22 Apr 2022
Advisory: Wednesday 4/27 @ 2:00 pm ET/11:00 am PT
National COSH to Announce 2022
“Dirty Dozen” Unsafe Employers
LOS ANGELES – The National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH) will announce “The Dirty Dozen” employers of 2022 during a Zoom media briefing on Wednesday, April 27th at 2pm ET/1pm CT/12 noon MT/ 11:00am PT.
The Dirty Dozen are examples of employers that put workers and communities at risk due to unsafe practices which lead to preventable illnesses, injuries and fatalities. Several of the Dirty Dozen have also engaged in harassment and retaliation against those workers who are standing up and speaking out for safety on the job.
Who:
Jessica E. Martinez, MPH, Co-Executive Director, National COSH
Jennifer Bates, worker at Amazon’s Bessemer, Alabama warehouse where two workers died in November, 2021
Sandra Mejia, former worker from the Laundry Worker Center that waged anti-union activities and current leader in the campaign for organizing these workers
Nikki Taylor, former Starbucks worker who became ill with COVID-19 after workplace exposure, and one of the “Memphis 7” fired by Starbucks for union organizing activity
Mary Gundel, former store manager at Dollar General, fired after her Tik-Toks about safety at the company went viral; recently featured in The New York Times.
What: Zoom media briefing on “Dirty Dozen” employers for 2022.
When: Wednesday, April 27th at 2 pm ET/1 pm CT/12 noon MT/ 11:00 am PT
Where: Journalists can pre-register for the call here.
To receive an embargoed copy of the Dirty Dozen report, please contact melissa@nationalcosh.org or roger@nationalcosh.org.
The "Dirty Dozen” report is being released in observance of Workers’ Memorial Week, remembering workers who lost their lives on the job and their families and also recognizing those who suffer from occupational injuries and illnesses.
“No job, no deadline, no production schedule is worth a worker’s life,” said Martinez. “Yet time and again, we see employers ignore health and safety and prioritize production and profit– and it is workers and their families who pay the price.”
Last week, National COSH released “Killed at Work,” the U.S. Worker Memorial Database of workers known to be killed on the job in 2021 and so far in 2022. This voluntary effort, coordinated by National COSH, is a partial catalog of deaths from workplace trauma in 2021 and so far in 2022.
“Killed at Work” has identified over 2,100 workers who died on the job, with names and details of their deaths where available. In addition to cases identified by name, thousands more die each year from workplace trauma, but go nameless and faceless due to the lack of transparency by public agencies. In nearly every case, these deaths could have been prevented if employers followed established safety protocols.
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National COSH links the efforts of local worker health and safety coalitions in communities across the United States, advocating for elimination of preventable hazards in the workplace. For more information, please visit nationalcosh.org. Follow us @NationalCOSH on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.