specifically on the seismic survey applications, beginning on March 31, in Norfolk, Va., Annapolis, Md., Dover, Del., Wilmington, N.C., Charleston, S.C., and Savannah, Ga.

DECK COLLAPSES AND CRUSHES GAS PIPING AND PROPANE TANK IN WESTPORT, CT, CAUSING GAS LEAK

MARCH 6, 2015

WESTPORT, CT

A deck that collapsed under the weight of snow and ice at a Silent Grove North home Thursday evening damaged a propane tank and triggered a gas leak.

Firefighters, dispatched about 6 p.m. to investigate the report of a gas odor inside the dwelling and outdoors, found the deck had completely collapsed. The fallen deck -- measuring about 20 by 15 feet -- also damaged a 50-pound propane tank positioned underneath. 

The damaged tank was leaking propane, but firefighters from Engine 6 were able to defuse the threat by shutting off the tank's valve.

The home's interior was metered for gas buildup, but there was no hazardous condition detected. 

A Building Department official was called to the scene to check on the cause of the deck collapse, and confirmed that the primary factor was the weight from snow and ice.

Firefighters left the scene shortly after 7 p.m. after determining the tank was no longer leaking.

WOMAN SAFE AFTER NATURAL GAS LEAK CAUSES FIRE IN HER HOME IN QUINCY, ILLINOIS

MARCH 6, 2015

QUINCY, ILL. (WGEM)

Quincy Fire crews say one woman is safe after a natural gas leak from a hot water heater Friday morning.

The leak was in her home, at 727 Kenwood Ave. The initial call came in as a structure fire around 7 a.m.

Assistant Fire Chief Tom Bentley says firefighters found a small fire near the hot water heater.

The fire was put out quickly.

NASTY WINTER CAUSES RECORD NUMBER OF GAS LEAKS THROUGHOUT THE STATES: HEAVY SNOW BREAKS A GAS LINE AND CAUSING A GAS LEAK IN PORTLAND, MAINE

MARCH 6, 2015

PORTLAND, MAINE (NEWS CENTER)

Heavy snow caused a gas line to snap Friday on Congress Street.

Portland Fire responded to 141 Congress St. and detected a high level of natural gas. Officials then evacuated the building and neighboring areas as a precaution.

Tim Nangle with Portland fire said that preliminary investigation shows that a large amount of snow had accumulated on an exterior gas meter, which caused the gas line to break.

"This has been a busy couple of months for us with gas leaks. We are asking anyone who uses either natural gas or propane to ensure that the gas meter and surrounding piping is clear of snow and ice," said Nangle.

Until stopped the leak and has been making repairs. The city of Portland said as soon as the air quality in the buildings is safe, residents and occupants will be able to return.