Want Better Administrators? Here's How

October 8, 2010, 11:45 a.m.

Workplace Safety: Look to China's Coal Mine Solution
. . . and other lessons
(bought to you by FromDC2Iowa.blogspot.com*)
China seems to be doing a lot of things right, and I'm not just talking about what appears to be their stealth monopoly control of the world's essential "rare earth" resources. Keith Bradsher, "China Tightens Grip on Rare Minerals," New York Times, September 1, 2009, p. B1.

At a time when we don't seem to have figured out how to make corporate executives and their government overseers take a more serious approach to workplace safety, the Chinese have come up with an approach that can be applied to improving administrators' behavior generally.

"[N]ine men . . . have died inside U.S. coal mines in the six months since the Upper Big Branch mine disaster in West Virginia, in which 29 men were killed on April 5." David A. Fahrenthold and Kimberly Kindy, "Mine Safety's Black Hole," Washington Post, October 5, 2010. And see Nicholas Johnson, "Honor Workers Every Day," Iowa City Press-Citizen, September 6, 2010, p. A7 (and in "Labor Day: Honor Workers Every Day," September 6, 2010); and Editorial, "Miners Die, Congress Dawdles," New York Times, September 19, 2010, p. A20.

What can we do? Where can we look for "best practices"?

Admittedly, it seems counter intuitive to look to China for coal mine safety. There are seven million Chinese coal miners -- more than in the rest of the world combined. In 2004 6000 Chinese miners died in mining accidents. China produces 40% of the world's coal, but 80% of the mining deaths. Chinese miners die at a rate 100 times greater than in the U.S. Mark Gregory, "Why Are China's Mines So Dangerous?" BBC World Service, October 7, 2010.

But last year those deaths dropped to 2600. Id.

And now Beijing has added another innovation that will not only reduce those deaths further, but offers an insight into reforming the attitudes of elected officials, administrators and managers generally.

"New regulations have come into force in China that require managers of mines to accompany workers down the shafts. . . . The authorities hope that putting officials in the mines alongside their workers will act as a strong incentive to improve safety conditions." Martin Patience, "China Introduces Mine Safety Rule," BBC News, October 7, 2010.

As you'd suspect, China's coal mine managers aren't crazy about the idea. "[A]lready there have been reports of some managers trying to manipulate the new regulation. At one mine, seven workers were given jobs as assistant managers to circumvent the new rule." Id.

How else might this principle be applied?

Professorial humility. At one point I applied it to myself. I'm not a good foreign language student. Oh, I manage to learn and use a few expressions in the native language of all the countries where I travel. But the portion of the brain that seemingly enables some individuals to master a foreign language on a single hearing never fully developed for me. Besides, most of the people I was dealing with abroad were fluent English language speakers.

But a time arrived when it looked like I was really going to need more than a few expressions in Russian. So I took a Russian class with about six other students, many of whom were simultaneously studying Japanese and Chinese. That should have been a clue. I spent time in the language lab; I did the exercises in the book. But there was no way I could master the language as thoroughly and quickly as the others.

Now it's undoubtedly true that there are undergraduates and law students who do not do well in class, and on exams, because of binge drinking, other partying, or a lackadaisical attitude generally. But what I learned from my experience -- deliberately taking a class that I knew would be exceedingly difficult for me -- is that there are also students who are not doing well in spite of really making the effort and logging the time.

It was a lesson that has served me well in the years since. Indeed, I recommend it to teachers at all levels. What are the subjects, the intellectual challenges, at which you have the least aptitude -- advanced math, physics, spoken and written Chinese, philosophy, memorization of historical facts and dates? Take a course in one of those subjects. Feel the pain. It will make you a more sympathetic and effective teacher.

Employing minimum wage workers? Lobby in opposition to raising their pay? Take a page out of Barbara Ehrenreich's book; literally. Barbara Ehrenreich, Nickled and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America (Henry Holt, 2001).

As an absolute minimum, all such individuals ought to at least be required to read and reflect on her report of the consequences of such pay for those who have and hold a job, go to work every day, and play by the rules. The conditions confronting America's "working poor" put all of us -- and our elected representatives -- to shame.

Working conditions. In 1974, when I was running for Congress with UAW support, I was talking to some factory workers about their working conditions. What's a fair wage for working in a foundry, in temperatures often in excess of 100 degrees, around machinery that could remove a limb, and next to vats of molten metal that would instantly kill if one misstep caused you to fall in?

It occurred to me one measure might be to ask the CEO what he would require as a fair wage were he to be doing that work. How much better, I now realize in light of the Chinese practice, if he were required to work there every day for at least a couple of weeks before answering that question.

Similarly the foundry workers could take turns sitting at his desk, with carpet up to their ankles, playing golf one or two afternoons a week, following which they would have to indicate the minimum income they would find acceptable for doing his job.

Other. There are no limits to this approach. School superintendents could be required to eat lunch in the school cafeteria every day for a couple of months, rather than in the swanky restaurants their salaries make possible. Doctors could experience the joys of emptying bed pans in a hospital for a week or so. Hotel managers could try to change the linen, make the beds, replace the towels, and clean the rooms in the time they allow their cleaning crews. University presidents could try to personally figure out the building maintenance challenges that daily confront employees, or work along side a night shift cleaning crew trying to do the job with half the personnel they had not that many years ago. Auto manufacturing CEOs would have to figure out how to get at an engine part needing repair that is seemingly impossible to reach. Airline executives could be assigned to serving all the passengers on a short flight with a full plane -- including how to get those carts in and out of the galley.

Stuff like that. Use your imagination. The Chinese used theirs, and it's saving lives. It would be a better world.

"Dark as a Dungeon"

Where it's dark as a dungeon
And damp as the dew
Where the danger is doubled
And the pleasures are few
Where the rain never falls
And the sun never shines
Oh it's dark as a dungeon
Way down in the mine

Now here's Johnny Cash singing it to you.
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* Why do I put this blog ID at the top of the entry, when you know full well what blog you're reading? Because there are a number of Internet sites that, for whatever reason, simply take the blog entries of others and reproduce them as their own without crediting the source. I don't mind the flattering attention, but would appreciate acknowledgment as the source -- even if I have to embed it myself.
-- Nicholas Johnson
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Labor Day: Honor Workers Every Day

Septembe 6, 2010, 7:20 a.m.

Nick's 2010 Labor Day Press-Citizen Column
(bought to you by FromDC2Iowa.blogspot.com*)
For recent blog entries related to labor issues, see Nicholas Johnson, "Finding Jobs on Labor Day; Former Labor Secretary Reich Has Economic Solution," September 5, 2010; and "Danger in the Workplace; Honoring Those Who Built, and Build, America," September 1, 2010.
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Honor Workers Every Day

Nicholas Johnson
Iowa City Press-Citizen
September 6, 2010 p. A7
http://www.press-citizen.com/article/20100906/OPINION02/9060303/Honor-workers-every-day
On Wednesday, Tom Fosdick died from injuries sustained Monday, when he fell while replacing Boyd Law Building windows.

On Tuesday, President Obama reported to the American people that we are, at last, out of Iraq -- albeit leaving 50,000 troops, uncounted mercenaries and contract employees.

In the course of his speech, he paid honor to the "over 4,400 Americans who have given their lives in Iraq."

It is appropriate that he do so. Those who put their lives at risk in the streets and sands of Iraq, and made the ultimate sacrifice, certainly are entitled to our respect and honor.

But there are another "over 4,000" American workers who also have made the ultimate sacrifice in service to their country. They, too, are entitled to our respect and honor.

Fosdick has joined their number.

In 2006, there were 5,865 workplace deaths. In 2009, there were 4,340. Apparently a benefit from millions of unemployed is that if they don't have a workplace they're much less likely to be killed in one. Even one year's 4,340 dead workers is the rough equivalent of seven years' dead in Iraq. And 5,865 is more than twice the 2,752 killed on Sept. 11.

Moreover, add in the number of workplace non-fatal injuries and diseases and the number in 2008 was more like 3.7 million.

These are the men and women who build and maintain what our military is defending, and the rest of us take for granted. They are the ones who have done the sometimes literally backbreaking work, who risk injury, disease and death on a daily basis. They built the high-rise office buildings and condos, the highways and bridges, hospitals and schools, the networks of power lines and natural gas pipelines. Three of them died building our Hancher Auditorium. Now another has died refurbishing our law school.

Their ancestors built the canals and railroads that spanned our continent. They now maintain those railroads and subways. They sweat in 100-degree heat in the foundries that produce our tractors.

They construct the wind farms, cell phone towers, and radio and TV towers (and then have to climb them to change the little red light bulb on top) -- including the 11 workers who constructed the 2,063-foot antenna tower in North Dakota for KVLY-TV.

Fortunately, none of those 11 died. The 11 on the BP offshore oil rig did. And so did the 29 coal miners working in an unsafe Massey mine a couple weeks earlier. We've yet to hear the fate of the 13 in last week's Gulf offshore oil rig explosion.

I find it hard to understand those in business and legislatures who sacrifice workplace safety for profits, do everything in their power to beat down unions, OSHA funding, project labor agreements, the right to a livable wage or even an increase in the minimum wage. How can they be mystified as to why Iowa's young folks leave the state for jobs in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois?

As someone who spends his days doing finger exercises on computer keyboards, I am in awe of what these men and women are able to do, and are willing to risk in the process. I stop to speak with them when I go into the law building.

But we don't introduce ourselves and certainly don't exchange business cards. So while I've met and visited with Fosdick's mother and brother, I don't know if Fosdick was ever among the workers with whom I visited, though I like to believe he was.

For me, the memory of Fosdick, the gift of his organs to others, will be something like the tomb of the unknown soldier at Arlington. Someone for whom I grieve, who symbolizes the others we will never know but should remember to recognize and honor every day.
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Nicholas Johnson, a former FCC commissioner, teaches at the University of Iowa College of law.

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* Why do I put this blog ID at the top of the entry, when you know full well what blog you're reading? Because there are a number of Internet sites that, for whatever reason, simply take the blog entries of others and reproduce them as their own without crediting the source. I don't mind the flattering attention, but would appreciate acknowledgment as the source -- even if I have to embed it myself.
-- Nicholas Johnson
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Danger in the Workplace

September 1, 2010, 5:40 p.m. [more Sept. 1, 10:00 p.m.; Sept. 2, 5:00 a.m., 11:20 a.m.]

Honoring Those Who Built, and Build, America
(bought to you by FromDC2Iowa.blogspot.com*)
I have just come from visiting with the mother and brother of the injured workman, who fell during his work replacing windows on the University of Iowa College of Law Boyd law building. ["Man working on Boyd Law Building renovation seriously injured," Iowa City Press-Citizen, September 1, 2010, online at 9:59 a.m.]

I will not now reveal either his, and their, names nor what I have been told by them until it comes from their statement, which should be available to the media shortly. Nor am I now free to say anything about the details of the OSHA investigation.

But I will be writing about workplace safety generally in this space over the hours and days to come prior to Labor Day, Monday, September 6th.

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KCRG-TV9 local news has just reported, at 6:02 p.m., Sept. 1, that the worker, Tom Fosdick, has died.

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By 6:10 p.m., The Gazette had the story uploaded, along with the statements from the University and the family, consistent with what I had been told by them earlier. It is reproduced below.

[Update Sept. 2, 5:00 a.m.: The Gazette's hard copy edition story is, Diane Heldt, "Fatal accident at UI under review," The Gazette, Sept. 2, 2010, p. A2 (and on "The Green Gazette"). The Press-Citizen's hard copy and online update is B.A. Morelli, "Worker dies from injuries; Was working on construction job at Boyd Law Building," Iowa City Press-Citizen, Sept. 2, 2010, p. A3. The Des Moines Register is carrying Morelli's story as well, B.A. Morelli, "Ex-University of Iowa diver dies in campus work accident," Des Moines Register, Sept. 2, 2010. The Daily Iowan uploaded its online story at 7:20 a.m., Sept. 2: Reid Chandler and Mitchell Schmidt, "Worker dies after accident in Boyd Law Building," The Daily Iowan, Sept. 2, 2010, p. A1.]

Update Sept. 2, 11:20 a.m.: And meanwhile, in a related story from the Gulf of Mexico . . . Oh boy, here we go again with the technology BP and President Obama assured us was near-perfect a week or so before the last Gulf disaster ["It turns out by the way, that oil rigs today generally don’t cause spills. They are technologically very advanced. Even during Katrina, the spills didn’t come from the oil rigs, they came from the refineries onshore." White House, April 2]: "Coast Guard Reports Blast on Rig in Gulf of Mexico," Associated Press/New York Times, Sept. 2, 2010, "2 minutes ago." "A rescue operation has begun, with initial reports suggesting that all 13 crew members were in the water, the Coast Guard said on Thursday. . . . GRAND ISLE, La. (AP) -- An offshore petroleum platform exploded and was burning Thursday in the Gulf of Mexico about 80 miles off the Louisiana coast, west of the site where BP's undersea well spilled after a rig explosion." More.

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[Comment, Sept. 1, 10:00 p.m.] Last evening (Aug. 31) President Obama reported to the American people that we are, at last, out of Iraq -- albeit we're leaving behind 50,000 non-combat-but-armed-and-ready-for-combat American troops and 100,000 uncounted (and unrecognized), though much more highly paid, mercenaries and private contractors. We also leave behind, on our Chinese credit card, what's much more likely to be an ultimate $2 or $3-trillion-dollar-debt for my great granddaughter to pay off than the $1 trillion Obama mentioned .

In the course of his speech he paid honor to the "over 4,400 Americans who have given their lives in Iraq." Office of the Press Secretary, "Remarks by the President in Address to the Nation on the End of Combat Operations in Iraq," Aug. 31, 2010.

It is appropriate that he, indeed that all of us, do so. Whatever one thinks of the Iraq war, those who followed the orders of their Commanders in Chief (Bush and Obama), put their lives at risk in the sands and streets of Iraq, and made the ultimate sacrifice, are surely entitled to our respect and honor.

But there are another "over 4000" Americans who have made the ultimate sacrifice in service to their country, and who are also entitled to our respect and honor.

And now Tom Fosdick has joined their number.

These 4340 deaths occurred not over the seven-year span of the Second Iraq War. They occurred during one year: 2009. And believe it or not, that was a low year -- perhaps the only benefit to flow from the millions of unemployed during our economic downturn. It's pretty hard to be killed in the workplace when you don't have a job. Unemployment has produced a 26% decline in workplace deaths since 2006, which would put the number that year at 5865.

This is almost as many in 2009 as all the military deaths during the Iraq War; it is significantly more than the 2752 killed in the Twin Towers on 9/11.

Moreover, when you add in the number of workplace non-fatal injuries and diseases the number is more like 3.7 million (2008). U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Injuries, Illnesses and Fatalities."

These are the men and women who have built what it is the military is defending; what it is we take for granted and use every day. These are the folks who do the sometimes literally back breaking work, who risk injury, disease and death on a daily basis, to build the high rise office buildings and condos, the highways and bridges, hospitals and schools (including law schools; three workers lost their lives building Hancher Auditorium for us to enjoy), the networks of power lines and natural gas pipelines, whose ancestors built the canals and then the railroads that spanned our continent -- and who now maintain those railroads and subways. They sweat in over-100-degree heat working in the foundries that produce our tractors.

They construct the wind farms, cell phone towers, and radio and TV towers (and then have to climb them to change the little red light bulb on top) -- including the 11 workers who constructed the 2063-foot TV antenna tower in North Dakota for KVLY-TV.

Fortunately, none of those 11 died. The 11 on the BP offshore oil rig did. And so did the 29 coal miners working in an unsafe Massey mine a couple weeks earlier.

So as someone who spends his days doing finger exercises on computer keyboards, I am in awe and deep appreciation for what these men and women are able to do, and are willing to risk in the process. I stop to speak, find out what the beef is when they're standing with picket signs, compliment them for quality work when they're on the job, thank them. And I argue with legislators and business people who do everything in their power to beat down unions, project labor agreements, the right to a livable wage, or even an increase in the minimum wage (and then remain mystified as to why Iowa's young folks leave the state for jobs in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois).

And so it was at the law school. After I put my bicycle away on the rack and gathered my things, I'd check in with them to see how they were doing. Ask them what they thought the weather would be. Josh and joke -- and thank them for working to improve the building where all I do is sit in a nice office, read and write, talk with colleagues and students, and teach a class.

But we don't introduce ourselves, and certainly don't exchange business cards. So while I've met and visited with Tom's mother and brother, I don't know if Tom was ever among those I visited with or not, though I like to believe he was. As a swimmer, I'll bet he knew my neighbor, Irving Weber.

For me, his memory, his organs gifts to others, will be something like the "tomb of the unknown soldier" in Arlington Cemetery. Someone for whom I grieve, someone who symbolizes for me those we should honor everyday, not just Labor Day; those who build and maintain America, and who risk their health and lives, for the most part, without ever receiving even recognition of their existence, let alone thanks.

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Diane Heldt, "Worker dies from incident at Iowa law building," The Gazette Online, September 1, 2010, 6:10 p.m.

University of Iowa officials continue to review the Monday accident at a campus construction project that killed a Cedar Rapids man.

Tom Fosdick, 49, died Wednesday at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. In a statement, the family of the Cedar Rapids man said they were grateful they were able to say goodbye to him as a family at the hospital.

“The tremendous sense of loss we felt following Tom’s tragic accident has only deepened with his passing today,” the family said in the statement.

They followed Fosdick’s wishes and donated his organs and tissue, the family said.

“He was a generous and caring man, and he would be happy to help others even in the face of this tragedy,” they said in the statement.

Fosdick was working as a private contractor on a construction project at the Boyd Law Building. Wisconsin-based Miron Construction was the general contractor on the project, but Fosdick was working for subcontractor Swanson Glass, Craig Uhlenbrauck, Miron’s vice president of marketing, said.

Swanson employees were doing a window installation Monday when the accident happened, Uhlenbrauck said. He didn’t know specifics of the incident, and referred questions to Kevin Swanson, with Swanson Glass, who did not return a message.

“Our prayers are with that family,” Uhlenbrauck said.

The construction work at Boyd Law was suspended on Monday and it’s unknown when the project will resume, UI Spokesman Tom Moore said. The UI continues to review the accident, as do the contractors on the project, Moore said.

“I do know the incident will be reported to OSHA,” Moore said. “I do not know the status of OSHA’s investigation.”

A state spokeswoman would not release information on the UI accident specifically, but said typically in cases that involve serious injury or death, Iowa Occupational Safety and Health investigates.

“Under federal law, information related to OSHA investigations is confidential until any type of investigation is complete and a report has been issued,” Kerry Koonce, spokeswoman with Iowa Workforce Development, said.

Fosdick was an All-American diver as a prep athlete at Cedar Rapids Kennedy and joined the Hawkeye swimming and diving team in 1979, according to a statement released by UI officials.

“We extend our heartfelt condolences to his family and hope that they will find some measure of comfort in the support of their friends and community,” UI officials said in the statement.

Fosdick Family Statement:

We wish to thank our family, friends and community members for their support during this very difficult time for the Fosdick family. Your thoughts and prayers mean more to us than you can ever know. The tremendous sense of loss we felt following Tom’s tragic accident has only deepened with his passing today. We are grateful that we as a family were able to say good-bye to him. We are proud to follow his wishes that his organs and tissue be donated in order to give the gift of life to others. He was a generous and caring man, and he would be happy to help others even in the face of this tragedy. Thank you again for your support.

UI statement:

It is with deep sadness that the University of Iowa learned of the death of Tom Fosdick today. Tom was 49 years old. He was injured while working as a private contractor on a project at the UI Boyd Law Building on Monday, August 30. An All-American diver as a prep athlete at Cedar Rapids Kennedy High School, he joined the Hawkeye swimming and diving team in 1979. We extend our heartfelt condolences to his family and hope that they will find some measure of comfort in the support of their friends and community.

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* Why do I put this blog ID at the top of the entry, when you know full well what blog you're reading? Because there are a number of Internet sites that, for whatever reason, simply take the blog entries of others and reproduce them as their own without crediting the source. I don't mind the flattering attention, but would appreciate acknowledgment as the source -- even if I have to embed it myself.
-- Nicholas Johnson
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