Tree trimmer killed in Northborough wire accident boston.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from boston.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Kevin Rothstein Safety advocates are pushing back against Gov. Charlie Baker s administration and its plan to rescind COVID-19 workplace safety regulations. (The rules were) initially put in place as emergency regulation to protect workers from COVID-19 s spread, Michael Flanagan, director of the Massachusetts Department of Labor Standards, said Wednesday during an online hearing.The regulations include rules about everything from social distancing to cleaning and disinfecting.During the online hearing, the Department of Labor Standards only heard from people who oppose the removal of the regulations. Opponents pointed to lower vaccination rates among people of color and the delta variant of the virus as examples of why workers still need protection. It seems ill-advised at this time to repeal during a time of uncertainty, said Christine Pontus of the Massachusetts Nurses Association. The vaccines are critical and essential, but they are not a magical shield, sa
BOSTON Thursday, June 10, 2021 Mayor Kim Janey today announced a pair of measures to promote economic opportunity in the City as part of her agenda for Boston’s equitable recovery, reopening, and renewal.
Massachusetts Health Boards Overwhelmed, Unready to Protect Workers By Shannon Iriarte, Shwetha Surendran and Maggie Mulvihill | May 14, 2021
With federal regulators missing from the field and state leaders scrambling to manage the COVID-19 crisis, Massachusetts’ 351 overtaxed local boards of health were unwittingly thrust into a new role last year – overseers of workplace safety.
The challenge created by forcing that responsibility on the municipal agencies, some staffed with only one or two people, may have contributed to at least one chairman’s heart attack and highlighted the fragility of the workplace-safety landscape in Massachusetts.
“It’s brutal. It’s brutal. It’s off the charts,” said Michael R. Hugo, government affairs director for the Massachusetts Association of Health Boards. “There is so much egregious behavior going on by businesses that nobody has time to do it all.”