Press Room

Point of View

  • 5 Sep 2023

    Working in Extreme Heat Is Dangerous. We Must Make It Safer

    Extreme heat is becoming more common across the U.S. The federal government and employers owe workers better safety measures
     

  • 29 Aug 2023

    We Need Stronger Safety Standards for Extreme Heat

    For decades, U.S. workers, unions, workers’ centers and allies have found innovative ways to challenge corporate power. The reality of rising temperatures is a new test.

  • 1 Aug 2023

    Extreme Heat: White House measures to protect workers are not enough. Bold action needed to address deadly risks!

    The actions announced last week by President Biden to protect workers from extreme heat – including ramped up enforcement for heat safety violations and increased inspections in high-risk industries – are a modest step in the right direction.

    Tragically, workers are getting sick and dying from the extreme heat driven by climate change. This is no time for modest steps. The President, Congress, federal OSHA and state and local officials must take bold action, now, to reduce risk and save lives.

    We must urgently pursue decarbonizing our economy, with a fully-funded just transition to ensure job and income security for affected workers. But workers cannot wait while this process unfolds and we are not helpless in the face of the triple-digit temperatures that are breaking thermometers all over the globe.  Heat stroke and heat illness, like other occupational hazards, is preventable.

  • 19 Jul 2023

    Winning Rights: The Role of Worker Centers in Protecting the Most Vulnerable Workers (Book Review)

    Celeste Monforton and Jane M. VonBergen’s book,On the Job: The UntoldStory of Worker Centers and the New Fight for Wages, Dignity, and Health, captures the story of workers fed up with toiling in dangerous jobs for paltry pay and of being forced to choose between their health and well-being or putting food on their table. It tells the story of a workforce not protected by a union collective bargaining agreement but able to assert its collective power through a growing part of the labor movement:worker centers. Worker centers began to emerge in the late 1970s and early1980s, led by Black worker activists inNorth Carolina and South Carolina and immigrant activists in New York City and along the Texas–Mexico border. As of late 2021 they had grown to number over 246, funded by a combination of foundations, government, earned income, grassroots fundraising, and dues.

COSH Network in the News

  • Korea Times (So. California)

    To reduce workplace injuries, make jobs safer

    22 Nov 2023

    Antonio Flores, a Cincinnati construction worker, still suffers the effects of a severe workplace injury from last December. Working without proper equipment for heavy lifting, he was hurt when a large pipe fell on him, breaking his back.

  • OHS Online

    NCOSH Announces 2023 Awards Recipients

    21 Nov 2023

    The National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (NCOSH) has announced the recipients of its prestigious 2023 awards, recognizing standout health and safety activists and organizations. The awards will be presented at the COSHCON2023 Awards Banquet on December 7, part of the National Conference on Worker Safety and Health.
     

  • Safety + Health Magazine

    OSHA proposal on worker walkaround representation draws partisan comments

    16 Nov 2023

    Also submitting a comment in support of the proposal was a group of 67 organizations, via a letter. Among the coalition is the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health and Sur Legal Collaborative, an immigrant and worker rights nonprofit. 

    “Giving workers the right to select someone as their representative is critical to ensuring their safety and health,” Shelly Anand, co-founder and executive director of the Sur Legal Collaborative, said in a National COSH press release. “Many times workers don’t even know they have the right to participate in the walkaround process.

  • For Construction Pros

    Serious Workplace Injuries Jump 7.5% From 2021

    10 Nov 2023

    The National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH) recently revealed that there are major issues in the way that injury and illness from the jobsite are handled. It suggests that improvements to worker safety are highly needed and a top priority.