COSH Network in the News

  • Jacobin

    Workers Are Organizing to Demand Protection Against Extreme Heat and Wildfire Smoke

    16 Jul 2023

    The deadly combination of rising temperatures and wildfire smoke has to be understood as “climate injustice,” says Nancy Lessin, an advisor with National COSH. “This is yet another reason why the labor movement and the climate justice movement need to come together stronger than ever, to look to the future for the kind of prevention needed.”

  • Labor Notes

    In Heat and Smoke, Workers Fight Negligent Bosses

    12 Jul 2023

    But “workers don’t just need respirators,” said Peter Dooley of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (COSH). “The idea that outside workers are going to be wearing respirators all day is just not realistic.”

  • Money Talks News

    12 Companies Putting Workers at Risk

    27 Jun 2023

    But reasonable precautions are expected — for instance, not having children as workers or making people work around human waste. Those are two of the issues called out in the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health‘s latest annual list of “dirty dozen” employers.

  • Workday Magazine

    Amazon Says a Worker’s Death Was Not Work-Related. But a 911 Call Appears to Contradict the Company’s Narrative.

    26 Jun 2023

    Meanwhile, the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health placed Amazon on its 2023 “Dirty Dozen” list of unsafe employers.

  • Documented

    Swissport LaGuardia Airport Workers Announce Strike

    22 Jun 2023

    Across the country, Swissport workers have been sounding the alarm about the myriad of health and safety issues they say they have been forced to endure. This past April, the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health listed Swissport as one of its Dirty Dozen unsafe employers in the country.

  • ISHN

    Wildfire smoke shows need for urgent action on worker protections, says National COSH

    8 Jun 2023

    The wildfire smoke spreading across the United States and Canada shows the need for urgent action to protect workers from the ongoing effects of climate change, say leaders of the National Council of Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH).

  • HR Dive

    Wildfires show need for climate change-related federal protections for workers, advocacy group says

    9 Jun 2023

    The wildfires raging in Canada and sending clouds of haze across U.S. cities are proof of the urgent need for federal standards to protect workers from the effects of climate change, the National Council of Occupational Safety and Health said Thursday.

  • Restaurant Business

    Dangerous smoke levels in the East spark calls for more worker protections

    9 Jun 2023

    Groups like the National Council of Occupational Safety and Health, also known as National COSH, point out that wildfires have polluted the air in a number of states in recent years, a hazard they and environmental experts attribute to climate change.

    “This is not a one-time crisis,” Marcy Goldstein-Gelb, co-executive director of the organization, said in a statement. “Dangerous pollution in the air we breathe will be a fact of life for years to come, because climate change has greatly increased the occurrence of wildfires and other extreme weather events.”

  • Occupational Health & Safety

    Exploring Outdoor Worker Safety in Wildfire Smoke

    9 Jun 2023

    “Right now, only two of 50 states—California and Oregon—have specific safety rules which protect workers from wildfire smoke,” said Marcy Goldstein-Gelb, co-executive director of The National Council of Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH), in a recently published news release. Washington State filed proposed permanent wildfire smoke rules for workers in May 2023.

  • The City

    Drenched in Fecal Matter’: Feds Probe Working Conditions at LaGuardia Cargo Company

    24 May 2023

    Swissport was cited nearly 20 times by OSHA investigations nationwide in the past decade for safety violations, from injuries to violations for the agency’s standards on heavy machinery and seatbelts. Last month, the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health listed Swissport among the twelve most dangerous employers in the country, alongside Amazon, Norfolk Southern and Packer Sanitation Services, which was the subject of a national Department of Labor probe on migrant child labor.

  • Eagle Tribune

    Commentary: Better, safer workplaces are worth fighting for

    1 May 2023

    Another alarming trend: Black and brown workers die on the job at a higher rate than other workers, a consequence of past and current workplace discrimination. Some of the most egregious offenders, like FedEx, are highlighted in the 2023 Dirty Dozen report released this week by our organization, the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health.

  • Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen

    Class I railroads included on “Dirty Dozen” list of unsafe employers for 2023

    28 Apr 2023

    The National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH) announced today the “Dirty Dozen” list of employers who put workers and communities at risk due to unsafe practices. The Dirty Dozen report is released each year as part of the observance of Workers’ Memorial Week, which takes place this year from April 23 through April 30.

  • The Week

    Should child labor laws be loosened?

    8 Apr 2023

    It's easy to see why employers like young workers, Jessica Martinez and Marcy Goldstein-Gelb write at The Progressive. "With less information, less power, and fewer options, they are easier to exploit." There are good reasons to keep kids out of the workplace: They're more prone to injury, and they usually end up falling behind in their education as well. That means it is urgent "to enforce the child labor laws that already exist and push back forcefully against any attempts to weaken them."

  • Public Health Watch

    ‘Dirty dozen’ employers put workers, communities at risk

    4 May 2023

    Twelve employers have been flagged for repeated unsafe workplace practices by a national watchdog organization. 

    Released April 26 by the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health, the “Dirty Dozen 2023” report documents trends in U.S. worker safety and calls out employers it finds most lacking. 

  • Truthout

    On Workers Memorial Day, Here Are 4 Dangerous Employers Out of a “Dirty Dozen”

    28 Apr 2023

    April 28 is Workers Memorial Day, commemorating those killed, sickened, or injured on the job. As part of a week of events, today the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health is releasing its “Dirty Dozen” report.

  • HR Dive

    Amazon, FedEx among those named and shamed by worker safety group

    1 May 2023

    The National Council for Occupational Safety and Health, a worker safety advocacy federation made up of 26 local groups, announced a list of “Dirty Dozen” employers April 26, naming and shaming those who allegedly “put workers and communities at risk due to unsafe practices.” 

  • The American Prospect

    Today, we honor workers who died on the job

    28 Apr 2023

    Not everyone is covered. OSHA covers private employers. Only in 22 states or territories are there OSHA-approved plans covering state and local government workers. Public employees in 23 states are still not afforded full OSHA protections. Unions and safety coalitions (like the national and state Council for Occupational Safety and Health, or COSH, groups) have been fighting to extend, expand and strengthen worker protections since OSHA was created.

  • Boston Globe

    In Mass., 51 workers died on the job last year

    27 Apr 2023

    Lorna McMurrey was 27 when she collapsed after inhaling cannabis dust at a production facility in Holyoke early last year. It was the second time in two months she’d been rushed to the hospital because she couldn’t breathe at her job filling pre-rolled joints. She died a few days later.

    McMurrey was one of 51 workplace fatalities in Massachusetts last year, according to the annual “Dying for Work” report released Thursday by the Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health, or MassCOSH, and the Massachusetts AFL-CIO. The emerging cannabis industry was singled out in the report for failing to protect employees even as strict controls have been put in place to protect consumers.

  • Workplace Material Handling and Safety

    Top 12 Most Unsafe U.S. Employers Named

    26 Apr 2023

    Just in time for Workers’ Memorial Week (April 23-30), the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH) has released its annual “Dirty Dozen” list – the 12 most unsafe employers in the U.S. – companies who put workers and communities at risk by engaging in unsafe practices.

  • Business Insurance

    National COSH blasts unsafe employers

    27 Apr 2023

    Shipping, transportation and warehousing companies were among the industries singled out by the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health in its annual list of unsafe employers.

    National COSH, in its report released Wednesday, also highlights that workplace fatalities are on the rise and that Latino and Black workers are dying on the job at a higher rate than other workers — consistent with federal data.