Good Monday morning,

As we head down the homestretch of summer…

KNEE-JERK SAFETY REACTIONS

From the discussion group EHSQ Elite:

The Question: “There's got to be some pretty entertaining ‘mistakes’ we humans have made with the best intentions of making it safer. These we can file under the ‘FAILED’ folder.

Good Friday morning:

MINDMELD: WHAT’S ON THE MINDS OF PROS THIS MORNING?

One pro who recently changed jobs wonders:

Good Wednesday morning,

WORTH READING: “The BP Cover-Up” in the September-October 2010 issue of Mother Jones. “We Mad as Hell – And we’re not going to take this!” in the August 23 & 30, 2010 edition of Newsweek. The meltdown of the JetBlue flight attendant who grabbed the intercom, announced his resignation, grabbed tow beers, and existed down the escape hatch came hours before Bureau of Labor Statistics stats signaled that companies may have pushed workers as far as they can go, according to the article by Daniel Gross.

Good Monday morning,

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

“There is always more error than design in human affairs” – from Sir Winston Churchill’s “The World in Crisis 1911-1918”

Good Friday morning,

FATALITIES DROP TO RECORD LOW

Preliminary results from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ National Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries released Thursday show a decline in workplace fatalities from 4,340 workers in 2009 from a final count of 5,214 fatal work injuries in 2008.

Good Wednesday morning,

HEARTBREAK:

An 8-year-old boy was killed Sunday morning when he went to work with his father in Woodland, Texas, reports KCRA.com. The boy was struck by a passing forklift in the parking lot of a business, according to police.

Dave Johnson has been chief editor of Industrial Safety and Hygiene News (ISHN) since 1980. We’ve given ISHN’s Facebook newsletter, also posted on the ISHN web site blog, a new title so we are not restricted to publishing Monday (The Week that will be in Safetyland), Wedneday (Hump Day in Safetyland) and Friday (The Week that was…)

Happy Friday the 13th

TOP OF THE NEWS:

BP TO PAY $50.6 MILLION TO RESOLVE U.S. LABOR DEPARTMENT LITIGATION… the highest fine ever issued by OSHA and paid by an employer.

Happy Hump Day,

But not for these companies, all snared in the last week in OSHA enforcement cases. No August doldrums down on Pennsylvania Avenue at the Department of Labor building:

Good Monday morning,

OSHA BUDGET

OSHA received $558 million in fiscal year 2010. President Obama proposed a fiscal 2011 OSHA budget of $574 million.