Workers' Rights

Tammy Miser knew that her brother Shawn Boone’s job as a mechanic at a plant in Huntington, Indiana that made wheels for cars could be dangerous. Her husband, Mark, had worked at the plant for 13 years, most recently as a paint engineer and had helped Shawn get his job there. The two men were as close as brothers.

When business at the plant slumped, it was Mark who was let go. He found another job in Lexington, KY and he, Tammy and their three children moved in 2002. Despite being familiar with potential hazards at the Huntington plant, they were still shocked by a phone call on the night of October 29, 2003, with news of a combustible dust explosion.

“Since Mark had worked there, we knew what those explosions were like,” Miser recalled. “So when we were told that Shawn was involved, we were petrified.”

Shawn, 33, had been trying to re-light a chip melt furnace after the initial explosion when the furnace room erupted. He was blinded and suffered third- and fourth-degree burns on more than 90 percent of his body. Before anyone could get to him, he remained on the building floor while aluminum dust continued to burn through his flesh, destroying his internal organs.

“It took us five hours to get there,” Miser sighed. “We were kind of hoping that he might be just a little messed up.” But when she and her husband arrived at the hospital, they were stopped by a local chaplain who “told us that he had not seen anything like that other than in a war,” Miser said. “Basically, they were waiting until we got there to take him off life support.”

The second of Miser’s three younger brothers, Shawn was single with no children. He had worked at the plant for about 10 years and was trying to complete his bachelor’s degree so that he could do something else. Miser still chokes up when she talks about him. “It’s still emotional for me,” she says. “I know it’s been a long time.”

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, nearly 5,660 workers were fatally injured on the job in 2007 and 4 million suffered non-fatal injuries and illnesses in private industry. Reducing those numbers and ensuring that more workers can do their jobs in safer and healthier workplaces is a fundamental goal of the Public Welfare Foundation’s Workers’ Rights program – a goal shared by Tammy Miser.

She was devastated by Shawn’s death and her frustration with trying to get pertinent information about the accident and the limitations of workmen’s compensation kept her angry for many months. “There was nobody for us to talk to, nobody who seemed to understand what we were going through,” Miser remembered. “It was almost like there was a murder and we knew who did it, but there was nothing we could do about it.”

Eventually, the federal Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) investigated the accident and the plant was fined nearly $50,000. But that was small consolation.

Miser poured her grief and anger into creating an organization, United Support & Memorial for Workplace Fatalities that helps families cope with the loss of a loved one on the job and is committed to helping improve occupational safety and health. The group connects families to grief counselors or other empathetic listeners for peer support as well as to attorneys to pursue legal claims. The Weekly Toll blog helps answer families’ questions and keeps track of new workplace fatalities. A proposed “Family Bill of Rights” is being developed for possible approval by state legislatures. It would keep close family members informed of important dates and decisions related to government investigations of the workplace accident that killed or injured their loved one, among other things.

Most significantly, the organization mobilizes willing family survivors to advocate for federal and state policy changes and brings the family perspective into policymaking discussions. Miser has testified before the U.S. Congress about the need for better standards to reduce combustible dust hazards. She and other advocates are also pushing for more widespread recognition of Workers’ Memorial Day on April 28^th, as a day of remembrance and support for those who have been killed, injured or made ill on the job.

USMWF is maturing from a volunteer campaign to a sustainable grassroots organization largely due to a two-year $162,000 grant for general support from the Public Welfare Foundation. The grant has allowed Miser to become a full-time executive director and to hire a full-time staff assistant.

Stella Morris also became an advocate after her husband, David, known as Bud, was killed in a mining accident on December 30, 2005. He was struck from behind by a shuttle car hauling coal in a mine with relatively small operating space, sometimes called a “doghole” mine, because the car operator did not have clear visibility. Both of his legs were cut and his condition was further complicated when he did not receive proper first-aid. A medic on duty at the mine was too upset to administer any relief and ordered Bud’s co-workers to take him out of the mine, which took 20 minutes. As a result of an unfortunate combination of events, including a lack of training among any of his co-workers in tying tourniquets and almost an hour delay in the arrival of an ambulance, Bud bled to death on the way to the hospital. With timely help, his life might have been saved even though he would have been an amputee.

Working with another Foundation grantee, the Appalachian Citizens’ Law Center in Whitesburg, KY, Morris has become an advocate for mine safety. She and other mining widows presented moving testimony to the state legislature in 2006, persuading a majority of legislators to improve some safety standards, including requiring two medics at mine sites. The Law Center, located in the heart of eastern Kentucky coal country, is receiving $150,000 from the Foundation to help pursue benefits for victims of black lung and other pulmonary diseases and to improve mine safety and health.

The efforts of local- and national-level Foundation grantees to strengthen workplace standards and improve protections for workers should help prevent more Shawn Boones and Bud Morrises from dying on the job.