Fed board slaps Florida for “unacceptable response” on worker safety
by John Kennedy | July 18th, 2011Florida drew a rare rebuke Monday from the federal Chemical Safety Board, for failing to enact workplace protections for state and municipal employees, following the deaths in 2006 of two plant workers at a Daytona Beach wastewater plant.
In a letter to Gov. Rick Scott, CSB Chairman Rafael Moure-Eraso said that legislation providing workplace protections failed to pass in 2009 and 2010. Last spring, no legislation was even introduced.
In issuing its first ever “unacceptable response,” to a state and its Legislature, the non-partisan safety panel again called for lawmakers to approve standards similar to those in place for private employees under the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
“The board maintains that implementation of these recommenations is necessary to secure the health and safety of Florida’s public employees. We therefore strongly encourage you and your colleagues in the state Legislature to reconsider the CSB’s recommendations,” Moure-Eraso wrote Scott.
Doug Martin, lobbyist for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), said the slap by the federal agency was deserved. The Florida League of Cities has fought state recommendations developed by a task force comprised of leaders from the public and private sector.
The issue was shelved this year, though, as lawmakers steered clear of enacting measures the League of Cities has insisted would prove too costly for cities, Martin said. Experts said the two workers killed in the Daytona Beach explosion, and a third badly burned, may have been spared if they had been better trained in safety procedures.
“Florida is a national embarrassment,” Martin said.
Tags: Chemical Safety Board, OSHA
July 18th, 2011 at 11:00 pm
This is just a sample of the debacle to come from all the reckless deregulation of this mindless, greed-driven legislature. I’m all for cutting useless regulations that block business opportunities, but when it comes to the safety of our workers, IT’S A DISGRACE! This was a nonpartisan committee complaining. Life and limb are MORE important than making an extra buck. Disgraceful, and I quote ” Florida is a national embarrassment.” So you think THIS is a great business climate???GET TO WORK SCOTT!
July 19th, 2011 at 8:39 am
Kick the fascist GOP and Chamber of Commerce out of Florida. They should not be welcome here any longer.
July 19th, 2011 at 11:19 am
I have hope.It is not wishful thinking, it is an understanding that the pendelum swings. Time wounds all heels. Sometime the swing is sudden. When it is it wakes up more people.
The Florida (and US Chamber) of Commerce, The League of Cities, individuals such as the Governor and his sidekick DirtyHari, Associated Industries of Florida, and others of their ilk have perpertrated such terrible changes to our society that there will be a wholesale rejection of them and their programs at the next election.
July 19th, 2011 at 6:42 pm
Yes, a huge correction is due next election; the voters of FL are paying attention now, and it is clear who the enemies of our well-being are, and they display an (R) after their names!
I remember a Bob Graham FL, not to mention a Walkin’ Lawton Chiles FL, AND I WANT IT BACK! These cur dogs have trashed this state, and they WILL be held accountable Nov. 2012.
July 20th, 2011 at 9:44 am
This is an interesting development in that Associated Industries lobbied for and and our esteemed legislature eliminated workplace safety back in 2000. That was when the Division of Safety under the FDOL was abolished. It apparently became too inconvenient.
July 20th, 2011 at 9:47 pm
@JanisL you are so right! Two honorable public servants who did a wonderful job.
Florida was a great place to live.