OSHA Releases Guidance on Preventing Fall-Related Injuries, Deaths among Residential Construction Workers
On April 8, OSHA issued a new guidance to help employers prevent fall-related injuries and deaths among residential construction workers...
Ellen Widess Appointed New Cal/OSHA Chief
On April 4, California Gov. Jerry Brown appointed Ellen Widess the chief of Cal/OSHA. She will replace current chief Len Welsh, who has led the agency since 2003...
MSHA Launches Online Monitoring Tool for Pattern of Violations Screening
On April 6, MSHA announced a new online service that enables mine operators, miners and others to monitor a mining operation to determine if it could be subject to a potential pattern of violations (POV)...
Relationship between Clean Air and Asthma Examined
A new report, analyzing detailed asthma incidence and cost data, concludes that the already staggering human and financial toll of asthma in the United States likely will increase if Congress acts to stop updates to the Clean Air Act (CAA)...
We Remember: One Year After Upper Big Branch Explosion
Within days of each other, two landmark workplace safety tragedies were commemorated: March 25 marked the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York, in which 146 garment workers died, and April 5 marks the one-year anniversary of the explosion at the Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia, in which 29 miners died...
Administrative Law Judge Upholds OSHA Citations for Wal-Mart Crowd Management Fatality Case
On March 25, Chief Administrative Law Judge Covette Rooney of the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission upheld the citation and full penalty issued to Wal-Mart Stores Inc. for inadequate crowd management following the November 2008 death of an employee...
OSHA Issues Guidance on Spirometry Testing to Prevent Respiratory Hazard Exposure
OSHA and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) developed two guidance documents, one for workers and one for employers, describing the use of spirometry testing to help reduce and prevent worker exposure to respiratory hazards...
PETA Petitions OSHA to Bar Direct Contact with Elephants to Prevent Worker Injuries, Fatalities
The animal rights organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) filed a formal petition with OSHA asking the agency to prohibit all direct physical contact between employees and elephants – known as “free contact” – at circuses, exhibits and other businesses that use elephants and to instead require impassable barriers between workers and elephants...
Lessons Learned from the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
To mark the 100-year anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (NYCOSH) released a booklet containing statements from 34 worker safety and health leaders on what the fire has to teach us today...
New Frances Perkins Exhibit Observes Triangle Shirtwaist Fire Anniversary
March 25 marks the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, a workplace disaster that not only claimed the lives of 146 garment workers and elicited public backlash against negligent safety regulations, but also had a great impact on Frances Perkins, the secretary of labor from 1933 to 1945. A new exhibit at Mount Holyoke College, Perkin’s alma mater, commemorates Perkins’ service and observes the tragic 1911 fire...
March 25 Marks 100th Anniversary of Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
On March 25, 1911, a fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in the Asch Building in New York City took the lives of 146 women and men unable to escape due to inadequate safety protections. Doors were locked; the fire escape had melted. Many desperate to escape jumped out windows to their deaths while thousands of New Yorkers watched in horror. Public outrage over this tragedy led to new work and safety legislation, rules and regulations nationwide...
OSHA Schedules Teleconferences for Small Businesses to Provide Input on Proposed MSD Column
OSHA, in partnership with the Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy, announced a series of three teleconferences to reach out to the small business community for input on the agency’s proposal to add a column for work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) on employer injury and illness logs...
Domestic Service Workers Vulnerable to Occupational Hazards
Domestic service employees who perform tasks such as cleaning, cooking, childcare and care of the elderly may be exposed to occupational health risks such as harsh chemicals and musculoskeletal injuries all while having limited workplace safety rights, an employment law expert explains...
Indiana OSHA Cites Notre Dame $77,500 following Death of Student Employee
On March 15, the Indiana Department of Labor cited the University of Notre Dame with the most serious safety violation allowable under Indiana law for the fatal injury of 20-year-old student employee Declan Sullivan...
Protecting Workers from Falls on Rolling Stock, Commercial Motor Vehicles
In May 2010, OSHA requested additional comments on whether specific regulations are needed to cover falls from rolling stock and commercial motor vehicles. Fall Protection Systems Corp. (FPS), a Florissant, Mo.-based fall protection company, explains why fall protection for these workers could prevent occupational injuries and fatalities...
OSHA Cites Gavilon Grain for Willful Violations Following death of 20-year-old Worker
OSHA has issued 46 safety and health violations at three Ohio Gavilon Grain LLC facilities following the September 2010 death of a 20-year-old worker who was caught in a discharge auger while cleaning out a grain bin...
OSHA Fines Alabama Contractor After Trench Becomes a Grave at a Construction Site
L & K Contracting Co. in Dothan, Ala., was cited by OSHA with five safety violations following a cave-in last September at an excavation site in Enterprise, Ala. One employee died and another was hospitalized after wet, heavy soil collapsed into a deep trench while the men were installing a sewer pipe. Total proposed fines issued were $159,600...
OSHA Catches Spider Man in its Net
OSHA has cited the Broadway production of Spider-Man Turn Off the Dark following injuries to cast members...
New OSHA Guidance Helps Small Businesses Comply with Cranes and Derricks Rule
On March 8, OSHA issued the “Small Entity Compliance Guide for Cranes and Derricks in Construction” to help businesses comply with the recently published cranes and derricks in construction rule...
OSHA Final Rule Establishes Procedures for Handling Nuclear, Environmental Retaliation Complaints
OSHA recently published a final rule that makes the procedures for handling whistleblower retaliation complaints under the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 and six environmental statutes consistent with retaliation complaint procedures under other OSHA whistleblower provisions...
First Responders, Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate Launch a Virtual Social Media Working Group
The Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate’s First Responder Communities of Practice recently launched a Virtual Social Media Working Group (VSMWG) comprised of first responders and homeland security professionals from various disciplines, localities, sectors and government agencies across the country...
House Hearing Scrutinizes MSHA Regulatory and Enforcement Actions
Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) Administrator Joseph Main testified at a March 3 House Subcommittee on Workforce Protections hearing that examined recent regulatory and policy changes aimed at improving mine safety...
How Will Federal Budget Uncertainties Affect OSHA?
Congress has approved a 2-week extension to the FY 2011 continuing resolution to fund the government through March 18. The measure cuts $4 billion in federal spending and temporarily prevents a government shutdown, but the final 2011 budget – and its impact on agencies like OSHA – remains uncertain...
Expert: Efforts to Curtail Public Sector Workers Collective Bargaining Rights Impacts All Workers
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s move to strip or significantly narrow his state’s public sector workers’ collective bargaining rights has implications for all unionized workers, both in the public and private sector, according to a labor law expert...
Scientists Warn that Cell Phone Radiation Excites the Brains of Healthy Adults
According to scientists working with Environmental Health Trust (EHT), new studies showing that cell phone radiation excites the brain strengthen the need for a major research program on cell phones and health, revamping approaches to setting standards and putting warnings on cell phones...
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