NYC Sanitation Workers Face Rising Needle-Stick Injuries
- New York City sanitation workers have reported an increase in needle-stick injuries this year, with the Department of Sanitation attributing the trend partly to growing residential use of needles for GLP-1 weight-loss medications. Forty-nine workers have been pricked so far this year, and 140 employees have experienced needle-stick injuries over the past three years.
- Sanitation worker Jason Leavy said getting poked while reaching into a bag is one of his biggest fears on the job, and the department has called the injuries “preventable” and “very easily avoidable,” launching a public service announcement campaign urging residents to dispose of needles properly.
- The department is asking residents to use hard plastic Sharps containers or a labeled “household sharps” container, such as an empty laundry detergent bottle, and is separately seeking increased fines for people who improperly dispose of needles.
United Steelworkers Rally, Push Worker Safety Legislation
- Dozens of United Steelworkers members marched through downtown Pittsburgh Aug. 21, from USW headquarters to the office of U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick, seeking to present a petition urging him to support legislation that which would expand Occupational Safety and Health Administration protections and impose criminal liability on employers who knowingly violate workplace safety standards.
- Speakers repeatedly compared the “Protecting America’s Workers Act,” to Canada’s 2003 Westray Law, which established corporate criminal liability for workplace.
- McCormick’s office did not respond to requests for comment on his position on the bill, while Sen. John Fetterman, Pennsylvania’s Democratic senator, is already a cosponsor of the bill.
Employee Fatally Shot at Brownsville Fast Food Restaurant
- A 44-year-old employee at America’s Best Wings and Pizza in Brownsville, Brooklyn was killed after a shooting erupted inside the restaurant just after midnight on Aug. 23, with police receiving a 911 call reporting an assault at 12:01 a.m.
- Officers arriving at the scene on Rockaway Avenue found the worker with a gunshot wound to the head and a second man with a bullet wound to the leg. Both were rushed to Brookdale Hospital, where the employee was pronounced dead and the other man is expected to survive.
- The worker’s identity is still pending family notification, and police have not released a suspect description or motive; no arrests have been made.