I got an e-mail and wanted to share:

in Illinois, a young mother and her two little kids were killed in a t-bone crash Thursday night. The crash took the lives of Amanda Jahn, 27, and her children, Ryan Jahn, 3 years, 11 months old, and Kaitlyn Jahn, 11 1/2 months old....the ENTIRE FAMILY of Dwight (IL) Firefighter Josh Jahn.The driver of the car that struck the Jahn vehicle, Ann Marie Goetz, 43 was transported to the hospital, where she remains a patient....she has already been charged with blowing a stop sign and felony driving while drunk.

Firefighter's Wife, Amanda Jahn, was heading home with her kids. Imagine your family doing that. It's easy-every family does that.

Where were they coming from? Amanda was a violinist...she was on her way back from teaching lessons and had stopped at her Mom & Dad's house to pick up the kids and go home. That's when "Drunk Driver" Goetz's car shot through the stop sign and struck the Jahn family on the driver's side door.

Following the violent t-bone crash, the Jahns car rolled over multiple times.... Amanda was trapped inside the vehicle...the 2 children, Ryan and Kaitllyn were EJECTED IN AND FROM THEIR CAR SEATS...and Mom WAS WEARING HER SEATBELT...but it couldn't save them from the drunk driver. The crash actually ripped the Jahn car apart into multiple pieces.

As we have also heard before, Veteran Drunk Driver Goetz has a lengthy criminal record, including prior DUIs dating back to 2000. Most of us are all very familiar with the impacts of a Firefighters death, in this case, this death will all but take the life of Firefighter Josh Jahn.

3 Quick Points:

1 If you are interested in expressing your condolences, the FD sent us FF Josh Jahns e-mail address, which will be checked and passed along to him....so if you wanna send a few words, here ya go.

jjahn@dwightfire.org

2 The holiday season is just about here. And while we are always at risk on this job, operate on or off the job extra defensively this time of year because of the drunk drivers.

3 Us. "Us" also are familiar with "us" drinking and driving ...mostly off the job, but sometimes even on the job in the firehouse.

Don't ignore it.

Don't allow it.

Speak up.

Stop it.

Know a FF with a problem? Get'm help...do whatever it takes. You into the Brotherhood stuff? Cool. Prove it. We aren't saying don't have a drink when off duty-we are saying if "us" are ever drinking, "we" cannot ever drive. And "we" need to look out for "us".

The on-duty issue speaks for itself, hopefully.

The "drinking" issue-internally or externally has impacted Firefighters throughout our entire history...and again most recently, at the above "firefighters deaths" -the preventable deaths of FF Josh Jahns' Family.
Our sincere condolences to FF Josh Jahn. What a nightmare.

My thoughts exactly. Although this site isn't specific to IAFF, I still want to pass it on. Fire fighter Close Calls, it's like the weekly toll, but specific to first responders, specifically, fire fighters.

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Ever heard of Combustible Dust? No, ask Tammy Miser

Shawn’s back was towards the furnace when they were picking up their tools and there was a blast. Some say Shawn got up and started walking towards the door and then there was a second, more intense blast. Shawn didn’t die instantly. He laid on building floor while the aluminum dust burnt through his flesh and muscle tissue. The breaths that he took burnt his internal organs, and the blast took his eyesight. Shawn was still conscious and asking for help… And the two things that I can always remember and that never leave are his last words, ‘I’m in a world of hurt,’ and his last breaths.” Tammy Miser Congressional hearing on combustible dust

If you played the CBS video (sorry about the commercial, can't do anything about it.) you got to see the damage to the factory in those pictures, but those are just pictures, if you watched, you also saw how senseless this loss really is and continues to be because OSHA fails to do its job.

Over at Joe’s Union Review, Joe points out that Congress called OSHA on their failure to protect workers and ended up passing a measure to force OSHA to regulate combustible dust. Here’s the funny thing, 165 Republicans voted AGAINST requiring OSHA to do their job and protect workers::

This bill would require the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration to issue rules regulating combustible industrial dusts, like sugar dust, that can build up to hazardous levels and explode.

More from The Gavel

In early February the Imperial Sugar refinery in Port Wentworth, Georgia, exploded, killing 13 workers and severely injuring many more. OSHA and the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, which have launched a major investigation into the Imperial Sugar explosion, have concluded that the explosion was caused by combustible sugar dust. In 2006, following a series of fatal combustible dust explosions, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board conducted a major study of combustible dust hazards. It identified 281 combustible dust incidents between 1980 and 2005 that killed 119 workers, injured 718 others, and extensively damaged industrial facilities. OSHA has known about these dangers for years, but has failed to act. Even after the Chemical Safety Board urged OSHA in 2006 to issue rules controlling dust hazards, OSHA has never offered any indication that it is planning to issue such rules without being required to do so by law.

This bill does little more than charge OSHA to do its job and even then, it was opposed by 165 Republicans, some who even tried to gut the legislation using procedural motions.

Chairman Miller: “These workers in this critical industry are entitled to this protection. And the facts on the ground are, the last time we put a standard was for the food and grain industry and it has turned out to be wildly successful. Why is it wildly successful? Because injuries went down 40%. Fatalities went down 60%. Explosions went down 60%. Don’t you think we know enough now to think that these other workers in this industry are entitled to this protection? But OSHA has done nothing. OSHA has done nothing. And if OSHA is not going to act, we must… We ought to oppose this motion to recommit in the name of the workers, in the name of their families, in the name of our nation we owe to them to protect these workers.”

So, now you know about Combustible Dust and Yes, You Can do something about it, you can write and call your Senators to encourage them to vote for this legislation and you can also sign the petition hosted by Change To Win. Go to the Weekly Toll and sign it. You can also find the petition on Joe’s site and it’s also up on mine.

Please, take a minute and sign the petition. Together, maybe we can stop future Imperial Sugar disasters, or at the very least, we can encourage the Senate to vote in favor of this legislation, forcing the talking heads at OSHA to actually do something to protect workers.

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I was reading over at Dailykos, as I do so freaking often these days, when I ran across this posting and not only did I want to share, but I asked if I could cross post it:

Funeral services were held yesterday in California for Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez. Vasquez Jimenez was a 17 year old woman working for a contracting company called Merced Farm Labor, and she died of overheating because rules about access to water, water breaks, and shade were ignored. Newspaper reports indicate her body temperature exceeded 108 degrees. She may not have known she was two months pregnant; her pregnancy was discovered as part of the investigation into her death.

Republicans and conservatives who claim to be "pro-life" while acting as though undocumented farmworkers are disposable people pushes all my righteous anger buttons. I predict we won't see any outrage from the "pro-life" community about the unnecessary death of this young woman and her unborn child.

From the Sacramento Bee:

When Vasquez Jimenez collapsed, she had been on the job three days, pruning vines for $8 an hour in a vineyard owned by West Coast Grape Farming.
During eight hours of work beginning at 6 a.m. in heat that topped 95 degrees, Bautista said that workers were given only one water break, at 10:30 a.m. And the water was a 10-minute walk away – too far, he said, to keep up with the crew and avoid being scolded.

Vasquez Jimenez collapsed at 3:30 p.m., Bautista said, and for at least five minutes, the foreman did nothing but stare at the couple while Bautista cradled her.
Bautista said the foreman told him to place the teenager in the back seat of a van, which was hot inside, and put a wet cloth on her.

Later, Bautista said, the foreman told a driver to take the pair to a store to buy rubbing alcohol and apply it to see if it would revive Vasquez Jimenez. When that failed, the driver took the couple to a clinic in Lodi, Bautista said, where her body temperature had reached more than 108 degrees.

"The foreman told me to say that she wasn't working for a contractor, that she got sick while exercising," Bautista said in Spanish. "He said she was underage, and it would cause a lot of problems."

Bautista and family members said that clinic staff rushed the girl to a hospital, where she was revived several times before finally succumbing two days later without ever regaining consciousness. Doctors later discovered she was two months pregnant.

the United Farm Workers website in memorializing her quotes from a speech by Cesar Chavez from 34 years ago when he reflected on whether these deaths are deliberate:

"They are deliberate," Cesar said, "in the sense that they are the direct result of a farm labor system that treats workers like agricultural implements and not as human beings. These accidents happen because employers and labor contractors treat us as if we were not important human beings."
But farm workers "are important human beings," Cesar continued...

They are important because they are from us. We cherish them. We love them. We will miss them.

They are important because of the love they gave to their husbands, their children, their wives, their parents—all those who were close to them and who needed them.

They are important because of the work they do. They are not implements to be used and discarded. They are human beings who sweat and sacrifice to bring food to the tables of millions...of people throughout the world.

They are important because God made them, gave them life, and cares for them in life and death.

I searched for a previous diary/story and didn't find one but I'll delete if this has already been diaried.

I was just so moved and saddened and angered by this story that I wanted to bring it to the attention of the wider dK community.

How many more will it take for OSHA to do the right thing, for the states to enforce the law, for everyone to understand that the grapes on the table or in your juice or wine may be at the price of a human life or two? Isn't that price too high to pay? It is, it's too high, way too high.

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On May 1st, I will buy no products, travel nowhere, pay for no services, nor will I work. For 8 hours. On May 1st, I’ll remember the more than 4,000 American soldiers who have fallen, the countless thousands who have come home without legs, arms, eyes or the ability to walk. I will remember those now in mental hospitals and all those now living on the streets, still at war in their heads. I will remember all the innocent lives lost in Iraq, children, elderly, mothers, fathers, and I will keep in mind that we can change it all this November.

I’m planning to support the International Longshore and Warehouse Union by not working the day shift on May 1st.

Why?

To honor all those workers who have died in work related accidents this year and also to support the ILWU protest AGAINST the IRAQ WAR

Let’s start with the ILWU protest:

Longshore Caucus calls for Iraq war protest at ports on May 1

Nearly one hundred Longshore Caucus delegates voted on February 8 to support a resolution calling for an eight-hour "stop-work" meeting during the day-shift on Thursday, May 1 at ports in CA, OR and WA to protest the war by calling for the immediate, safe return of U.S. troops from Iraq.

“The Caucus has spoken on this important issue and I’ve notified the employers about our plans for 'stop work' meetings on May 1,” said ILWU International President Bob McEllrath.

Caucus delegates, including several military veterans, spoke passionately about the importance of supporting the troops by bringing them home safely and ending the War in Iraq. Concerns were also raised about the growing cost of the war that has threatened funding for domestic needs, including education and healthcare. Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz and Harvard economist Linda J. Bilmes recently estimated that the true cost of the War in Iraq to American taxpayers will exceed 3 trillion dollars--a figure they describe as "conservative."

The union’s International Executive Board recently endorsed Barack Obama, citing his opposition to the War in Iraq as one of the key factors in the union's decision-making process.

The ILWU was one (but not the first) of the first unions to integrate, having done so in 1936. Both black and white gangs (work crews) worked alongside each other on the docks and held together during the strike of 1936. Integrating the union meant that when they had to strike, owners and bosses couldn’t race bate the workers, a management practice still in use today (check out Smithfield justice for more on this).

My point here about the ILWU is that it is a very progressive union. They do things democratically; including this action on the Iraq war, in fact, they even say as much:

Caucus delegates are democratically elected representatives from every longshore local who set policy for the Longshore Division.

And in support of the actions taken by the caucus,

ILWU International President Robert McEllrath has written letters to President John Sweeney of the AFL-CIO and President Andy Stern of the Change-to-Win Coalition, and to the presidents of the International Transport Workers Federation and the International Dockworkers Council to inform them of the ILWU's plans for May 1.

But this day of Remembrance is not only for those who’ve fallen in this war, but also all those workers who’ve lost their lives in the past 12 months. Since yesterday was the Day of Mourning, it seems fitting to remember just a very small sampling of people who’ve given their lives to their jobs. From the Weekly Toll:

Employer Shoots Employee in KingsportJohnson City,TN -
An Elizabethton man died over the weekend after police say he was shot by his boss. The Sullivan County Sheriff's Department received a call around 9 pm Friday night on a shooting at Kingsport Transfer on Moreland Drive. Investigators say the owner, Samuel Ireson and employee James Guinn were arguing when Ireson shot Guinn in the chest. Guinn was taken to Holston Valley Hospital and died Saturday morning. Investigators say Ireson was released to allow time to determine exactly what led up to the shooting.

Report explains death at Greenheck Fan Wausau, WI —
A man who died Saturday while working on a machine at Greenheck Fan Corp. in Schofield made a similar repair on the same machine a week earlier, a co-worker told police. Michael Damask, 42, of Hatley, died of compression asphyxia or suffocation, Marathon County Medical Examiner John Larson said this afternoon. Damask was killed when part of a hydraulic press dropped on him while he was changing a bearing, Larson said Larson determined the cause of death after conducting an autopsy this morning. The weight of the machine on his body prevented him from breathing or calling for help, Larson said. Damask was employed by Greenheck for approximately two years and worked nine months in the maintenance department. Damask is married and has three children.


Window washer falls to death at American Indian museum
WASHINGTON — A window washer at the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian has fallen at least 50 feet to his death. D.C. Fire Department spokesman Alan Etter says rescuers were called to the museum on the National Mall about 10 a.m. Thursday. It's not clear whether the man's safety harness failed or whether it had been engaged properly when he started work. Authorities have not been able to identify the man. Etter says he appeared to be in his early 30s and worked for a contractor hired by the Smithsonian. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating.

Bartender killed after asking man for ID Sunrise Beach, MO - The Gossip Inn is a neighborhood corner bar. "A family tradition since 1938," says the sign out front. But the small tavern in Kansas City, Kan., had a firm rule posted prominently behind the bar: Nobody gets served a drink without showing an ID. Bartender Lori Reynolds stood fast by that rule about 1:30 a.m. Saturday, and it cost Reynolds her life. A man upset when Reynolds said she couldn't serve him without seeing his ID opened fire, striking her multiple times and spraying six to eight more rounds through the bar. No one else was reported injured. The man fled the bar and was still at large Saturday evening. Reynolds died at a hospital. "She did her job. That's all she was trying to do -- her job," said bar owner Laura Maude. Maude said Reynolds, 44, was a good bartender, liked

El Paso CBP officer dies in crash near Moriarty WASHINGTON -
A U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Air Interdiction Agent (Pilot Trainee) died while performing training as a result of an aircraft crash that occurred Monday at approximately 12:40 p.m. EDT at Moriarty Airport, near Albuquerque, N.M. The Air Interdiction Officer who died in the crash is Julio E. Baray. He is survived by his wife and two children. "Today, the Customs and Border Protection family mourns the loss of Officer Julio Baray," said Michael Kostlenik, Assistant Commissioner, CBP Office of Air and Marine. "Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends."

Lorain worker crushed to death LORAIN, OH — An employee of Brush Wellman Engineered Products was crushed to death Sunday night in a casting machine. Matthew Salisbury, 30, of Day Drive in Lorain, was pronounced dead at the scene following the accident, which occurred at about 10:50 p.m., said county Coroner Paul Matus. “He died as a result of acute trauma,” Matus said. “His injuries were obvious and fatal.” The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s Toledo office is investigating the accident. “He was inside a machine and got pinned,” said Dick Tracy, the agency’s assistant area director. He said it was too early to say how the accident occurred. Salisbury’s wife, Jennifer Salisbury, said a co-worker told her he saw the whole thing. “The machine was broke down — it was clogged — and he was trying to unclog it,” she said.

So, I’m asking again, do you know what you’re doing on Thursday, May 1st?


crossposted on Women, Unions and Our Stories

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