Versace Bans Sandblasted Jeans, Double Win for Activists and Garment Workers: Thanks to pressure from activists, Versace is banning "killer" sandblasted jeans. This news comes after a two-month campaign by the Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) on Change.org where more than 1,200 people from around the world signed a petition urging the Italian fashion house to ban the dangerous technique, which is used to give jeans a "worn" look...more...
07/26/2011
Versace announces ban on sandblasting: After an intensive campaign launched by the Clean Clothes Campaign and recently hosted by Change.org, the Italian textile brand Versace announced last Thursday that it will join other denim manufacturers around the globe in calling for a ban on the practice of sandblasting...more...
07/25/2011
US Labor Department's OSHA cites Brenner Tank Services of Wisconsin for lack of machine guards and protection from respirable dust, other hazards Company faces proposed penalties of $114,000: MAUSTON, Wis. – The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Brenner Tank Services in Mauston for 11 safety and health violations, including one willful violation. The company faces proposed penalties of $114,000 as a result of health and safety inspections conducted in January....more...
07/19/2011
Sick villagers wait for waste disposal: The Pollution Control Committee will make a final decision next month on what to do with almost 3,000 tonnes of ore tailings which are suspected to have caused lead poisoning among residents of Lower Klity village in Kanchanaburi's Thong Pha Phum district....more....
07/18/2011
Oil Field Employees Risk Bringing Lead Home: Oil field workers potentially could transfer lead to their homes and put their children at risk for lead poisoning if they do not take certain safety precautions, suggests The Journal of the Oklahoma State Medication Association....more....
Two centuries of coalminers' toil helped build the nation's wealth: A COUPLE of years ago I was one of a group of academics who wrote a study of coal in Australia for the American mining giant Peabody. It was a scholarly study, with good research, bringing together people from different fields to produce a detailed perspective on Australian coal mining, past, present and future....more...
07/15/2011
Exide will pay for blood tests for Petone residents: Free blood tests are being offered to Petone residents afraid they may have been poisoned by lead from a nearby battery recycling plant. The move comes as the Exide plant prepares to seek renewal of its consents for the controversial factory this month. The plant has been dogged by problems, including harmful lead emissions, an explosion and a fire, and Exide has been convicted twice for breaching emission standards. Recent monitoring showed lead levels were well within allowable limits....more....
07/15/2011
Battery Recycling Plant Offers Local Residents Free Blood Tests: In order to check for lead poisoning, an Exide battery recycling plant in petone, is reported to be offering free blood test to the local residents, as it has been facing issues since 2008, which involved an explosion, fire and 2 prosecution for excess lead emission restrictions....more....
07/06/2011
Versace de-activates Facebook wall as jeans protests go social: A new era of activism – social media activism – is well under way, as evinced by the example of luxury Italian fashion brand Versace. Versace has turned off fan posts on its Facebook page after activists publicly protested a controversial method it uses to produce jeans. Online campaign site Change.org revealed the Italian fashion house Gianni Versace has de-activated its Facebook wall after activists posted dozens of messages demanding the company ban sandblasting, a technique used to give jeans a used look which is highly dangerous to workers....more....
07/05/2011
NHRC warns Modi govt of legal action: New Delhi The NHRC today took strong exception to Gujarat government’s reluctance in compensating the families of 238 tribals, who died due to silicosis while working in quartz crushing factories, and warned it would have to approach the Supreme Court if recommendations were not complied with...more...
07/05/2011
NHRC takes exception to Guj govt''s reluctance in paying comp: New Delhi, Jul 5 (PTI) The NHRC today took strong exception to Gujarat government''s reluctance in compensating the families of 238 tribals, who died due to silicosis while working in quartz crushing factories, and warned it would have to approach the Supreme Court if recommendations were not complied with...more...
06/27/2011
US Labor Department's OSHA cites Delta Granite and Marble in San Antonio for exposing workers to excessive levels of respirable silica, other hazards: SAN ANTONIO – The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Delta Granite and Marble Inc. with 10 serious and one other-than-serious violation. Proposed penalties total $42,000....more....
06/27/2011
US Labor Department's OSHA cites Delta Granite and Marble in San Antonio for exposing workers to excessive levels of respirable silica, other hazards: OSHA's San Antonio Area Office initiated a health inspection on Feb. 23 at the company's facility on Sable Lane where employees were fabricating marble and granite countertops and associated products. The inspection was part of the agency's National Emphasis Program for Crystalline Silica, which was developed to reduce occupational exposure to respirable silica....more...
06/27/2011
Bolivia: Calling for The Necessary Distinction between Child labor and Exploitation: These children and adolescents work to help the family, to support themselves in their studies, to provide for their personal expenses, to secure themselves a better future compared to theirfathers and brothers buried by silicosis and accidents in mines or plantations of sugar cane . Since the ‘90s, they have grouped themselves in an organization called NATs (Ninos y adolescentes trabajadores, the acronym in Spanish) present in Bolivia, South America and spread to other parts of the world, to claim their right to decent work, with proper working hours and adequate health conditions for children, but also to defend their ability to study and play like everyone else....more....
06/26/2011
China Lead Poisoning You Should Be Aware Of: Recently in a battery factory in the Mengxi village in China, workers have been poisoned by lead emissions from the factory, which had operated for six years despite environment violations. Ultimately 233 adults and 99 children were found having high concentrations of lead in their blood. In the past two and a half years, thousands of workers, villagers and children in at least nine of mainland China’s 31 province-level regions have been found to be suffering from toxic levels of lead exposure, mostly caused by pollution from battery factories and metal smelters. The cases underscore a pattern of government neglect seen in industry after industry as China strives for headlong growth with only poor safeguards....more....
06/24/2011
Chilean mineworkers seek international solidarity: Cristián Cuevas is president of the Copper Miners Union Confederation in Chile, member of the peak trade union body CUT (Workers United Centre of Chile) and of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Chile (CCP). During a recent visit to Australia organized by the CFMEU in NSW a campaign was launched in solidarity with Chilean mineworkers. While in Sydney he was interviewed by Hannah Middleton for The Guardian....more...
06/24/2011
South Africa Mine Ratings Unaffected by Silicosis, S&P Says: June 24 (Bloomberg) -- South African mining companies’ credit ratings aren’t immediately affected by a court ruling in the country to allow a compensation claim by a silicosis sufferer against AngloGold Ashanti Ltd., Standard & Poor’s said. It’s too soon to assess the threat to mining companies of similar claims, the rating company said in a statement today....more....
06/23/2011
Bengaluru is first city to get a ‘lead map’: June 22: It's called a 'lead' map of Bengaluru. It will be the first in the country to indicate places that have highly concentrated levels of the metal, lead. This poisonous substance causes various health problems, like damage to the nervous system and brain disorders. So the National Referral Centre for Lead Poisoning in India (NRCLPI) has started an initiative to create 'lead maps' and Bengaluru will be the first city to get its regional lead map....more....
06/20/2011
US Labor Department's OSHA cites Bontrager Excavating in Uniontown,Ohio, after one worker killed, another injured in trench cave-in Company placed in OSHA's severe violator program: UNIONTOWN, Ohio – The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Bontrager Excavating LTD in Uniontown for two alleged willful, two serious and one repeat safety violation for failing to protect workers from cave-ins during trenching operations. An inspection was initiated after one worker was killed and another was injured in a trench collapse on Dec. 28, 2010, in Stark County....more...
06/19/2011
For South Africa’s sickened gold miners, a long wait for justice: His breathing is laboured, his chest is tight, and he is too weak to work in his garden any more. At the age of 63, former mine worker Wilson Mafolwana wonders if he’ll still be alive when justice is done. He is among the millions of migrant workers who toiled in South Africa’s gold mines in the apartheid era, building the world’s biggest gold industry – and often sacrificing their health in the process. Breathing clouds of dust, usually without ventilation masks, tens of thousands of miners contracted silicosis and tuberculosis, and many are now dying....more...
06/14/2011
NHRC praises state for care of silicosis victims: JAIPUR: The state came in for a lot of praise by the National Human Rights Commission ( NHRC) during a recent meeting of the commission with representatives from the state and those from Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi. The state in fact was lauded for its efforts in taking care of silicosis victims and cited as a model state....more...
06/01/2011
UK: Message campaign targets “Killer Jeans”: Ethical campaigners are targeting apparel brands including Dolce & Gabbana and Armani with a “secret message” campaign designed to highlight the health risks of sandblasted jeans. Volunteers from pressure group Labour Behind the Label will be hiding thousands of messages in the back pockets of jeans in shops around the UK this week, directing consumers to find out more about the “Killer Jeans” campaign. The initiative calls for the banning of sandblasting – a technique which involves using high-pressure blast guns to fire sand at denim fabric, creating faded and worn patches....more...
06/02/2011
South Africa Sandblasting Supervisor fined for stealing gold: Tarkwa, June 2, GNA - A 30 year-old supervisor working with Sand Blasting Company, a subsidiary company of Anglo Gold Ashanti Iduapriem mine, Tarkwa, has been fined 180 Ghana cedis for stealing 6,474.50 grams of gold concentrate....more...
05/31/2011
US Xcel on trial for 5 deaths at Georgetown, Colo.: DENVER – A criminal trial in the deaths of five sandblasters at a Colorado hydroelectric plant began Tuesday in the rare prosecution of a company...The workers had just finished sandblasting the inside of a portion of the tunnel that serves as a pipe from a mountain reservoir to a hydroelectric generator. They began spraying epoxy paint inside the tunnel and were having problems keeping the mixture flowing through the hoses. They painted about 10 feet of the tunnel and had stopped for the day...more....
05/30/2011
China detains 74 linked to lead poisoning as crackdown widens: SHANGHAI — China has detained 74 people and suspended production at hundreds of battery factories in a widening crackdown on heavy metals pollution after dozens of people were sickened by lead and cadmium poisoning. The government in eastern China's Zhejiang province said Monday that some of the people were detained in connection with pollution that sickened 172 people, including 53 children, near a battery factory in the city of Taizhou. Water and power to 652 factories was cut, it said in a statement on its website....more....
05/26/201
US seeks increased intervention in Zamfara lead poisoning: THE United States (US) government, through its Centres for Disease Control and Prevention in Nigeria, on Wednesday, stated that the US and Nigeria need to step up what they are doing, to prevent the spread of lead poison in Zamfara State....more....
05/19/2011
Nigeria Group: Nigeria lead poisoning victims need care: Victims of a lead poisoning epidemic that has killed hundreds of children in Nigeria's northwest are in need of long-term care, said an international aid agency. The U.K.-based office of Doctors Without Borders said that the work it has been doing to treat the victims was only "a beginning" as it accepted the U.N.-backed Green Star Award for leadership in environmental emergencies in Bern, Switzerland on Wednesday....more....
05/18/2011
Swiss mining giant Xstrata to threaten shutdown: SWISS mining giant Xstrata is expected to threaten the closure of two of its Queensland plants to escape an imminent deadline for tougher emissions standards, despite long-held plans to shut the operations under a corporate restructure.Xstrata's copper smelter in Mount Isa and its refinery in Townsville are facing closure - with the loss of up to 500 jobs - in an increasingly bitter standoff over a crackdown on emissions.It is understood Xstrata has been considering closing the operations in the medium term, as part of an international restructure, but is now fast-tracking the shutdown in the face of the looming deadline to meet the new environmental standards....more...
05/18/2011
FRANCE: Intertek audit to assess sandblasting impact: Auditing, testing and inspection firm Intertek has developed a new Sandblasting Assessment & Management programme (SAM) in response to industry-wide concerns about the dangers the sandblasting process poses to workers' health. Intertek says its new program enables brands and retailers to assess the impact of sandblasting in production facilities located throughout their global supply chains....more....
05/16/2011
China Battery Plant Boss Detained for Lead Poisoning: The legal representative for a battery plant in east China's Zhejiang Province was detained Monday after more than 300 people, including 99 children, were found to have elevated levels of lead in their blood. Investigations found that the metal was improperly disposed of by the Zhejiang Haijiu Battery Co. in Deqing County, said a spokesman with the county government....more...
05/16/2011
US Maine Renovator Faces Penalty for Violations of Lead Renovation Rule : A Rockland, Maine renovator is facing penalties for allegedly violating requirements designed to protect children from exposure to lead-based paint during painting and other renovation activities. According to information gathered by inspectors from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration and EPA, two workers employed by Colin Wentworth of Rockland failed to contain dust and debris generated by lead paint removal activities during a repainting project in October 2010. Although Mr. Wentworth had completed the eight-hour course required by the Lead Renovation....more...
05/09/2011
South African mining facing implied $100bn silicosis damage – RBC: JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The South African mining industry is facing “a very serious” threat from silicosis claims that could result in implied damage of $100-billion, says RBC Capital Markets equity research unit. RBC analyst Leon Esterhuizen and associate analysts Arnold van Graan and Ben McEwen say that the ruling of the Constitutional Court of South Africa in favor of Thembekile Mankayi opens the door to him and thousands of other silicosis sufferers to sue the South African mining companies....more...
05/09/2011
South Africa Silicosis could cost South African miners $100 bln: RBC: JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Lawsuits and claims resulting from the mine-related disease of silicosis could cost the South African gold industry $100 billion, RBC Capital Markets has estimated. This could deal another blow to an industry that is already grappling with rising costs related to wage demands and the capital requirements of running the world's deepest mines. In early March, South Africa's top court ruled that lung-diseased miners could sue employers for damages....more...
05/09/2011
East China E China Lead Poisoning Affects 31 Villagers: At least 31 residents in an east China county have been found to have elevated levels of lead in their blood after the metal was improperly disposed of by a local battery plant, officials said Monday. Investigatorssss from the environmental protection authority of eastern Zhejiang Province concluded that the lead poisoning incident in Deqing County was caused by Zhejiang Haijiu Battery Co., Ltd.'s "illegal disposal of industrial waste" and lax supervision by a local environment watchdog....more...
05/04/2011
Canada Speeding car fatally injures sandblaster in Calgary: The Calgary police and Alberta safety authorities are investigating a hit and run incident involving a speeding car and a worker in an underpass construction zone.“Right now we have officers on site completing the inspection, but this is a police investigation” said Sorcha Thomas, spokesperson of Alberta Occupational Health and Safety. “No orders have been issued.” A hit and run collision occurred between a motor vehicle and a pedestrian at Blackfoot Trail, under Ogden Road SE on April 29 at about 12:15 am....more....
05/03/2011
Germany East Side Gallery artists sue over Berlin Wall restoration: In the latest chapter of a controversy over the restoration of the Berlin Wall’s famed East Side Gallery, several artists are demanding compensation from the city because they say their artwork was removed (sandblasted), painted over or reproduced without their consent. The 1.3-kilometer section of the Wall, painted by artists as a monument to peace in 1990, progressively crumbled after Germany’s re-unification until restorations commenced in 2000....more....
05012011 UK EnviroVantage honored for environmental excellence: EPPING — EnviroVantage recently received the National Demolition Association's Environmental Excellence Award for work it performed at York Mills in Saco, Maine. The award recognized EnviroVantage's quality workmanship in maintaining Environmental Stewardship, a major focus of NDA. The award was presented to EnviroVantage President Scott Knightly at the NDA's annual meeting held at The Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas....more....
