Today marks a sad anniversary for worker safety. Two years ago today, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) submitted the silica dust standard to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB).  

The standard—which was more than a dozen years in the making, thanks mainly to foot-dragging by the Bush administration—is designed to protect workers from exposure to the deadly dust that leads to silicosis, lung cancer and other debilitating diseases.

But what should have been a 90-day review process has taken two years and there is no indication when the rule will be finalized. Meanwhile, some 1.7 million workers in the United States each year are exposed to silica dust every year.   

Many, like Tom Ward’s dad, will die. At age 39, Ward's father suffocated to death—the effect of silicosis. His work as a sandblaster had exposed him to cancer-causing silica dust.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka says:

The delay in job safety protections for silica is inexcusable and heartless. It's time for industry opponents to stand down and time for the White House to stand up for working men and women. It's a matter of life and death.

Read more here, here, here and here.

The West Virginia Gazette also published an OpEd.