David Michaels

Weekly Toll: Workers Killed on the Job - Confined Space On average, over 100 workers are killed every week in the United States due to traumatic injuries suffered at work. Here are how a few died last week.

Logging, mining, firefighting, confined space, lightning, highway construction, crushed by stone slab, vehicle incidents and shootings. On average, over 100 workers are killed every week in the United States due to traumatic injuries suffered at work: The Weekly Toll
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The study, a collaboration with Harvard colleagues Barrak Alahmad, William Kessler, Yazan Alwadi, Joel Schwartz, & Gregory R. Wagner, supports the importance of OSHA issuing a strong, protective standard.

It also demonstrates the value of the huge OSHA ITA injury data set in injury prevention 2/2

A nationwide analysis of heat and workplace injuries in the United States - Environmental Health Background Exposure to heat leads to physiological and cognitive impairments that increase the risk of workplace injuries. This study estimates the number and proportion of work injuries reported to the United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) that can be attributed to heat exposure. These estimates contribute to the calculation of the benefits of standards, policies, and programs that reduce workplace exposure to extreme heat. Methods We analyzed all 2023 injury cases reported to OSHA's Injury Tracking Application by establishments with 100 or more employees, primarily in high-hazard industries. Each injury was geocoded and matched with high-resolution weather data for the specific injury date. Using a case-crossover design, we compared heat index on each injury day (case) with matched non-injury control days for the same worker. Conditional logistic regression was applied separately for summer-only and year-round periods with a non-linear term for heat index to estimate the odds ratios for injury occurrence. We additionally examined heat-injury patterns by industry sectors and in states with/without workplace heat standards. Results The odds of work injury increased non-linearly with a rising heat index: the pooled national estimate showed a clear upward trend starting around 85°F and accelerating above 90°F. Our results were consistent across nearly all industry sectors, including those that are predominantly indoors. Using a heat index of 80°F as reference, odds ratios (OR) of injuries at or above 90°F, 100°F and 110°F were 1.03 (95% confidence intervals [CI]: 1.02, 1.04), 1.10 (1.07, 1.13), and 1.20 (1.13, 1.26), respectively. At a heat index of 110°F or higher, the odds increased by 22% in states without occupational heat rules (OR=1.22; 1.15,1.29) versus 9% in states with rules (OR=1.09; 0.84, 1.41), suggesting a protective effect, although confidence intervals overlapped. Overall, we estimate 1.18% (95% empirical CI: 0.92%, 1.45%) of all injuries were attributable to heat exposure on days exceeding a heat index of 70°F. Conclusion Heat exposure increases the overall risk of work injury, an effect consistent across nearly all major industries.

Extreme heat at work strains the body and the mind.

We geocoded 845,000 work injuries reported by employers and found that injury risk increases with heat.

But these injuries are preventable! Risk is lower in the 5 states (CA, CO, MN, OR, WA) with OSHA heat standards. 1/2
tinyurl.com/8x2j66cj

Dispatches From the Front Lines of Workplace Safety and Health - Confined Space What's going on in the world of workplace safety and health? Check out Dispatches from the Front lines.

What's happening in the world of workplace safety and health: Dispatches From the Front Lines of Workplace Safety and Health jordanbarab.com/confinedspac...

There Was a Plan to Save These New Deal Masterpieces. Then Trump Won. A feasibility study was underway about restoring the ailing federal building that houses important Ben Shahn frescoes, Philip Guston murals, and other FDR-era artwork. But the Trump administration put...

The Wilbur J. Cohen Federal Building is, one expert told me, “the Sistine Chapel of New Deal art.” GSA had a plan earlier this year to save it. Now Trump is rushing to sell it.

Save the Cohen, part 2, explains how we got here. Please share widely!

newrepublic.com/article/2012...

Inside the high-stakes battle over vaccine injury compensation, autism and public trust HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has floated the idea of adding autism to the list of conditions covered by the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. What would that mean?

Wondering what RFKJr may be planning to do next to damage the nation's health and discourage not just vaccine acceptance but vaccine production?

It is truly nefarious, and could make some vaccines unavailable in the US.

Read @celinegounder.com at @cbsnews.com.web.brid.gy
tinyurl.com/4r2as28c

Government Shutdown: Trump 2.0 Style - Confined Space Another government shutdown may be approaching and here is what workers can expect from OSHA or MSHA -- at least in normal times.

What happens to worker safety protections if the government shuts down tonight?

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"For every dollar the federal government saves in the president’s proposed budget for CDC, state and local economies would lose $1.40."

Jeffrey Levi & Anne Reid explain how proposed budget cuts would lead to more disease and deaths.
thehill.com/opinion/heal...

Thanks for this statement. But asking again - do you post the conflict of interest declarations?

Thank you for this reply. As noted, Ramboll has worked for numerous producers of toxic substances that are in ECHA’s jurisdiction. Does ECHA publish consultants' conflict of interest declarations? If so, where?

If not, in the interest of transparency, would ECHA post Ramboll's COI declaration?

Ramboll opposed efforts to limit exposure to the carcinogenic chemical #chloroprene in Louisiana's cancer alley and to weaken drinking water protections from rocket fuel chemical #perchlorate.

I cover these and more in my book The Triumph of Doubt: Dark Money and the Science of Deception. 5/5

For a group of trade associations, including the American Petroleum Institute, Ramboll disputed the classification of diesel exhaust as a human carcinogen.

For the International Lead Association, it questioned studies that find neurological effects of low levels of lead exposure in children. 4/5

Not surprisingly, Ramboll's "experts" advised ECHA to delay public health protections

Product defense is what Ramboll does.

For Reynolds Tobacco, it questioned the increased risk of addiction from menthol cigarettes. 3/5

New PFAS regulations: a double whammy for consultancies? Follow the Money - Platform for investigative journalism

This is an excellent follow-up to the investigation done by Follow the Money @ftm.eu and Alessandro Runci at ARIA. 2/5
www.ftm.eu/newsletters/...

EU hired advisers on ‘forever chemicals’ who worked for manufacturers Ramboll consultancy advised both the bloc’s regulator on PFAS and the chemical makers

Severe Conflict of Interest Alert:

@alicemhancock.bsky.social exposes Danish firm Ramboll's conflicted work on #PFAS - the firm is employed by both the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA-the EU chemical regulator) and by producers of PFAS products impacted by #ECHA regulations. 1/5

Yesterday's presser is perhaps the most glaring example of the discrepancy between the Trump admin's words (gold standard science! rigor! reproducibility!) and their actions (citing a couple correlative studies to make massive policy changes).

Placebo RCTs for thee, observational study for me.

U.S. Wildfire Fighters to Mask Up After Decades-Long Ban on Smoke Protections

Bravo to NYT and @hannahdreier.bsky.social
U.S. Wildfire Fighters to Mask Up After Decades-Long Ban on Smoke Protections www.nytimes.com/2025/09/09/u...

Ahh yes, those growth promoting investments: microcaptive insurance and basis shifting through complex partnerships

Only federal agency that investigates chemical disasters faces shutdown under Trump The U.S. Chemical Safety Hazard and Investigation Board, or CSB, investigates root causes of serious chemical accidents and makes recommendations for preventing similar events. The Trump administratio...

Former #OSHA head David Michaels on why workers and all Americans need the Chemical Safety Board. The Trump administration is threatening to shut the Board down.

www.pbs.org/newshour/sho...

Only federal agency that investigates chemical disasters faces shutdown under Trump The U.S. Chemical Safety Hazard and Investigation Board, or CSB, investigates root causes of serious chemical accidents and makes recommendations for preventing similar events. The Trump administratio...

The US Chemical Safety Board investigates fires, explosions, & other workplace disasters, helping prevent future ones. It is supported by industry, unions, first responders, even the American Chemical Council.

But Trump wants to shut it down.

Check out this @pbsnews.org clip.
tinyurl.com/556ahk9e

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City Decides to Protect Public Employees. Where's the Rest of the State? - Confined Space Following the death of a city employee, the city of Milton, WV has decided to protect its public employees. But no other city in WV protects its workers

After a city employee died in a trench collapse in Milton, WV, the city plans to "opt in" to a voluntary public employee OSHA program.

That would make it the only city in the entire state to protect its workers.

WV & 22 other states need laws protecting ALL public employees.
tinyurl.com/324emjar

450 Napped by ICE at Hyundai Georgia Plant, Where 3 Workers Were Killed Previously Since the Trump Administration took over and began cutting back on federal workplace safety enforcement, two workers have died at the plant in just two months.

450 were napped by ICE at a Hyundai construction site in Georgia, where 3 workers had been killed.

Workers complained about the deaths to Trump's OSHA, which did nothing.

Instead, ICE showed up in an act viewed as retaliatory.

paydayreport.com/450-napped-b...

Erasing Evidence Why this administration fears federal surveys and the truths they might reveal.

Check out this post by my colleague, Dr. Andrew Rosenberg. Erasing Evidence open.substack.com/pub/scilight...

Trump's mix of high tariffs and union-busting won't deliver higher wages or new manufacturing jobs for American workers - it will just increase profits for corporations.

Check out my new report with @epi.org:

Immokalee farmworker collapses under Florida's punishing sun, dies a week later Marco Antonio Hernandez Guevara had just begun his first day on a job in Southwest Florida farm fields when he is believed to have succumbed to heat stroke.

Too bad Florida Republicans and Governor DeSantis passed legislation forbidding Florida localities from passing ordinances protecting workers from heat-related illnesses.

Otherwise, Marco Antonio Hernandez Guevara might still be alive.

www.wgcu.org/top-story/20...

Law Firm Pressures Brown University to Erase Research on Anti-Wind Groups

My lab's been attacked by an anti-wind group and their lawyers. They threatened the science funding of my whole university, to shut me and my undergraduate research assistants up.

NYT just covered it. 1/n

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/25/c...

Opinion | The New American Inequality: The Cooled vs. the Cooked

Just as happened during the covid pandemic, the powerful and comfortable can work in safety (during covid at home, during extreme heat in air conditioning) while workers who grow our food & build our cities are exposed to hazards that increase their risk of illness and death.
Jeff Goodell nails it

Today would be a good day to give public employees the right to come home safe and alive at the end of the work day.

Who Cares About the Lives of Public Employees? - Confined Space Public employees continue to die in the workplace from preventable causes. 8 million public employees have no OSHA coverage.

Almost 55 years after the Occupational Safety & Health Act promised safe & healthful working conditions for "every" working man and woman," public employees in 23 states still have no OSHA coverage, no right to come home safe at the end of the day. And they're dying.
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