Worker Injuries? Not Interested, says Obama's Labor Department

[Better Believe It]

Worker Injuries? Not Interested, says Obama's Labor Department
by Beth Piknick
Beth Piknick is a nurse at Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis, Massachusetts, as well as a vice president of National Nurses United and a past president of the Massachusetts Nurses Association.

February 14, 2011

As a nurse who has had her life and career forever altered from a debilitating back injury that occurred on the job, I am outraged by the recent decision by the U.S. Department of Labor to withdraw a rule requiring employers to report musculoskeletal injuries to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

This is a disturbing sign that the Obama administration may be putting the economic interests of employers ahead of the safety of nurses and other working people.

For nurses in particular, this is devastating news, as nursing is one of the most dangerous occupations in the United States and nurses are especially subject to serious back and other musculoskeletal injuries. One step we can take to keep nurses safe at work is to have an accurate picture of when and how they are hurt on the job.

What the administration needs to realize is that as they ignore their responsibility for collecting these vital statistics, behind the numbers there are real people’s careers, dreams, and the very quality of their lives being sacrificed on the altar of corporate profitability.


Beth Picknick

Read the full article at:

http://www.labornotes.org/blogs/2011/02/worker-injuries-not-interested-says-obamas-labor-department