National COSH to Announce Special Coronavirus Edition of Dirty Dozen Report on Unsafe Employers

Advisory: Thursday 4/23 @ 1:00 pm ET/10:00 am PT

National COSH to Announce Special Coronavirus Edition
of Dirty Dozen Report on Unsafe Employers

Report Will Detail Hazards Facing Essential Workers
and Harassment, Fatalities, Injuries Across U.S. Industries

SAN DIEGO, CA – The National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH) will announce on Thursday, April 23rd “The Dirty Dozen” employers of 2020. The special Coronavirus Edition of the report will highlight employers who put workers and communities at risk due to unsafe practices, harassment and racial discrimination on the job.

Who:  Marcy Goldstein-Gelb, Co-Executive Director, National COSH Sara Ziff, Executive Director, Model Alliance, a leader in the fight against sexual harassment in the fashion industry; Horacio Ruiz, a server at The Capital Grille in Pittsburgh, PA, a member of ROC United, and an active campaigner for paid sick leave; Pedro Mendez, construction worker on the Interstate-4 renovation project in Florida, where 5 workers have died since 2016.

What:     Telephone media briefing on “Dirty Dozen 2020”

When: Thursday, April 23rd, 1:00pm ET/ 10:00 am PT

Where: To receive call info, please RSVP to roger@nationalcosh.org

The "Dirty Dozen 2020" report is being released in observance of Workers’ Memorial Week, honoring workers who lost their lives on the job and their families and also recognizing those who suffer from occupational injuries and illnesses. This year’s report, a special Coronavirus Edition, will highlight risks faced by essential workers and the failure of numerous employers to meet their legal responsibility to provide safe working conditions during the current public health crisis.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated, more clearly than ever, that worker health cannot be separated from public health,” said Goldstein-Gelb. “Life-threatening hazards don’t stay put in a single building or worksite, but spread to family members, neighbors, and the public at large. Every worker is essential to their family – and deserves to come home safely at the end of their shift.”

National COSH recently released “Model Workplace Safety and Health Demands for Essential Workers,” to assist workers and unions in winning safer working conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic. These recommendations will be discussed during the April 23rd telephone press call.

Panelists will also describe ongoing workplace hazards across a range of industries. In 2018, more 5,250 people died from workplace trauma, an 8.9 percent increase from 2014.  Workplace deaths are rising faster for Latinx and African-American workers, tracking public health data that show communities of color are most at risk for exposure and illness due to COVID-19.

To join the press call on Thursday 4/23, reporters should RSVP to roger@nationalcosh.org to receive call-in information.

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National COSH links the efforts of local worker health and safety coalitions in communities across the United States, advocating for elimination of preventable hazards in the workplace. For more information, please visit coshnetwork.org. Follow us at National Council for Occupational Safety and Health on Facebook and @NationalCOSH on Twitter.