Workplace
In NC medical examiner system, heavy autopsy caseloads raise risk of mistakes
Accurate autopsies help ensure that murderers don’t go free, that suspects aren’t wrongfully prosecuted and that spouses receive the life insurance payments they deserve. But in North Carolina, heavy caseloads are raising the risk of errors, a Charlotte Observer analysis has found. Pathologists in North Carolina’s thinly staffed medical examiner system do as many as…
Read MoreSpecial Report: Help wanted in Fukushima: Low pay, high risks and gangsters
“In reviewing Fukushima working conditions, Reuters interviewed more than 80 workers, employers and officials involved in the unprecedented nuclear clean-up. A common complaint: the project’s dependence on a sprawling and little scrutinized network of subcontractors – many of them inexperienced with nuclear work and some of them, police say, have ties to organized crime.”
Read MoreExtra Extra Monday: Poverty and profits, innocent drivers arrested, asbestos lawsuits and neglected abuse fatalities
Facing Foreclosure: Oklahoma’s mortgage settlement program benefits attorneys | Tulsa World“So far, the largest financial beneficiary of Oklahoma’s mortgage settlement program is a young attorney who used a system of vouchers and possibly a family connection to acquire dozens of clients.” Shocking cost investigation: Utility middle men charge renters inflated prices | Columbus Dispatch“A 10-month…
Read MoreAmmonium nitrate sold by ton as U.S. regulation is stymied
Despite being banned in countries such as Afghanistan, China, Colombia, Germany, Ireland and the Philippines, the potentially explosive fertilizer ammonium nitrate can be purchased pure and by the ton in the United States, according to the Dallas Morning News. An investigation by the newspaper found that “for more than a decade, U.S. efforts to tighten controls over…
Read MoreD.C. Fire Stations Near Navy Yard Understaffed in Shooting
“News4 I-Team has learned some D.C. firehouses were understaffed during Monday morning’s shooting at the Navy Yard. Twelve people were killed and eight others injured when 34-year-old Aaron Alexis opened fire inside Building 197 in Southeast D.C. around 8:30 a.m. Alexis was later shot and killed by police.”
Read MoreAs OSHA Emphasizes Safety, Long-Term Health Risks Fester
“The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the agency that many Americans love to hate and industry calls overzealous, has largely ignored the slow, silent killers that claim the most lives.”
Read MoreRape in the Fields
“They harvest the produce and process the meat and eggs Americans eat every day. But many migrant women are paying a high price to put food on their families’ tables,” according to a Center for Investigative Reporting piece.
Read MoreHard Labor
“Each year, some 4,500 American workers die on the job and 50,000 perish from occupational diseases. Millions more are hurt and sickened at workplaces, and many others are cheated of wages and abused. In the coming months the Center for Public Integrity will publish, under the banner Hard Labor, stories exploring threats to workers —…
Read MoreComp time empty promise for MDOC prison guards
“Mississippi Department of Corrections officials insist their comp time policies are legal and, indeed, authorized by the Mississippi Personnel Board. But at face value, the resulting system has required 25 prison guards to work more than 1,000 extra hours for free, according to a Clarion-Ledger analysis of MDOC records.”
Read MoreTemp Land
“America is now dotted with “temp towns” – places where it’s difficult to find blue-collar work except through a temp agency and where workers often suffer lost wages, no benefits and high injury rates.”
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