OSHA cited Danbury Hospital in Connecticut with one serious violation of the GDC for failing to provide a workplace free from recognized hazards likely to cause death or serious injury to workers. In this case, the hazard is employees being injured by violent patients. The fine: $6,300.

OSHA says it identified several instances during the past 18 months in which employees in the hospital’s psychiatric ward, emergency ward and general medical floors were injured by violent patients. The agency’s report cites 25 cases in the past five years in which hospital employees lost workdays or were put on restricted duty after being injured by patients.

Police say in March, a patient, Stanley Lupienski, shot nurse Andy Hull three times. Lupienski is charged with first-degree assault, first-degree reckless endangerment, illegal discharge of a firearm and carrying a pistol without a permit. Hull hasn’t returned to work at the hospital.

OSHA says its investigation was prompted by worker complaints. The president of Danbury Nurses Union, Unit 47, Mary Consoli, says the union complained to OSHA.

Danbury Hospital says it doesn’t agree with all the details of OSHA’s report, but it won’t contest the citation. The hospital says it’s already made changes to its security system.

OSHA recommended the hospital create a written violence prevention program that includes hazard assessment, prevention strategies, staff training, incident reporting and periodic review.

OSHA’s website notes that there is no regulation regarding workplace violence, but the GDC can apply.

OSHA’s guidelines for preventing workplace violence for health care and social workers can be found here.

Did OSHA make the right decision to cite the hospital for a GDC violation involving workplace violence? Let us know what you think in the Comments Box below. Also, take our poll on OSHA’s use of the GDC on our home page.

Authorities have charged Junior Lewis of Queens, NY, with one count each of mail fraud and conspiring to defraud OSHA. If convicted, Lewis, an authorized OSHA trainer, faces a maximum of 20 years in prison on the mail fraud charge and five years on the conspiracy charge. He could also be fined up to $250,000 or twice the gross gain from the offense.

An undercover agent arranged on more than one occasion to buy multiple 30-hour OSHA training certification cards from Lewis. Authorities say Lewis has admitted he sold multiple certification cards to others in the construction industry over the past several months without requiring the workers to complete outreach training.

“Lewis potentially placed the well being of construction workers in jeopardy,” according to U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.

Lewis “dealt out phony training credentials as if they were playing cards … with no concern for safety of construction workers,” according to New York City Department of Investigation Commissioner Rose Gill Hearn.

A newly added two-hour component focuses on workers’ rights. Among the topics it covers in detail:

• how to file complaints about your employer
• your right to refuse any work you think is too dangerous, and
• assurances that if you do either of the above, you’ll be protected by whistleblower provisions.

The workers’ rights component is now a required part of every 10- and 30-hour class.

“For too long, workers have avoided making claims of unsafe work conditions out of fear of losing their jobs,” OSHA head David Michaels said in a release. “We are confident that this new training will embolden workers to speak up when they find work practices that endanger their lives and the lives of their co-workers.”

Is OSHA opening a can of worms by trying to “embolden” workers, or is this needed to address chronic under-reporting of injuries. Tell us what you think in the comments section below.

Transocean, an offshore drilling company, is a business partner with BP in connection with the Deepwater Horizon oil rig that exploded, killing 11 workers and sending huge, unknown amounts of oil into the ocean.

Just two years ago, the Minerals Management Service (MMS), the federal agency that enforces safety rules on oil rigs, gave Transocean a top safety award for a “perfect performance period.”

The performance of the MMS itself has already been called into question. The Obama administration says it will reform the agency.

Now, consider a video, posted by the company, in its online magazine. In it, Transocean chief executive Steven Newman is seen dancing at a company gathering in Mumbai last year.

Newman was reportedly making good on a promise to dance if the India Division team posted a top safety record two years running.

So here’s the question: Who would want to be the worker or workers who get injured and ruin the chances of seeing the CEO look silly?

This is the sort of safety incentive being called into question by OSHA administrator David Michaels.

Michaels says safety programs should focus on reducing hazards, not rewarding a decline in injuries.

The OSHA administrator suggests workers will hide injuries to get safety rewards, such as dinners or gift cards.

No word on whether Newman’s offer of dancing would be the sort of incentive that Michaels wants to discourage, but it seems to fit into the category. There’s also a report that the company had scheduled a lavish luncheon honoring safety award winners on May 3, which was canceled after the rig disaster.

The Newman video isn’t the only one uncovered recently as the news media seek to learn more about Transocean.

Workers at the Deepwater Horizon rig made a video about hand safety a year ago. The video uses hip-hop music. Transocean pulled the video off its website after the rig explosion.

Was Transocean sending the wrong messages to its workers about safety by offering incentives, such as the CEO’s dance and the lavish award lunch? Let us know what you think in the Comments Box below.

Mark Malecha, a manager at Feely’s Elevator in Farmington, MN, was trying to dislodge some frozen corn in a grain silo.

According to the owner of Feely’s, Malecha would normally attach fall protection gear when entering the silo. But on Feb. 4 this year, he didn’t.

Some corn shifted, and Malecha fell 30 feet. He was buried up to his chest in frozen corn.

Luckily, his one arm was free, and he used his cell phone to call for help.

The rescue was time-consuming. Workers lowered plywood into the silo to form a box around Malecha to keep corn from caving in on him.

After rescuers built the box, they removed corn from the silo one bucket at a time.

Eight hours later, a team of an estimated 145 rescue workers freed him.

Surprisingly, Malecha wasn’t injured.

OSHA issued seven citations against Feely’s for a total of $7,750 in fines. Feely’s is contesting the fines.

How do you impress upon workers that they have to wear their PPE every time? Let us know in the Comments Box below.

On Nov. 9, 2009, Tahir Fakhar was driving a tractor trailer along the bridge’s new S-curve when he lost control of the truck. It rolled over a 3-foot guardrail and fell about 200 feet to an island below. Fakhar was killed.

Now, an attorney for the truck driver’s family has filed a claim with the California Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board, a precursor to a wrongful death lawsuit.

The claim alleges the S-curve was “negligently designed and regulated.”

After the truck crash, Caltrans added additional speed warnings, flashing signs, a higher roadside barrier, rumble strips and clearer lane striping.

The lawyer for Fakhar’s family says that work should have been done previously.

Caltrans officials say the speed of Fakhar’s truck, 10 m.p.h. over the legal limit, was the problem, not the design or markings of the roadway.

While it may be difficult to assign fault in this case without more information, the story does raise a general safety question.

After you make safety rules (like a speed limit), train workers (such as preparing and licensing them to drive a tractor trailer), and post warning reminders (like speed limit signs), at what point does the responsibility for a worker’s safety shift from the company to the worker? Let us know what you think in the Comments Box below.

The statistics on workplace deaths and injuries in the U.S. are sobering:

• In 2008, 5,071 U.S. workers died from workplace injuries — that’s 14 per day.
• 49,000 deaths annually are attributed to work-related illnesses.
• In 2008, an estimated 4.6 million workers had a nonfatal workplace injury or illness; 40%-50% of these workers were transferred, placed on work restrictions or took time away from work.
• 3.4 million workers were treated in emergency rooms for occupational injuries and illnesses in 2007.
• 94,000 were hospitalized in 2007 from workplace incidents.
• Employers and insurers spent nearly $85 billion on workers’ compensation in 2007.

And those workers’ comp costs are just a fraction of the costs to employers for worker injuries. Other costs include training replacement workers, incident investigations, lost productivity, damaged equipment and property, and legal expenses.

On this Workers’ Memorial Day — and any day at work — what messages are you sending to employees about workplace injuries and deaths? Let us know in the Comments Box below.

Now, Maurice Buzzell, owner of Buzzell Tree Service in East Kingston, NH, has been ordered to receive arborist training, perform 100 hours of community service and make 10 presentations to students about workplace safety.

He’s to appear in front of the judge again in a year to show that he’s completed the terms of his suspended sentence.

Earlier this year, a jury found Buzzell guilty of the homicide charge and a reckless conduct charge in the death of 22-year-old Jon Paul LaVigueur.

Prosecutors recommended a 1- to 3-year prison term. The maximum he could have received was 7 years in jail.

But Judge Diane Nicolosi said, “Mr. Buzzell is not an uncaring man. I think he is grieving for this man (LaVigueur).”

In August 2007, LaVigueur was struck in the head and torso by parts of an 80-foot pine tree. He was part of a four-person team pulling down the tree. As it started to fall, LaVigueur ran in the same direction it fell.

Former employees testified they were taught by Buzzell not to move out of the way until a tree started to fall.

What do you think of the court’s sentence? Let us know in the Comments Box below.You can also take our Quick Poll on this topic on our home page.

Recently, we wrote about a survey that put “safety” as the No. 6 most annoying thing in the workplace. So, we asked you what is most annoying about workers when it comes to safety. Here are your answers:

One of the most common complaints was workers who say things like, “I’ve been doing that this way for 20 years and have never gotten hurt.” A slight variation on the theme: “I have 20 years experience. Don’t tell me how to do my job.”

When it comes to one specific worker action that is annoying, “wearing safety glasses/goggles on top of their heads” was mentioned the most.

Some other annoying worker practices when it comes to safety:

• Supervisors who walk right by obvious safety violations.
• “Safety is the safety manager’s job, not mine.”
• Employees who say they don’t have time for safety.
• Safety costs too much.
• Managers who require workers to attend safety meetings and then don’t show up themselves.
• Workers who prefer not to know about safety rules and then say they were out of the loop.
• Not reporting injuries. “It happened a month ago, but I thought it would quit hurting, so I didn’t tell anyone.”
• “I’m the engineer. I get the thing to run. You’re the safety person. You figure out how to do it safely.”
• Upper management that won’t get serious about safety.
• “Where does it say that I have to _____?”
• Blocking exits, aisles, fire extinguishers, eyewash stations, etc.

After reading all of those (and probably recognizing many, if not all of them), are you really annoyed?

We don’t want you to spend the rest of the day that way. So, we’ll note that a number of you seemed to have a good sense of humor while writing about these annoyances. And while safety is, of course, very serious business, it can help you get through the day to have a sense of humor about it.

Here are some worker annoyances from safety pros that show that they’re not about to let the few employees who ignore safety get them down:

• “We are safety-ed to death.” (The workers who said that obvious didn’t think about their statement.)
• “Safety, safety, safety. All we ever talk about is safety, and we don’t even have any accidents around here.” (Well, must be working, right? )
• “We never had all this safety s*** before,” from the guy missing part of his thumb because it was ripped off in a drill press.
• Right out of the childhood playbook: “They’re not doing it, so why should I?”
• “That wouldn’t be in the aisle for someone to trip over if we didn’t have to participate in this Safety Tour during our clean-up time.”
• When people open a meeting by saying, “Let’s get this party started.” If it were a party, there’d be more beer and hot people in the room.

And some of you really liked one comment and requested a copy of the so-called “Dumb-ass Certificate”:

Deviation Under Modified Basis—Agreement Support Sheet (DUMB-ASS Certificate)

I understand that there are identified rules and procedures in place but I cannot accomplish the task on the basis of those rules. I am applying for this Dumb-Ass certificate so I can get an exemption to perform (name task) without following the following safety procedures.

The reason that I want the Dumb-Ass exemption is (check all that apply)…

You get the picture.

When it comes right down to it, a one-word comment we received sums it all up. The most annoying worker habit when it comes to safety: Excuses.

How do you counter workers’ excuses? Let us know in the Comments Box below.

During a U.S. House hearing on federal building security, details on the evacuation of the building after the plane crash came to light.

Burning fuel from the plane quickly filled the building with black smoke, making it impossible for many in the building to see anything.

Among the actions that saved workers’ lives:

• Employees near exits waited there so others could follow their voices and find their way out.
• Workers helped evacuate disabled employees.
• One IRS employee carried a disabled co-worker on his back down four flights of stairs.
• To counter the smoke, workers crawled on their hands and knees, breathing through clothing they’d dampened with water.

Safety videos without blood: Will they work?

About a year ago, we wrote about five safety videos produced by the Ontario, Canada, Workplace Safety and Insurance Board.

Each half-minute story addresses workplace safety topics in a variety of settings, including construction, manufacturing and retail.

They don’t sugar-coat the subject. One shows a restaurant worker’s scalded face after she slips and spills a large pot of boiling water on herself. They are disturbing — but they got more than 580,000 views on YouTube.

Now, several Canadian provinces, including Nova Scotia and Alberta, have released a new series of public service ads, “Before it’s an injury.”

These videos show workplace hazards, too, such as a bucket of water left in the middle of a hallway and a ladder with a rung that’s ready to break.

But in each one, the screen quickly cuts to black as the painful workplace injury is about to take place. In the one involving a nail sticking out of a piece of wood, you hear the sickening sound of the nail piercing flesh as a worker stands up and bumps into it. But you don’t see the incident. The last thing heard on the ad is someone saying, “Somebody get help.”

They leave more to the imagination. But they’re done in such a way that you can’t avoid thinking about what happens next.

So here’s the question: Do you need blood in safety videos for them to make an impact? Let us know what you think in the Comments Box below.

A judge has ordered Murphy Oil Corp. to pay the five employees $50,000 each for noise-induced hearing loss, a total of $250,000. The five employees worked at the company’s Meraux, LA, plant.

The company may have to pay out more for hearing loss, as the court has yet to rule on the claims of 35 other former employees.

A ruling in favor of all the workers would amount to $2 million if they all were ordered to receive $50,000.

The judge said Murphy Oil violated its duty to its employees by failing to provide:

• a safe place to work free from excessive noise
• an effective hearing conservation program
• regular and periodic hearing tests, and
• warnings of the dangers associated with long-term chronic occupational noise exposure.

The court also noted Murphy Oil decided not to spend $110,000 for noise control equipment during a $35 million plant expansion in the late 1970s.

Disasters of that magnitude usually launch a series of changes, either in prevention, response or both. Example: The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) underwent significant changes after the much criticized response to Hurricane Katrina.

In this case, the changes came in the form of prevention — or, at least that’s what officials hope.

One person weighing in is John Bresland, Chairman of the U.S. Chemical Safety Board. CSB’s final report on the BP blast, issued three years ago, found:

• organizational and safety deficiencies at all levels of the BP Corporation
• cost-cutting that had affected safety programs and critical maintenance
• production pressures that resulted in costly mistakes made by workers likely fatigued by working long hours, and
• although problems were brought to the attention of BP’s board, there wasn’t sufficient action.

Bresland notes that BP has spent over $1 billion repairing and improving the Texas City plant. It’s also spent a similar amount on settling lawsuits with those injured and families of the deceased. He says it gives new meaning to the old adage, “If you think safety is expensive, wait until you have an accident.”

“When will we know whether the tragedy of 2005 has resulted in greater safety at BP and other companies’ refineries?” Bresland asked. “Only when we can look back over the passing of a significant number of years without major accidents, deaths, or injuries.”

In the Houston Chronicle, business columnist Loren Steffy writes, “BP can’t escape the ugly truth: Without the 15 deaths, the company wouldn’t have fixed what was wrong.”

BP’s troubles aren’t over, either. It faces $87.4 million in OSHA fines (the largest OSHA fine ever), on top of ones it has already paid. The agency says the company hasn’t lived up to all portions of the settlement agreement regarding the Texas City plant. BP is appealing that fine.

OSHA has also fined BP $3 million for problems at a plant in Ohio. Other oil companies have been penalized under OSHA’s National Emphasis Program on refineries, prompted by the Texas City explosion.

How do you put the safety problems that U.S. oil refineries face in perspective? “If the airline industry was having the same number of accidents as the refinery industry, I don’t think too many people would be flying,” Bresland said.

Do you think BP and other oil companies have learned a lesson? Let us know your thoughts in the Comments Box below.

An explosion at Superior Asphalt in Grand Rapids, MI, left 34-year-old Bill Zetty with second and third degree burns on most of his upper body, including his arms, chest and face.

Doctors put Zetty in a medical coma because the burns were so painful. His sister, Penny Nagelhout, says when they change the dressings, not even the induced coma can keep him down. He wakes up in the worst pain.

Doctors won’t know for a while whether he’ll need to have skin grafts.

Although the exact cause of the explosion hasn’t been determined, the company owner told a local TV station that Zetty was lighting a torch head without realizing gas was leaking.

Zetty’s sister says her brother often worked long hours at the request of the company, sometimes as much as 30 hours straight.

“He could have been tired out of his mind,” she said. “Employers need to make sure employees are working the proper amount of hours.”

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board recently issued a safety bulletin outlining seven key lessons for employees about hot work in and around storage tanks.

Virginia International Terminals (VIT) has been fined $7,000 by OSHA for a serious violation. VIT didn’t implement or provide refresher training to crane operators who were involved in previous accidents or near-misses, according to the citation.

Foreman David Weiland was killed last December after a crane operator knocked over the pole which then fell across Weiland’s car.

The crane operator had been involved in several previous crashes.

Michael Dinardo was charged in Manhattan Federal Court with selling 47 training cards to New York City undercover agents who didn’t complete any training.

If convicted, Dinardo could be sentenced to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

The city requires construction employees working on buildings 15 stories or taller to complete a 10-hour OSHA training course. Crane operators need to take a 30-hour course.

Dinardo sold OSHA certification cards to undercover investigators, according to the New York Daily News. Price: $100 for a 10-hour card; $275 for a 30-hour card; and $325 for a Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response (HAZWOPER) certificate.

Recently, OSHA revoked trainer status from four people nationwide.

For more information about OSHA training, click here.

In the first year of the Obama administration, OSHA was busy handing out fines the likes of which hadn’t been seen for eight years. Here’s our rundown of 10 significant fines from the last 12 months, and what they mean for businesses:

1. OSHA issues largest fine ever: $87.4 million to BP. This fine demonstrates OSHA’s intent to check up on companies once they’ve made serious safety mistakes. The agency evaluated BP’s progress after the 2005 fire and explosion that killed 15 people and injured 170 more at its Texas City, TX refinery. OSHA issued 270 “notifications of failure to abate” and identified 439 new willful violations at the plant.
2. Two executives face prison time and huge fines in deaths of five workers. Phillipe Goutagny and James Thompson, executives with RPI Coating, each face 2.5 years in prison and a fine up to $1.25 million if convicted. On Oct. 2, 2007, vapor from a solvent ignited inside a tunnel at a hydroelectric plant in Colorado. Workers survived the blast but were overcome by smoke and fumes and died of asphyxiation. OSHA says it will work more closely with the Justice Department in cases like these to bring criminal charges against executives with penalties that include prison time.
3. OSHA wastes no time in using new per-employee citations, issues $1.2 million fine. G.S. Robbins & Co. of St. Louis, MO, was hit with 21 egregious willful citations for hazardous chemical handling. Each citation was on a per-instance basis. Even during this period of difficult economic recovery, OSHA won’t hesitate to use per-instance, per-employee fines to hike total fine amounts. This wasn’t the only instance in which OSHA used per-instance citations in 2009 (see item #7 below).
4. Company hit with $1.14 million fine following employee complaint. Are the big fines relegated only to incidents involving deaths or multiple serious injuries? Hardly. OSHA began a December 2008 inspection at Milk Specialties in Whitehall, WI, in response to an employee complaint. Willful citations were issued for the employer’s failure to comply with OSHA’s confined space and lockout/tagout regulations. OSHA is taking employee complaints seriously.
5. After two similar incidents, owner and manager go to jail. ANC Roofing of Santa Rosa, CA, owner Kenneth Alton pleaded no contest to failing to protect employees from a hazard. He was sentenced to nine months in jail and a $248,000 fine. Supervisor Robert McAfee pleaded no contest to one misdemeanor violation and was sentenced to 30 days in jail. On May 11, 2006, an ANC employee backed into an unguarded skylight and fell 21 feet to his death. Four months later, another ANC employee suffered major head trauma when he fell 19 feet from an unprotected skylight.
6. OSHA fines Wal-Mart $7,000 for worker trampling incident. A Wal-Mart worker was trampled to death by a crowd of 2,000 shoppers on the day after Thanksgiving in 2008. OSHA said Wal-Mart should have recognized that its employees were exposed to being crushed by the crowd based on previous experience. Wal-Mart fought the fine. OSHA used the General Duty Clause to issue the fine and has said it will use the GDC in similar situations where safety was compromised but a specific regulation wasn’t violated.
7. Company faces $1.09 million OSHA fine for 202 willful violations. OSHA didn’t really need anyone’s permission to start issuing per-instance fines (see item #3 above), but it got the go-ahead in the form of a decision from the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC). The appeals panel ruled OSHA properly cited Smalis Painting Co. on a per-employee basis for violations of the lead-in-construction regulations, in connection with a project near Pittsburgh, PA. OSHA monitored six Smalis employees for lead exposure. Based on that data, OSHA issued violations for all employees who would have been exposed to the same hazards.
8. OSHA is getting companies to agree to implement safety and health improvements above what’s required by regulations. A-1 Excavating of Bloomer, WI, agreed to make numerous changes in its work processes in exchange for lowering fines from almost $900,000 to $470,000. A-1 has to hire a full-time safety director, develop and implement site-specific safety and health plans for all major projects, identify all job sites to OSHA before work begins for the next three years, reduce the salary of job superintendents and project managers who fail to comply with OSHA requirements, and retain a third-party safety consultant.
9. Cintas agrees to pay $3 million in fines and to comply with other conditions. In some cases, it hasn’t been an either-or situation between fines and strict safety improvements. After a worker was killed when he fell onto an unguarded conveyor and was dragged into a 300-degree industrial dryer, Cintas agreed to the huge fine and to retain a team of independent experts to develop permanent fixes and review interim controls. Cintas also agreed to hire additional safety staff, conduct more frequent internal safety inspections, and establish new systems to examine employee complaints.
10. A construction company agrees to pay $750,000 in fines and cut the pay of unsafe supervisors. Broadway Concrete of New York, NY, agreed to reduce the salaries of senior job superintendents who failed to comply with job safety practices. Broadway also agreed to hire a full-time corporate safety director, develop a new corporate safety plan, and provide OSHA with information on major projects and access to all job sites for the next four years.

What do you think of OSHA’s recent enforcement tactics? Let us know in the Comments Box below.

On Aug. 15, 2009, 29-year-old Carl Beck fell 42 feet from a roof in Washington, PA, while laying shingles and died.

Beck worked for C.A. Franc Construction. OSHA issued the company $539,000 in fines. Company owner, Christopher Franc, also faces $250,000 and six months in prison in connection with his guilty plea to criminal charges of violating safety rules.

OSHA found the company had failed to provide any fall protection to its employees working on a pitched roof 40 feet above the ground. The agency issued 10 per-instance willful citations, one for each employee working on the roof without fall protection. An 11th citation says Frank failed to train a new employee.

The company has 15 days to respond to the OSHA citations. Christopher Franc will be sentenced June 18.

CCOHS puts it this way: When people shovel snow, it’s like they’re lifting weights in freezing temperatures on uneven, slippery ground while wearing heavy clothing. Then there are the mistakes people make on top of that: hurrying, lifting too much at one time and twisting their bodies in awkward positions.

So here’s the scoop from CCOHS on safe shoveling:

• Allow enough time. People injure themselves when they try to shovel in a hurry.
• Ask your doctor whether you should be shoveling at all. If you’re older, overweight, or have a history of back or heart problems, delegate the task or get a snow blower.
• Warm up first. Do some stretching exercises so shoveling isn’t a shock to your system.
• Wear several layers or warm, lightweight clothing in which you can move comfortably. Wear boots with good traction. In very cold weather, cover as much of your skin as possible to prevent frost bite.
• Spread salt, sand or kitty litter first to create traction if the ground is icy.
• Use a proper shovel. It should be light-weight, and the blade shouldn’t be too large.
• Shovel small manageable amounts of snow.
• Use a proper lifting technique: stand with feet at hip width, bend from your knees not your back, and walk to dump snow rather than throwing it.
• Recognize danger signs. Stop shoveling and call 911 if you feel discomfort or heaviness in the chest, arms or neck; unusual or prolonged shortness of breath; a dizzy or faint feeling; or excessive sweating or nausea.

OSHA has fined warehouse owner Lyons & Sons of Camden, NJ, $21,750 and chocolate maker Cocoa Services LP of Moorestown, NJ, $17,450. Lyons owns the building that houses Cocoa Services and manages the chocolate company.

Last summer, 29-year-old Vincent Smith II fell into a vat used for melting chocolate. He was hit by an agitator used to mix the chocolate and killed.

A co-worker slammed on an emergency shutoff switch when Smith fell in, but it was too late.

Both companies face serious violations for:

• lacking railings around floor openings or working platforms above the melting tanks
• exposing employees working on melting-tank platform to nine-foot falls, and
• failing to provide fire extinguisher training.

Lyons faces additional violations for failing to provide enclosures or guards over energized wires on melting tank boilers and failing to provide a first aid program.

The companies have 15 days to decide whether to contest the fines.

Vos Electric faced a $4,900 fine in the death of Jorge Leandro-Ramirez, who was crushed to death while operating a cherry-picker at a construction site.

OSHA had issued one serious citation in the incident. However, when OSHA had an informal settlement meeting with the company, Vos presented sufficient evidence that convinced OSHA to delete the citation and penalty.

An OSHA official said the fatality occurred despite training provided by the company, not because of a lack of training.

No one else was injured in the incident.

A panel in Wyoming, which does have the highest worker death rate, has made four recommendations:

• Increase OSHA fines
• Form a stronger alliance between Wyoming’s state OSHA and industries
• Significantly increase front-line safety training, and
• Hire an expert to create a database and track trends in workplace fatalities.

Wyoming’s occupational death rate is 17.1 per 100,000 workers, which is more than four times the national average.

The Wyoming Worker Fatality Prevention Task Force recently found that insufficient penalties and the state’s proud culture of independence and toughness were two major reasons the state has the highest death rate.

One state lawmaker recently noted that the fines are much higher for poaching a moose out of season than for reckless violation of OSHA rules that result in a worker’s death.

What do you think of the four recommendations? Which will be most effective in reducing worker deaths? Let us know in the Comments Box below.

That proved to be a fatal error in more ways than one. The temp was killed one hour before she was supposed to have finished her very first shift.

The plant was engulfed in and eventually overwhelmed by litigation (criminal prosecution by the Department of Justice, multiple OSHA fines and abatement orders, plus a civil suit by the surviving husband), so a few months later the whole plant was forced to shut down.

The temp sweeping the floor around an assembly line wanted to do a good job to aspire to a permanent position in the plant. She had no trouble getting inside a fence that was supposed to keep people out. That’s when the machine started up and crushed her to death.

Safety officer lost his job, too

Among the people who lost their jobs in the plant closure was the safety manager.

When he was interviewed by OSHA inspector Vanessa Martin, she already knew from interviews with other employees that the fence safety locks were routinely rigged with Styrofoam wads.

“I’m actually kind of glad that you already found out,” the safety manager said, “because I didn’t want to be the one to have to tell you.”

From the presentation, “OSHA’s most interesting cases” at the National Safety Council.

In the 60-minute Web chat, Barab received five questions about ergonomics.

One thing is for sure: Ergonomics is a priority now at OSHA. At a minimum, the agency would like companies to make ergonomics a more frequent safety training topic to reduce related injuries. And the current administration has signaled that, even without an ergonomics standard, it will use the General Duty Clause to issue citations when inspections uncover ergonomic problems.

Here’s what we know from Barab’s answers to questions during the Web chat:

• While OSHA will propose a rule to define work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) and add a separate column for them on its required workplace injuries log (300 Log), Barab said that isn’t a prelude to a broader ergonomic standard. OSHA has no plan for regulatory activity on WMSDs at this time, Barab said.
• OSHA hopes requiring companies to note ergonomic injuries on the 300 Log will provide useful information that employers and workers can use to better identify WMSDs in the workplace.
• Barab said the new OSHA administrator, David Michaels “will intensify the process of determining how we are going to address ergonomics.” Barab also said Michaels will address ergonomics “as one of his highest priorities.”
• Industry-specific standards, such as safe patient handling in healthcare facilities, is one option OSHA will consider.

How should OSHA handle ergonomics? Let us know in the Comments Box below.

Let’s use a sports analogy. A recent article in The Wall Street Journal asks the question, “Is it time to retire the football helmet?”

The reason behind the suggestion: While helmets reduce the chance of death on the field, they also create a sense of invulnerability that encourages football players to collide more forcefully and more often, according to the article. If they weren’t wearing helmets, they’d be less likely to have head-on collisions with other players.

And research shows that, in the cases of these football players, brain damage isn’t necessarily the result of any one trauma, but the accumulation of thousands of seemingly minor blows to the head.

No one is really suggesting the NFL do away with helmets.

What is being suggested is changing some of the rules of football to make head-on collisions among players less likely.

Now, let’s apply this to workplace safety.

Here’s one example: Will fall protection equipment absolutely prevent a worker’s injury or death if that person is taking too many risks while wearing the equipment? Of course not.

Safety pros know that, but some workers don’t get it. Here’s a message workers have to hear every so often: Safety gear doesn’t make you invincible. Avoiding injury also requires proper use of the PPE, employees sticking to safety rules, not taking unnecessary risks, etc.

One of the most effective ways to counter workers’ thoughts that they’re invincible is to show them how others have been injured at work. Invite someone who suffered a serious — and possibly debilitating — workplace injury to speak at a safety meeting. Ask the person to explain in detail how the injury has affected his or her life — how everyday activities can no longer be taken for granted.

How have you dealt with employees who feel an injury “won’t happen to me”? Let us know in the Comments Box below.

A worker at David’s Cookies was assigned one day to pack biscotti into boxes after they passed through a chopping machine. Sometimes small bits of cookie caused the machine to get clogged.

The employee had worked at the cookie production plant for a year, but never near the biscotti machine. She didn’t speak or read English.

The biscotti machine got clogged. While it was still running, the employee reached her hand under the machine’s guard. Her hand came into contact with the blade, and its chopping motion caused her significant injuries.

The worker sued her employer for intentional harm.

David’s Cookies pointed out that the machine had a proper guard and a sign with a pictogram that showed workers they shouldn’t stick their hands into the machine. Workers’ comp should cover this case, the employer said.

The employee argued she’d never been given training on the biscotti machine.

The company won when the court threw out the lawsuit. The judge wrote an employer “could … assume that a rational person is not gonna stick his hand in a machine that’s being operated by electrical power” but would “call somebody or pull the plug or disengage the machinery.”

Cite: Cong Su v. David’s Cookies, Superior Court of NJ, 8/10/09.

Capanna worked for a contractor that had been hired by an oil refinery in Paulsboro, NJ.

Oct. 5, 1979 was his last day on the job there. He’d been concerned about some other injuries that had occurred at the refinery.

The final job: Remove an old water pump. The bolts that held the pump in place were so rusted they couldn’t be moved. So Capanna got the OK to use an acetylene torch to burn the bolts off.

He was burning off the last bolt when there was an explosion and flash fire.

Turns out, the pump wasn’t for water, it was for crude oil. Capanna was covered in crude oil, and he burst into flames.

The flash blinded him, but he managed to get out of the building that housed the pump. His flesh was engulfed in flames, and he fell.

Two other workers patted the flames out.

Capanna continued to burn for hours because the hot crude oil had stuck to him.

Through all this, he never lost consciousness. He felt everything, and burns are some of the most excruciating injuries because they leave nerves damaged and exposed.

As part of his treatment, his eyes were sewn shut for three months so his eyelids would not shrink while awaiting a skin graft. A pair of glasses worn during the blast saved Capanna’s sight.

In 1979, psychological treatment for severe burn patients was different than today. There were no mirrors anywhere in his hospital room where he could see himself. Even spoons were plastic so he couldn’t see his reflection in them.

One day while he was away from his room working with a physical therapist, Capanna slipped into a public restroom to look in the mirror.

The site of his own face made him throw up. He wasn’t prepared for what he saw in the mirror: missing ears, lips and nose.

“I was devastated,” Capanna said.

Over the course of 20 years, Capanna had 75 surgeries to close his skin and reconstruct his nose, ears and lips.

But reconstructive surgery has its limitations. Children would look at him and say, “Look mommy, a monster.” Adults would turn away from him.

Today, Capanna works with the Phoenix Society, a national organization that works with people who suffer burn injuries.

He recently told his story to The Pocono Record. It’s a story that’s sure to have an impact on workers.

When SafetyNewsAlert.com reported on the OSHA recordkeeping inspection program, readers responded with their best safety incentive ideas that don’t discourage injury reporting:

• Bill B.: True safety incentives are a positive reinforcement of the safety culture. We have set up a program for “on the spot” recognition for above and beyond safety actions. Seems to be working on our construction site with 20 contractors and over 70 workers.
• Dave B.: Supervisors should reward safe practices like wearing PPE, reporting hazards or developing safe solutions. When the employees wearing proper PPE and following safety procedures get all the free stuff, it doesn’t take long for the other employees to join in.
• Safety Sam: I developed a plan to base incentives on employee participation instead of simply not getting hurt. I made a list of things that I wanted to get done, and then presented that to the employee safety committee with the mandate to base getting the incentives on getting this stuff done. It was hugely successful and took away any edge that OSHA might have had in using our incentive plan against us. (Sam is at an OSHA Voluntary Protection Program site.)
• Tim H.: (1) Base the incentive on behavior (individual and collective) not injury reports, and (2) Structure a supervisor’s performance review so that a failure to make a required injury report is a negative.
• Alex: (Our plan is) based on proactive activities reported to and recorded and audited by the safety department. Measurements include number of near-misses reported, job/task observations, area inspections, safety team meetings, completion of compliance and awareness training, and monthly safety topics.

Even more comments had this general theme: Reward positive safety behavior, not a lack of injuries.

You can take our Quick Poll on safety incentive programs on our home page.

Now with just a couple mouse clicks, the whole world can see which U.S. companies had an employee fatality in the previous week.

Example: For the week of Aug. 28, 2009, OSHA’s Weekly Fatality Report lists 18 incidents. First on the list is an incident involving Tri-State Electrical Contracting, Inc., Bay Terrace, NY. The Web page lists Nature of Incident as “victim was operating a knuckle boom truck and was crushed between the boom and the controls.”

That’s all the information given.

While the Web page explains how OSHA receives the incident information, there’s no word (at least as of the writing of this article) on what purpose the agency thinks posting this information will serve.

So, we have two guesses:

1. OSHA hopes employers use the information in safety training to show workers the real-life consequences of various workplace hazards, or
2. OSHA is posting the information to call attention to companies that just experienced a worker fatality or other catastrophe.

There are two potential problems with either of these uses. If these are meant to be used as teaching lessons for employees, the items are light on detail. If this is meant as a Wall of Shame for the companies involved, OSHA is posting the information before investigations can be completed, and before exact cause for the incident can be determined.

One more note: When the page for the Weekly Fatality Reports first appeared on OSHA’s Web site, many may not have found it. To access it, you had to find a one-line clickable link among everything on OSHA’s home page. A few days later, OSHA made it highly noticeable, front and center, in a bright blue box in the middle of its home page.

While safety pros can agree that sharing information about workplace fatalities can help prevent similar incidents from happening, it’s not entirely clear what OSHA’s intention of posting the information is.

What do you think? Is this useful information for safety training? Let us know in the Comments Box below.

In its final report on the explosion, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) said ongoing releases of sugar from poorly designed and maintained dust collection equipment, conveyors, and sugar handling equipment led to the blast.

Inadequate housekeeping allowed highly combustible sugar dust to build up throughout the plant’s packing buildings.

A conveyor had been enclosed, creating a confined, unventilated space where sugar dust could accumulate to an explosive concentration. It’s likely the dust was ignited by an overheated bearing.

The initial explosion caused a cascade of secondary dust explosions in adjacent packing buildings.

On top of these problems, the CSB said Imperial hadn’t conducted evacuation drills for its employees and that the explosions and fires disabled most of the emergency lighting, making it difficult for workers to escape.

A 2006 CSB study identified 281 combustible dust fires and explosions between 1980 and 2005 that killed 119 workers and injured 718, and extensively damaged industrial facilities. In April, OSHA started development of a combustible dust standard. The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) has recommended practices for preventing dust fires and explosions.

In its Position Statement on Distracted Driving in Motor Vehicles, ASSE calls on its members and other safety professionals to:

• encourage and support employer rules banning any employee use of electronic devices while driving
• support proposed public laws and regulations that effectively limit the use of electronic devices while driving, and
• back improved driver education that includes the risks of distracted driving and ways to avoid such risks.

ASSE’s views about distracted driving aren’t limited to cell phone use. It says, “The same safety risks posed by cellular phones also hold true for a vehicle operator who drives in an unsafe manner while eating, drinking, putting on makeup, reading a newspaper, operating any other electronic device, or some other type of distracting activity where the driver’s mind, eyes, and hands are engaged elsewhere than the road ahead and the steering wheel.”

ASSE cites various studies to make its point that distracted driving isn’t limited to electronic device use.

A Carnegie Mellon University study shows brain power used while driving decreases by 40% when a driver listens to conversation or music. A Nationwide Mutual Insurance study found 80% of drivers admit to blatantly hazardous behavior including changing clothes, steering with a foot, painting nails and shaving.

Does your company have a policy on employees and distracted driving? Do you think it’s a good idea to support laws banning use of cell phones while driving? Should those bans also cover other types of distracted driving? What are some examples you’ve seen of distracted driving? Let us know in the Comments Box below.

The video, made by the police department of Gwent, Wales, is 30 minutes and shows the crash in graphic detail. Two passengers in the car of a young woman who is texting-while-driving are killed. The video also shows the aftermath for the surviving young woman and her family. (See our previous story.)

The film’s director, Peter Watkins-Hughes, told The New York Times, “Young people were telling us, ‘It needs to be more shocking, it needs to be more violent, it needs to be more truthful.’”

But some experts on safety and risk disagree. Kip Viscusi, who has studied risk for decades says one reason violent videos may not work is that people are already well aware that some activities are dangerous.

Ann McCartt, senior VP for research at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety said, “Over time, people go back to their everyday behaviors.”

McCartt’s alternative? Strong laws. “What really gets people to change their behaviors is strong laws, strongly enforced,” she said.

Richard Tay, a road safety researcher at the University of Calgary said a violent video must also instruct people on how to change their behavior.

Others are calling for the cell phone industry to handle the problem through technology, such as prompts on phones reminding people not to text and drive, or a feature that allows automatic, “I’m driving now” responses in incoming calls.

This issue mirrors a question often asked by safety pros: Do bloody, graphic videos showing workplace injuries really encourage workers to follow safety rules?

What do you think? Do gory safety videos work? Will this video on texting have a positive effect? Let us know in the Comments Box below, and take our poll on Safety News Alert’s home page.

Between 1994 and 2007, between 1,343 and 1,442 American workers died in highway-related incidents in each and every year. That’s according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

And 2007, which provides the most recent data, was right in line. The final tally: 1,414.

Why aren’t the numbers improving? One reason may be that business drivers are at best, apathetic about safety, and at worst, downright resistant.

A recent study suggests that more than 40% of those drivers would not be open to road safety training — or at least that their managers think they wouldn’t be. And less than a quarter of managers thought their drivers would “definitely be willing to take part in road safety training.”

The study was done in England, but based on the discouraging yearly numbers here, it’s reasonable to wonder whether we have the same problem.

What do you think? In your experience, how do business drivers respond to safety training? Is there a way to improve the numbers? Share your thoughts in the Comment Box below.

We polled our editors of safety publications at Progressive Business and came up with this list:

10. More research on dangers of nano-particles to exposed employees. Among the new studies, one that showed long, thin carbon nanotubes exhibited the same effects as long, thin asbestos fibers when injected into mice.

9. The National Institutes of Health says the superbug methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is no longer limited to hospitals. Outbreaks of one strain — community-associated MRSA — have turned up in athletes, prison inmates, the military, daycare attendees and those who live in communal conditions such as college dormitories.

8. MSHA proposes and enacts a flurry of new mining rules in the wake of previous years’ mining disasters, such as Crandall Canyon, including: a policy letter on underground communication and tracking devices; a new final rule that increases the pounds per square inch that pressure seals must withstand in an explosion; a proposal to test miners for drugs and alcohol; and a final rule requiring additional safety equipment for rescue teams at underground mines.

7. California gets serious with heat stress on the job. The company that hired a pregnant teen who died of heat stroke this spring after working in a vineyard without enough shade or water was hit with the highest fine ever issued to a farming operation in the state. Merced Farm Labor’s license was also revoked until Aug. 24, 2011 after the death of Maria Jimenez.

6. The employer payment for most types of PPE rule takes effect. OSHA started enforcing the new rule May 15, 2008. The only exceptions: non-specialty safety-toe protective footwear; shoes or boots with built-in metatarsal protection requested by an employee; logging boots; and everyday work or ordinary clothing used solely for protection from weather.

5. An explosion at an Imperial Sugar Refinery near Savannah, GA, kills 14 people and injures dozens more. The blast destroyed a packaging plant. The cause, ignition of dust, placed an emphasis on workplace ignitable dust hazards.

4. Amendment to the Americans with Disabilities Act to place burden on employers. The revision may dramatically increase the number of employees who can legally qualify as disabled. Action step for employers and those in charge of safety: Instead of an open-ended light-duty assignment that might define a worker as disabled, re-assess the returning worker’s condition every two weeks.

3. Distracted drivers prove fatal and costly. A Sept. 12 collision between two trains in California killed 25 people. The National Transportation Safety Board is still investigating, but preliminary information shows the locomotive engineer of one train was using his cell phone to text within 30 seconds of the accident. In the wake of the crash, the Federal Railroad Administration enacted a new rule banning railroad employees from using cell phones (except in emergencies) and other electronic devices on the job. In another case, International Paper Co. agreed to pay $5.2 million to settle a personal injury lawsuit after one of its employees used her cell phone while driving for work. The employee hit another car, and its driver had to have an arm amputated as a result.

2. Now OSHA can multiply PPE and training fines by the number of employees. Under a new rule, OSHA can issue per-employee citations for those types of violations starting Jan. 12, 2009.

1. President-elect Barack Obama promises an “invigorated” OSHA. Obama supported the Protecting America’s Workers Act as a Senator. The bill would increase OSHA penalties. Obama has also called on OSHA to issue standards “in a timely and more effective manner.” While the financial crisis may delay some reforms the new administration may want, some changes can be made by just shifting existing funding.

Vote for your top safety story or nominate one of your own in the Comments Box below.

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.