The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "Occupational Health Services" ...
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Hospital at Risk
My investigation of the Minnesota Security Hospital, a state-run facility that provides psychiatric treatment to nearly 400 adults deemed "mentally ill and dangerous," uncovered high rates of violence and injuries of employees and patients at the facility, a critical shortage of psychiatrists, and widespread confusion among employees about what to do when a patient becomes violent. I found that much of confusion was the result of the abrasive, threatening management style of head administrator David Proffitt, who was hired in 2011 to reform the facility. I began investigating Proffitt and found he was hired without a basic background check. I uncovered many troubling details from Proffitt's past, including domestic violence, a PhD from a now-defunct online degree mill, a forced resignation from his previous job as the administrator of a private psychiatric hospital in Maine, and other failings. The state ordered Proffitt to resign and the Minnesota legislative auditor began an audit of the department's hiring practices. The assistant commissioner of the Department of Human Services who led the hiring search also resigned. The governor proposed $40 million in renovations to address safety concerns. Regulators from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration visited the facility for the first time in 21 years. The facility also implemented new training for employees to reduce violence. My investigation of the facility continues.
Tags: Psychiatrists; domestic violence; injuries
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At KCPL Doctors say the darnedest things to injured workers. Get to work!
This story details an employee's experience with Kansas City Power and Light after getting injured on the job. KCPL is not required to pay specialists so care of injured workers unless a company-approved doctor refers a patient to the specialists, and injured workers don't feel the company has their best interests in mind. For example, KCPL sent this employee to a doctor who was on probation for alcohol abuse during his treatment, and had a malpractice lawsuit against him.
Tags: Kansas City Power and Light; KU Medical Center; KCPL; union; workers compensation; International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers; Occupational Health Services; Missouri State Board of Registration for the Healing Arts
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The Toxic Workplace: Railroads, Solvents and Sickness
A Courier-Journal investigative series reveals "how, despite medical warnings, the railroad industry in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s allowed the heavy and largely unprotected use of chlorinated hydrocarbon solvents in their locomotive maintenance shops; how railroads resisted government inspections for almost a decade when solvent use was perhaps its highest and that more than 600 railroaders across the country have since then been diagnosed with permanent brain damage that their doctors blame on the chemicals." The reporters have found evidence that the railroad industry was aware of the danger of toxic chemicals as far back as the 1960s but some companies continued to use them until mid-1990s. CSX Transportation, the largest railroad in the eastern part of the country has so far paid up to $35 in legal settlements, the Courier-Journal reports.
Tags: pollution; occupational safety; OSHA; environment; ozone layer; labor; unions; courts; Department of Health and Human Services; encephalopathy; dementia; chronic depression; medicine
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Rollback: A Corporate Feeding Frenzy During Bush's Honeymoon
A Multinational Monitor investigative packet looks at the first hundred days for the George W. Bush administration, and finds that the cabinet has "aggressively carried forward the corporate agenda." The stories within the packet focus on the negative consequences to the environment, workers, public health, consumers, civil rights, mining, etc., resulting from the suspension or rescinding of important regulations. One of the articles sheds light on the new bankruptcy rules that favor the automobile industry and finance companies, while diminishing the chance of financially devastated low-income families to resume "lives as productive members of their community." A separate piece reveals the background and the corporate connections of vice-[president Dick Cheney. The packet includes profiles of the members of Bush's "corporate cabinet," and dissects some possible motives that might have inspired their actions in the first 100 days. The profiled officials are: Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, EPA Administrator Christine Whitman, Veteran Affairs Secretary Anthony J. Principi, Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton, Secretary of Commerce Donald Evans, Treasury Secretary Paul H. O'Neill, Attorney General John Ashcroft, Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham, Secretary of Education Rod Paige, Director Office of Management and Budget Mitch Daniels, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick, Secretary of Transportation Norm Minetta, Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson, Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman, National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice, Secretary of State Colin Powell.
Tags: politics; business; money and politics; Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA); musculoskeletal disorders; cancer; drinking water; arsenic; ergonomic injuries; roads; forests; bankruptcy
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Construction Casualties
The Denver Post reports on Colorado construction sites who often hire undocumented workers and fail to teach them safety precautions. The result: workers injured simply because of a lack of communication. 'They can't translate or get across to the Spanish speaking guys how things should be.' In addition, many workers will not report their injuries due to the fear of being fired or deported. 'Workers say they'll take care of an injury later, but not until they finish the job. That's because they want to keep their job.' And while the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has seen the evidence, changes are still yet to be made. Also includes article on immigrant workers, workers compensation and a list of the construction-related fatalities in Colorado.
Tags: construction; safety; Occupational Safety and Health Administration; Colorado Association of Home Builders; U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Services; Equal Employment Opportunity Commission; employers; workers
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No title (id: 12976)
Southern Exposure investigates child labor in the United States. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates there are 5 million youth in the work force, but the agency does not collect data on those under 15. Farm work is notably unregulated when it comes to young workers, leaving many children working in situations detrimental to their social and educational development, health, and their lives.(Fall/ Winter 1995)