Week 18

Safety means watching out for each other!
‘Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living.’ -Mother Jones
Today is the 19th anniversary first Workers Memorial Day. This year also marks OSHA’s 38th year and MSHA’s 30th. Has there been any progress, you bet!
By the numbers!
In 1970, 260 coal mine fatalities and 165 metal/non-metal miners lost their lives on the job. Last year, 33 coal miners and 31 metal/non-metal miners died. There are less coal miners today but more metal/non-metal miners than there were in 1970. The numbers don’t lie, MSHA and OSHA have made a huge impact on workplace safety.
Why’d we level off?
There has been little progress in the past 7-10 years regarding fatality reduction. We have seen approximately 30-60 miners die each year (for the past decade) in each category. We can do better!
That’s where you come in!
Safety is not a spectator sport…you have to get in the game. We can get the number of fatalities and injuries down if we all work together.
What can one person do?
Correct any unsafe conditions that you find. Intervene when you see an unsafe (or questionable) act. Inform your supervisor of issues that need attention. Bring up safety concerns at safety meetings.
Make a difference!
Watch out for each other, take care of your co-workers. The potential for injuries and accidents decreases significantly when we watch each other’s backs. We owe each other that much, don’t you think.
More about Mother Jones aka "The Miner’s Angel"
Born Mary Harris in Ireland, raised in Canada, a teacher in Michigan and a dressmaker in Chicago, she married George Jones in 1861 and they had four children. George Jones and all four children died in a yellow fever epidemic in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1867. Mary Harris Jones then moved to Chicago, where she became a dressmaker. She lost her home, shop and belongings in the Chicago Fire.
A gradually growing interest in labor union issues and in radical politics led her to become active by her late 50s as Mother Jones, white-haired radical labor organizer. Mother Jones worked mainly with the United Mine Workers, where, among other activities, she often organized strikers' wives.
In 1903 Mother Jones led a children's march from Kensington, Pennsylvania, to New York to protest child labor to President Roosevelt. In 1905, Mother Jones was among the founders of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW, the "Wobblies").
In the 1920s, Mother Jones wrote her Autobiography. Mother Jones became less active as her health failed, and died in 1930, at age 83.