OSHA fines over one-million dollars have become more common. But here’s one with a twist: It’s not for workplace hazards — it’s for recordkeeping violations.
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Tags: million-dollar fine, national emphasis program, Recordkeeping
A commuter rail system and its former operating contractor want to use federal law to limit their liability in a deadly train crash caused by a texting employee.
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Tags: Connex, Metrolink crash, settlement
A worker uses questionable judgment while using heavy equipment. He’s seriously injured, and a test shows he used illegal drugs. The employee applies for workers’ comp. Does he get benefits?
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Tags: heavy equipment, impaired, marijuana, workers' compensation
What if you could capture on video the seconds immediately before and after an injury-causing incident in the workplace? One employer hopes to do just that.
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Tags: DriveCam, improve safety, Washington Metro, worker cameras
Sure, a $16.6 million OSHA fine sounds like a lot of money. But that might be only the tip of the iceberg in the case involving an explosion at a Kleen Energy construction site.
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Tags: explosion, federal lawsuit, Kleen Energy
Business groups are lining up against a measure that would legalize marijuana in California.
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Tags: California pot law, California Proposition 19, Chamber of Commerce, impair job performance, marijuana
Once again, BP will pay the largest fine in OSHA history, breaking its own previous record. But, the oil giant also faces a half-billion dollars in additional costs as part of its settlement with the federal safety agency.
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Tags: BP Texas City refinery explosion, failure-to-abate fines, largest OSHA fine
China is on the verge of overtaking the U.S. as the world’s top manufacturer. Some use Chinese competition as a reason why OSHA’s regulations shouldn’t be stricter. However, a recent newspaper article paints a picture of workplace safety in China that no one would want.
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Tags: China, ignore deaths, mine owners, productivity tops safety, safety regulations
An employee injures her knee just by walking up stairs at work and applies for workers’ comp benefits.
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Tags: accident, knee injury, walking up stairs, work-related injury, Workers' comp
A February explosion in Middletown, CT, that killed six workers, injured 50 others and ravaged an under-construction energy plant has prompted OSHA to issue its third-largest fine ever.
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Tags: cut corners, explosion, Kleen Energy, natural gas, third largest OSHA fine
No one can blame an employer for trying to reduce workers’ comp costs through a return-to-work program. But an employer might run into trouble if the state workers’ comp board finds the policy to be illegal.
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Tags: cut workers' comp costs, permanent disability, return to work
While BP still works on cutting off the leaking oil well in the Gulf of Mexico for good, another safety matter waits in the wings for the company: settling citations issued by OSHA for two of its refineries.
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Tags: BP, OSHA, Sen. Al Franken, Sen. Patty Murray, Texas City refinery
When no one witnesses a workplace injury and the injured employee files for workers’ comp, sometimes all you have to go on is the worker’s story. The situation can become more complicated when the worker delays reporting the injury.
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Tags: back injury, credibility, no one saw injury, Workers' comp
As Wal-Mart fights an OSHA general duty clause (GDC) fine about retail crowds, the agency has issued another citation under the catch-all regulation involving workplace violence.
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Tags: General Duty Clause, health care, hospital, workplace violence
A worker slipped and fell, and sustained multiple injuries including one to her back. While the worker was still healing, she lost her job in a mass layoff. Does she still get comp payments?
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Tags: back injury, laid off, temporary partial disability, Workers' comp
An employee who suffered from an eye disease had a corneal transplant that improved his vision from 20/200 to 20/50. Then, a workplace incident damaged the transplant, and his vision returned to 20/200.
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Imagine this: A driver for your company hits and kills a horse in a work vehicle. What is the responsibility of your employee and company to other motorists on that road?
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You’ve all heard the warnings: Let the professionals set off fireworks. The real dangers of these explosives become apparent when even the pros have problems.
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Tags: burns, fireworks, skin grafts
For most employees, turning around isn’t dangerous. But for a nurse in Mississippi, that simple act resulted in a broken leg, a protracted court battle, and ultimately, a sizable workers’ comp award.
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Tags: injury, Workers' comp
Those who think workers are too quick to blame everyone else for accidents that happen in the workplace will be heartened by this employee’s attitude.
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Twenty-five years ago, a workplace incident caused an employee to lose an arm. He struggled to learn to use a prosthetic limb and return to the job that he loved. That perseverance and courage may have cost Henry Lira his life.
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Tags: amputated, killed in wood chipper, lost arm
It’s not unusual for employees who claim they were injured on the job to get caught working or playing sports without the alleged effects of their injuries. In this case, the worker claimed he needed to use a wheelchair. But the worker was caught walking perfectly by …
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Tags: excavator, prison, workers' comp fraud
Two employers will have to fork over $1.5 million to the victim of a truck crash, following a California jury’s verdict.
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When workers don’t report injuries right away and then apply for workers’ comp benefits, it often raises a red flag. With conflicting testimony, these cases often come down to which side the court finds more believable.
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Tags: back injury, delayed injury report, injured back when lifting, workers' comp benefits
When federal OSHA announced a crackdown on state-run safety agencies, it said many of them were issuing fines that didn’t serve as deterrents to companies. Now it appears at least one state has heard that message loud and clear.
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Tags: hand injury, ignored warnings, record fine, state-run safety agencies
How do you know that the worker who claims to have been injured on the job isn’t committing workers’ comp fraud?
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Just how many injuries would workers hide to see a company’s CEO look silly while dancing? It’s an interesting question given OSHA’s current opinion about safety incentives and a company involved in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
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Tags: BP oil rig disaster, David Michaels, Deepwater Horizon, safety incentives, Transocean
A worker at a bear park smoked pot before coming to work where he fed grizzlies. The worker was seriously injured by one of the bears. A workers’ compensation judge called that “mind-bogglingly stupid.” But did the judge rule the worker was entitled to workers’ comp?
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Tags: marijuana, mauled by grizzly, pot smoking, Workers' comp
Melatonin, caffeine, prescription medications, light therapy and naps have all been used to help overnight shift workers stay alert and avoid injuries. Of those, new research shows one that appears to work pretty well is …
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For purposes of workers’ comp benefits, just what constitutes an injury “arising out of and in the course of employment”? A court recently issued an interesting interpretation of that phrase.
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Tags: broken leg, in the course of employment, off the clock, workers' comp benefits
At Safety News Alert, we comb the Internet daily to find news stories of interest to safety pros. So, you can’t blame us for wanting to find out what this story was about after reading the headline:
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Tags: Australia, forklift, missing step
What types of workplace noise do you think of in connection with occupational hearing loss? Jack hammers, lawn tractors, manufacturing assembly lines? In this case, a worker claims hearing loss from being yelled at on the phone by angry customers.
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A worker’s arm was severed in an incident at the construction site for a new BMW plant in Greer, SC.
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Tags: BMW, lift machine, severed arm reattached
A subcontractor faces an OSHA fine in connection with an incident on the roof of the Dallas Cowboys’ stadium that seriously injured two workers.
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When sheriff’s deputies arrived in response to a call about a worker who was shocked by a piece of machinery, they found a man with no pulse.
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Tags: AED, CPR, defibrillator, shocked by machine
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