“Sixteen workers are killed a day in the United States because of reckless negligence on the part of their employers,” according to a new Web site.

The statement on the home page of 16deathsperday.com goes on to say, “Under existing laws, these employers get a slap on the wrist, or walk away scot-free. Meanwhile, workers who blow the whistle face threats and retaliation at the workplace.”

A five-minute video profiles two workplace fatalities where companies paid relatively small fines and didn’t face criminal prosecution.

The group’s message: Companies would rather pay low OSHA fines rather than spend more money on worker safety.

To change that, the Web site endorses passage of the Protecting America’s Workers Act. That bill would:

• allow OSHA to pursue criminal charges against a company for an employee’s death, including fines and up to 10 years in prison for owners and managers. Criminal penalties for serious bodily injury to an employee could include up to five years in prison.
• increase the civil penalty for an employee death from $50,000 to $250,000, with a minimum $25,000 fine for companies with 25 or fewer employees
• raise the maximum fines for willful and repeat citations to $120,000, and
• increase OSHA fines every four years for inflation.

What do you think of 16deathsperday.com’s message? Let us know in the Comments Box below.

Xcel Energy and RPI Coating, Inc., each face fines up to $2.5 million and restitution, while RPI executives Philippe Goutagny and James Thompson each face 2.5 years in prison and a fine of up to $1.25 million.

On Oct. 2, 2007, vapor from a solvent ignited inside a tunnel at a Colorado hydroelectric plant. Workers inside survived initially, but were overcome by smoke and fumes and died from asphyxiation.

A federal indictment alleges the companies knew about the hazards in the tunnel and did nothing about them.

It also accuses RPI of trying to cover up safety shortfalls by altering, destroying or concealing the cameras, journals and cell phone of two of the dead workers.

The companies failed to get a permit for the work or assess the tunnel for hazards, according to the indictment.

OSHA proposed $845,100 in fines against RPI and $189,900 against Xcel.

The indictment can be downloaded here (PDF).

If the executives are found guilty in a trial, are jail time and fines warranted? Let us know in the Comments Box below.

The criminal fine is the maximum allowed. Tyson will also be on probation for one year.

On Oct. 10, 2003, at Tyson’s River Valley Animal Foods plant in Texarkana, AR, maintenance employee Jason Kelley was overcome by the fumes while repairing a leak from a hydrolyzer. Another employee and two emergency responders were hospitalized due to exposure during the rescue attempt.

Federal laws require employers to take steps that limit employee exposure to hazardous substances such as hydrogen sulfide gas.

The gas at the Tyson plant came from the decomposition of biological material such as poultry feathers.

The U.S. Department of Justice statement on the Tyson case is here.

An official says UCLA is appealing the citations so that they can’t be used against the university in any future proceeding, such as a lawsuit or criminal prosecution, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Lab assistant Sheri Sangji was transferring about 2 ounces of t-butyl lithium from one sealed container to another when a plastic syringe came apart in her hands.

The chemical ignited when it was exposed to air, setting her rubber gloves and synthetic sweater ablaze. She was burned over about half of her body and died 18 days later.

Part of the fine, $18,000, was for Sangji’s lack of a lab coat. UCLA was also fined for lack of proper employee training.

UCLA’s fear of further action against it is quite real. Cal-OSHA regularly refer workplace fatalities to district attorneys for review.

Sangji’s sister is calling for a DA investigation, and more than 1,300 people have signed an online petition calling for one.

Another possibility is a lawsuit by a labor union. Sangji’s family may be prevented from filing a lawsuit because of laws that make workers’ comp the exclusive remedy for relatives of a killed employee.

As part of its investigation, Cal-OSHA noted UCLA had not addressed deficiencies found in its own internal safety inspection two months before the fatal fire, including a finding that workers weren’t wearing lab coats.

Lesson for other companies: If your own internal safety audit finds deficiencies, not taking quick action can prove costly.

ANC roofing owner Kenneth Alton entered a no contest plea to the charge of failing to protect employees from a hazard. He was sentenced to nine months in jail and fined $248,000.

Company supervisor Robert McAfee plead no contest to a single misdemeanor violation and was sentenced to 30 days in jail.

Another former ANC owner will be sentenced in May.

On May 11, 2006, ANC employee Antonio Serrano backed into an unguarded skylight and fell 21 feet to his death while performing roofing work. Cal/OSHA fined ANC $14,400 for not providing a barrier to prevent a fall through a skylight opening in that incident.

Four months later on Sept. 21, 2006, ANC employee Jose Maya suffered major head trauma when he fell 19 feet from an unprotected skylight while working on a different roofing project. Cal/OSHA fined ANC $70,000 in that incident and referred the case to the Sonoma County District Attorney’s office.

An investigation revealed that ANC continued to operate in flagrant violation of the California Labor Code after Serrano died in the first incident.

California law requires that employees have fall protection if they’re working within six feet of a skylight.

The San Joaquin County District Attorney has charged the former owner, safety director and a supervisor of Merced Farm Labor in the death of 17-year-old Maria Vasquez Jimenez. She was two months pregnant at the time of her death.

The three were also charged with one felony and five misdemeanor violations of state labor code.

Authorities say Vasquez Jimenez died May 14, 2008, because she lacked access to shade and water as she pruned grapevines for more than nine hours in nearly triple-digit heat.

After she collapsed, her supervisor recommended she rest in a hot van. Her fiance took her to a medical clinic two hours later.

Cal-OSHA fined Merced Farms $262,700 for violating eight workplace safety rules. The company later surrendered its license.

A judge has sentenced former Atlantic States Cast Iron Pipe Co. plant manager John Prisque to 70 months in federal prison in connection with safety and environmental violations at the facility.

Prisque, the company and three other managers were convicted of engaging in conspiracy to pollute the Delaware River, expose employees to dangerous conditions and impede federal investigations. The company and three other managers will be sentenced later this week according to the Express-Times.

Among Prisque’s safety violations, he:

• instructed an employee to lie to OSHA about a safety shield that had been changed after an incident in which a worker lost an eye and suffered a fractured skull when a saw blade broke
• concealed facts from OSHA about a forklift fatality
• instructed an injured worker to tell OSHA he didn’t break his leg in a forklift accident, and
• concealed from OSHA that an emergency shutdown device on the plant’s cement mixer had been bypassed, which led to the amputation of three of a worker’s fingers.

Prisque was also found guilty of allowing oil waste to be pumped into a storm drain that created an 8.5-mile slick on the Delaware River and of burning waste paint in the plant’s main furnace.

Atlantic States is a subsidiary of McWane, Inc.

After an investigation by New York City’s School Construction Authority, Larry Fontanez admitted selling between 50 and 60 fake OSHA 30 cards last summer, according to the New York Daily News.

An investigator posed as a worker looking for fake cards. He found them, complete with Fontanez’s signature, for $250 — half of the $500 for a 30-hour training course.

The card was purchased without the employee ever taking any classes.

Fontanez faces eight counts of criminal possession of a forged document. OSHA has suspended his license.