OSHA Investigates Fox News

[donsu]

http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/fnc/exclusive_following_employees_hospitalization_and_insecticide_complaints_osha_investigates_fox_news_22690.asp


Exclusive: Following Employee's Hospitalization And Insecticide Complaints, OSHA Investigates Fox News


Production and technical personnel at Fox News Channel were exposed to diazinon, a neurotoxin class insecticide banned by the EPA for indoor use since the year 2000, according to a complaint now under investigation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

When contacted by TVNewser today, Richard Mendelson, the director of OSHA's office in Manhattan, confirmed said that the network has been contacted regarding the complaint.

-snip-

"A technical employee was removed by ambulance and hospitalized for several days in March 2005 immediately after untrained building personnel had sprayed the technical employee lounge, unbeknownst to FNC workers on break there," the tipster wrote. "Besides illegal use of a neurotoxin, typical legal requirements that warnings be posted concerning the treatment of areas and the products in use were not being practiced by FNC or the untrained, unlicensed employees."

-snip-

According to the tipster, FNC management claims that the incident was isolated. But the tipster, who is apparently a longtime employee, characterized that as "bullshit." "The same guys have been spraying the same stuff for years and no one would listen when people complained it was making people sick," the e-mail said.
-snip-
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FOX employees need a union

[davidinalameda]

1. they need to shut the whole damn place down

and fumigate to get rid of the vermin

[bleedingheart]

2. Wow all that spraying and Hannity and O Reilly aren't dead yet?

geez...I guess what they say about nuclear holocaust and roaches must be true...

[InternalDialogue]

3. "The same guys have been spraying the same stuff for years"

Tell me this isn't about their programming content.

[DemoTex]

4. Diazinon? Naw, it's just Tom Delay's breath.

FOX is just too close to a man who uses diazinon as a mouthwash.

[rainbow4321]

5. Fox News Management Is "Keeping People In The Dark"

http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/

Multiple Fox News employees have told TVNewser that their bosses are not being forthcoming with information about recent insesticide sprayings that allegedly led to the hospitalization of an employee. The anonymous tipster who first described how production and technical personnel at Fox News Channel were exposed to diazinon, a neurotoxin class insecticide banned by the EPA for indoor use, sent a follow-up message to TVNewser this morning.

"Management is attempting to keep this quiet by compartmentalizing the issue and keeping people in the dark. We are attempting to shed light on the situation for several reasons, one of which is that diazinon -- which disrupts the nervous and endocrine systems -- is highly suspect in one of the female producers here having a child with Down's Syndrome. That is a major liability that no company, however noble their corporate mission may be, should be allowed to cover up and escape the liability for."

The tipster suggests that as the old adage says, the coverup is worse than the crime. The employee says that firing the managers who "knew about the ongoing use of illegal pesticides and not only did not inform dedicated employees of the risk, but were also extremely callous about employees' subsequent health problems," would be a good step towards accountability.


Also: "Whatever poison they're spraying at Fox, its not enough," another FNC employee writes. "I work in the New York newsroom, and two weeks ago we had to call an exterminator when roaches started crawling out of the walls between cubicles and marched across our desktops. This wasn't an isolated corner either -- this was about 30 feet away from 'Studio N,' the little glassed in booth where anchors do newsbreaks during the primetime shows."


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From another post at same link:



Two Months Ago, The NYC Health Department Confirmed That Diazinon Was Sprayed At FNC
The New York City Health Department inquired into the use of a pesticide at Fox News headquarters two months ago, and verified that the spray contained diazinon and was not registered for use, TVNewser has learned.

The city Health Department received an inquiry about the insecticide in April 2005, a department official said today. The case was referred to the NY State Department of Environmental Conservation, the agency with regulatory authority over pesticide use in New York State. That department has yet to return phone calls.

Last week a tipster alleged that the New York City Health Department "advised Fox News Channel after the incident on clean up," but "basically gave FNC instructions on destroying rather than preserving the evidence of the insecticide's use for further investigation."

[CatWoman]

6. all of that putrid hot air

it's no wonder.