personal protective equipment News

CDC Urges States to Distribute Protective Gear to Farmworkers to Guard Against Bird Flu

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has asked that states make personal protective equipment (PPE) available to workers on dairy farms, poultry farms, and in slaughterhouses given concerns about the H5N1 bird flu. Although CDC’s assessment of the immediate risk …

Arkansas Tyson Workers Sue over Lack of COVID Protections

Thirty-four Tyson Foods employees, former employees and family members filed a lawsuit against the company Monday, saying it failed to take appropriate precautions at its meat-packing plants during the early days of the COVID pandemic. In the lawsuit, filed in …

Amazon Workers in New York City Win Partial Revival of COVID-19 Safety Lawsuit

Amazon.com Inc. must face a claim that it failed to protect New York City warehouse workers and their families from COVID-19, a U.S. appeals court ruled on Tuesday while dismissing the bulk of the workers’ 2020 lawsuit. The 2nd U.S. …

Covid Hit at Least 59,000 Meat Workers in Pandemic’s First Year, Report Says

At least 59,000 meatpacking workers contracted the coronavirus in the first year of the pandemic as the virus rapidly spread in plants’ cramped conditions, according to internal documents from five major meat conglomerates obtained by a U.S. House subcommittee investigating …

Tyson Suspends Managers Accused of Covid Betting Pool

Tyson Foods Inc. said it has suspended managers at an Iowa meatpacking plant accused in lawsuits of betting on how many workers would be infected in a Covid outbreak earlier this year. More than 1,000 of the 2,800 employees at …

Masks Are Coveted Items With Covid and Smoke Sweeping West Coast

Lindsey Major, wracked with asthma, crisscrossed Seattle in search of an N95 mask as wildfire smoke blanketed the West Coast. The 25-year-old from Mercer Island scoured stores. Pharmacies, big-box outlets, grocers — none had anything to offer. At work, a …

Virus Hits Frontline Workers in Taxed Public Health System

As a veteran public health worker, Chantee Mack knew the coronavirus could kill. She already faced health challenges and didn’t want to take any chances during the pandemic. So she asked — twice — for permission to work from home. …

Red Alerts in China as Floods Maroon Equipment to Fight Coronavirus

SHANGHAI — Large parts of China were reeling on Friday from the worst floods in decades, as disruption mounted for supply chains, including for personal protective equipment (PPE), vital in the fight against the novel coronavirus. The central city of …

Masks, Gowns in Short Supply Leave Hospital Workers Exposed

American health-care workers still face dangerous shortages of personal protective equipment as the uncontrolled spread of Covid-19 fills hospitals across the nation and threatens patients and workers in long-term care facilities. Dayna James, an emergency department nurse in Miami, said …

Law Firms Tracking Wave of COVID-19 Employee v. Employer Litigation

A pandemic is no time to play favorites at the workplace, skimp on personal protective equipment or get too stingy with requests for time off. Since the beginning of the year, 300 employee vs. employer lawsuits related to the COVID-19 …