OSHA Wants Workers to Know Their Rights
A new OSHA booklet offers updated information concerning workers’ rights under the OSH Act, including rights provided under OSHA standards, filing a complaint with OSHA, participating in OSHA inspections, whistleblower protections and available educational and training resources...
Creating Confidence: Oct. 14 is World Standards Day
Friday, Oct. 14 is designated as World Standards Day, the annual event recognizing experts from around the globe who work with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and other international organizations to develop voluntary standards...
OSHA: An Unprotected Trench Is an Open Grave
According to OSHA, two workers are killed every month in trenching operations. To address the hazards of excavation work, the agency has released new guidance materials, including a fact sheet, a poster and an easy-to-reference QuickCard...
Stakeholders Have Until Oct. 28 to Comment on OSHA’s Reporting Requirement Revisions
Safety and health stakeholders now have until Oct. 28 to offer their comments on OSHA’s proposed revisions to its occupational injury and illness reporting requirements. The changes would require employers to report all work-related fatalities and in-patient hospitalizations to OSHA within 8 hours; amputations must be reported within 24 hours...
OSHA Cites Mermaid Meat Co. for Locking Workers Inside During Their Shifts
OSHA has proposed $62,300 in fines against Mermaid Meat Co. for allegedly maintaining hazardous conditions similar to those that led to the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire tragedy in 1911 – locking the exit doors so employees could not freely leave during work shifts...
New ANSI/ASSE Standard Focuses on Prevention Through Design
A new ANSI/ASSE standard will address occupational hazards not just on site or after an incident occurs, but from the beginning – in the design process...
OSHA Bestows More Than $10 Million in Safety Training Grants
Providing safety and health training to at-risk workers or those in industries with high injury and fatality rates is a big job – one that OSHA recently facilitated by distributing more than $10 million in Susan Harwood Training Grants...
OSHA Orders Bond Laboratories to Rehire Whistleblower, Pay $500,000
OSHA claims that Bond Laboratories Inc. fired a whistleblower in 2008 after the employee made several complaints about the company’s alleged manipulation of sales figures. OSHA has ordered the company to rehire the employee and pay $500,000 in back wages, interest and compensatory damages...
New OSHA Directive Tackles Workplace Violence Concerns
In the last 15 years, deaths resulting from workplace violence have ranked among the top four causes of occupational fatalities in American workplaces. In response to this serious threat to worker safety, OSHA released a new compliance directive on Sept. 8 that offers procedures for agency staff who respond to workplace violence cases or complaints...
EPA Places Former Mine CEO on Its "Most Wanted" List
Peter Martin Kuhn, former president and CEO of French Gulch Nevada Mining Corp. and Bullion River Gold Corp., has earned a spot on EPA’s fugitive list. The agency claims that Kuhn engaged in a conspiracy to illegally dispose of mining wastes and then failed to surrender to authorities following his July 2010 indictment...
MSHA Publishes Proposed Rule to Equip Coal Mine Machines with Protective Technology
On Aug. 31, MSHA published a proposed rule in the Federal Register to require underground coal mines to equip continuous mining machines with proximity detection systems in order to protect miners from becoming crushed, pinned or struck by machinery...
Hot Off the Press
Two attorneys argue that OSHA’s enforcement press releases violate the federal Administrative Procedure Act...
Groups Turn the Heat Up on OSHA
Saying that OSHA has dragged its feet on enacting a standard to protect workers from heat exposure, thereby allowing hundreds of workers to die of heat-related illness and thousands to be seriously injured, Public Citizen and other groups have sent OSHA Administrator Dr. David Michaels a 50-page petition requesting such a standard...
ASSE Calls for Action, Not Complacency, Following the 2010 Fatal Occupational Injuries Results
The American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) contends that the recent preliminary 2010 occupational fatality count, which held steady compared to the previous year, should prompt a “call to action” within the occupational safety and health community...
Labor Department Orders Union Pacific Railroad to Pay More Than $600,000 for Whistleblower Violations
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) alleged that Omaha, Neb.-based Union Pacific Railroad Co. violated Federal Railroad Safety Act (FRSA) whistleblower protection provisions and ordered the company to pay more than $615,000 in damages, fees and back wages...
R&D Mine Coal Co. to Pay $905,825 in Fines Related to Fatal 2006 Explosion
The Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission has ordered R&D Mine Coal Co. Inc. to pay $905,825 in penalties for violations related to a fatal 2006 explosive detonation. The mine operator, which ceased operations following the incident, agreed to withdraw its contests for the violations and the full penalty judgment...
Enhanced DOL Enforcement Database Offers Improved Access to OSHA, MSHA Violation Data
New updates and improvements to the U.S. Department of Labor’s enforcement database offer enhanced access to OSHA and MSHA violation data...
OSHA Highlights Grain Handling Safety
According to a Purdue University report, 26 workers died in 2010 in grain bin engulfments and 51 were entrapped overall, representing the most entrapments in one year since Purdue began keeping records in 1978. On Aug. 17, OSHA announced a new hazard alert that outlines the risks inherent in grain handling in an effort to better inform workers and employers of the hazards involved with this work...
Monitoring Your Workplace Heat Index? There’s an App for That
A Department of Labor initiative now allows EHS leaders to use their cell phones to help prevent occupational heat-related illnesses. The new, free application for mobile devices monitors the workplace heat index...
Illinois Company Cited for Exposing Workers to Cave-In Hazards
Martin & Company Excavating Inc., an underground utility construction and earth-moving company in Oregon, Ill., has been cited by OSHA for one willful and three serious safety violations for allegedly failing to protect workers from cave-ins during trenching operations at a Forreston, Ill., worksite. The company faces proposed penalties of $69,300 following a May inspection, which was conducted under the agency’s Trenching and Excavation National Emphasis Program...
The Cows Came Home: OSHA Cites Dairy for 47 Safety and Health Violations
OSHA has cited Englewood, Colo.-based Meadow Gold Dairies and Denver-based subcontractor Tolin Mechanical for 47 violations safety and health violations, with penalties totaling $326,300...
OSHA Breezes Into Alliance with Wind Energy Association
Green jobs and wind energy might be good for the environment, but that doesn’t mean worker safety has to take a backseat to saving the planet. In an effort to protect workers from possible hazards involved in the wind energy industry, OSHA joined an alliance with the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) on Aug. 8...
Deadline for MSHA’s Mine Safety Training Grant Applications is Aug. 31
On Aug. 3, MSHA announced that up to 20 Brookwood-Sago safety and training grants, totaling $1 million, are available to help maintain safe working conditions for miners. States or nonprofit entities may apply by Aug. 31...
New EPA Rule Aims to Strengthen Chemical Reporting
In an effort to better identify risks to public health and the environment, EPA recently published the Chemical Data Reporting (CDR) Rule that will require chemical manufacturers to report more information about their chemicals...
OSHA Vows to Strengthen Whistleblower Program
OSHA has released a report documenting an internal review of the agency’s Whistleblower Protection Program and outlined several changes designed to improve the program, including those related to restructuring, training and policies and internal systems...
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