Before joining National COSH earlier this year, COSHCON was something I had only heard about from afar. Working as a consultant in the NYC labor movement, I knew it was a respected, bilingual gathering that brought together workers, organizers, and health and safety leaders, but it was still just a concept to me, something other people experienced.
Upon my arrival at Reagan International Airport in the Nation’s Capital on March 18, 2025, I was greeted by National Council of Occupational Safety and Health (NCOSH) Executive Director Jessica Martinez, who I was meeting in person for the first time since completing National COSH “We Rise!” Workers Leadership Training and being elected to the Board of NCOSH.
Robert Jarvis wants answers. “Why’d you make us work that day?” he asks. “Why?”
With five workers dead and one still missing since Hurricane Helene struck on Sept. 27, many of us in Tennessee and around the country also want to know what went wrong that day – and if we can prevent it from happening again.
The agency should resume work on the national heat standard, said Jessica Martinez, National COSH’s executive director, noting efforts to protect outdoor and indoor workers from “preventable illness and death” is critical as climate change contributes to rising temperatures in the U.S. and around the world.
“They face pretty chronic understaffing, and now we’re asking a smaller number of inspectors to work without pay,” said Jessica Martinez, executive director of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health. “They’re dedicated public servants who believe in protecting workers’ lives — but they’re also human, with their own families and bills to attend to.”
Tenet was highlighted in 2023’s Dirty Dozen report by the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health, which found that Tenet cuts corners on patient and worker safety and retaliates against those who speak out about safety issues.
The director of a worker-safety group known as the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health said this month that the explosion likely could have been prevented, and that workers across the country face similar risks from reduced safety measures and enforcement.
