(Former CVS Pharmacist, Osama Elsherbini, 2025).
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire: From Tragedy to Reform
More Needed
Working conditions are improving, but are far from perfect.
Due to short staffing in 2021, Pharmacist Anderson died from a heart attack while working because she couldn't leave to seek medical help. “If she had gone in quickly when she realized she was having a heart attack the artery would have been opened up, and she most likely would have survived,” (Topol, Cardiologist).
CVS started closing for thirty minutes daily for working breaks.
“Lunch Break Laws by State” (Paycor, 2024).
In 2023, due to lacking safety measures, a 26-year-old Hispanic sugarcane farm worker died of heatstroke on his first day. “This young man’s life ended on his first day on the job because his employer did not fulfill its duty to protect employees from heat exposure, a known and increasingly dangerous hazard.” “Had McNeill Labor Management made sure its workers were given time to acclimate to working in brutally high temperatures with required rest breaks, the worker might not have suffered a fatal injury” (Condell Eastmond, OSHA Area Director).
“Photo from the Florida Frameworks Association” (The Apopka Voice).
Employers faced consequences for not reporting the death. “Federal investigators also found that the employer did not report the worker’s hospitalization or eventual death, both of which the law requires be reported. McNeill Labor Management faces $27,655 in proposed penalties, an amount set by federal statute.” (OSHA).
“The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that environmental heat exposure claimed the lives of 36 workers in 2021 and 56 in 2020” (OSHA).
“Number of work-related deaths from exposure to environmental heat, 2011-21” (U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics).
In 2022–2023, Northeast Foods underpaid minors, denied sick leave, and broke work-hour laws, resulting in a $2 million fine.