Save the date!

Monday, May 2
NYCOSH 26th Anniversary Awards Celebration

honoring

• The Honorable Carolyn Maloney, United States House of Representatives
• Roger Benson, President, Public Employees Federation
  
• David Barstow, New York Times
  
• Young Korean-American Service and Education Center
  
• Karen Silkwood Award: Micki Siegel de Hernandez, District 1, Communications Workers of America
  
• Local Union Award: Local 1, International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees

For complete information, to purchase tickets,
or to place an ad in the Awards Night Dinner Journal, click here.

Welcome to the NYCOSH website, where you'll find more than 200 pages of news and information about on-the-job safety and health, plus more than 1,500 links to more information on the Internet that you can use to enhance occupational safety.

The EPA Gets Ready to Announce a New Look at 9/11 Contamination

A three-and-a-half year struggle to compel the Environmental Protection Agency to accept full responsibility to assess and clean up all 9/11-related contamination is likely to come to a head over the next several weeks.

From Libby Montana to Lower Manhattan, Workers and Residents Push for a Clean-Up and Compensation

The government’s responsibility to clean up the contamination of Lower Manhattan, the surrounding area and other places similarly affected will be the focus of four public events in Manhattan in early April.Two representatives of workers and residents of Libby, Montana, where an epidemic of asbestos-related disease has killed hundreds of people and sickened more than a thousand, will visit New York City to attend the New York premiere of "Libby, Montana," a feature length-documentary about the struggle against the town’s contamination with asbestos dust from a nearby open-pit mine owned by W.R. Grace.

Asbestos-Injury Compensation Bill Moves Closer to a Vote in the Senate

The U.S. Senate is gearing up for a fateful showdown that could affect the welfare of the tens of thousands of people who have been exposed to asbestos and are at risk of dying or becoming sick as a result. After the Senate returns from its Easter recess, the Judiciary Committee may take a vote on a bill that has been under consideration for six years.

W.R. Grace and Officials Indicted for Exposing Hundreds to Asbestos and Covering it Up

Last month a federal grand jury in Missoula, Montana, brought a 10-count indictment against the W.R. Grace company and seven of its current and former top officials. The company and the men were charged with having knowingly endangered both employees of the Grace vermiculate mine in Libby, Montana, and the residents of Libby, who were exposed to windblown asbestos fibers from the mine on the outskirts of town. Additional charges include conspiracy and obstruction of the EPA’s effort to learn the truth.

Donna Ferrara Nominated to Workers’ Compensation Board

Last week Governor George Pataki nominated Donna Ferrara, a Republican member of the New York State Assembly from Nassau County, to the state’s Workers’ Compensation Board. Ferrara’s nomination came just two weeks after Newsday, the largest newspaper in Nassau County, published a long investigative article showing that Ferrara had not been eligible to run for the Assembly seat she holds, because she had not lived for a year in the district she represents.

Hold the Date – Monday, May 2, 2005, 6 pm, NYCOSH Annual Awards Celebration

Comings and goings - Sol Magnus, Andrew Schneider

At least three WTC-contaminated buildings in Lower Manhattan are slated for imminent demolition. The demolition of heavily contaminated high-rise buildings in a densely populated environment is unprecedented and potentially very hazardous. For a perspective on the need for caution, click here to read the testimony NYCOSH industrial hygienist David Newman at the February 17, 2005 hearing of the New York City Council's Committee on Lower Manhattan Redevelopment.

Draft Specifications for Tearout and Teardown of Deutsche Bank Building 130 Liberty Street. Prepared for: Pitney, Hardin, Kipp & Szuch LLP by John R. Kominsky, M.Sc., CIH, CSP, CHMM, ROH Roger G. Morse AIA Environmental Quality Management, Inc. Morse Associates, and R. J. Lee Group. DRAFT December 13, 2003

Health and Safety Plan for the 130 Liberty Street Building, Phase I Deconstruction Project. Prepared for Gilbane Building Company. Prepared by: Weston Solutions, Inc. December 10, 2004.

WTC Community-Labor Coalition Comments on EPA’s “Draft Proposed Sampling Program to Determine Extent of World Trade Center Impacts to the Indoor Environment” including the Synthesis Report of the Expert Advisory Committee, January 18, 2005

YouthSAFE Poster Contest - Deadline for entires, April 1, 2005

"Gold Standard" for Remediation of WTC Contaminations

Campaign to Stop Corporate Killing - Criminal Prosecution of Employers who Knowingly Endanger Workers

Two Important Conferences Slated on New York State’s Workers’ Compensation System (NYCOSH Update on Safety and Health, January 11)

LETTER TO STATE LEGISLATORS

New York State Workers' Compensation Benefits Must Be Increased

As part of a statewide campaign to increase workers' compensation benefits, the New York State AFL-CIO has posted a letter that New York residents can send to their representatives in the Senate and the Assembly with a few clicks of the mouse. To read the letter
and send it, click here.

In addition, NYCOSH presents a model letter for individuals to download and print out to mail to members of the New York Assembly and Senate. For a workers' compensation campaign flyer to reproduce and distribute, click here.

New York State Workers' Compensation Reform Effort Comes Down to the Wire  (NYCOSH UPDATE, June 18, 2004)

Support Builds for New York Workers' Compensation Benefit Increase   (NYCOSH UPDATE, April 8, 2004)

The Battle of the Bills: Workers' Compensation in the Balance   (NYCOSH UPDATE, March 16, 2004)

New York State Workers' Compensation Reform Bill Introduced in State Legislature
(NYCOSH UPDATE, February 28, 2004)