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.”
Mass. health boards overwhelmed, unready to protect workers
Mass. health boards overwhelmed, unready to protect workers
SHANNON IRIARTE, SHWETHA SURENDRAN AND MAGGIE MULVIHILL/The Howard Center for Investigative Journalism , The Howard Center for Investigative Journalism
May 12, 2021
FacebookTwitterEmail
BOSTON (AP) 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.
An early morning concert at The Ritz Monday was intended to celebrate the loosening of state restrictions to allow for indoor singing performances, but newly released guidance from the Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission (ABCC) makes it impossible for small venues to host shows. With the new guidance, a slate of upcoming shows booked at The […]
‘OK Corral’: Springfield board revokes Malecon Restaurant & Bar liquor license, citing shooting
Updated Apr 29, 2021;
Facebook Share
SPRINGFIELD The city’s License Commission has revoked the liquor license of the Malecon Restaurant & Bar at the Apremont Triangle in the wake of Christmas night shooting.
The incident was compared by a city lawyer to the infamous gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Arizona in 1881.
Malecon’s lawyer, Daniel Hagan of Springfield, said Thursday that the 3-0 vote to revoke the license was a “terrible decision,” and the business will appeal to the state Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission or through court action.