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
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
“Safety needs to come from the top.” You’ve probably heard that one before. However, a federal agency had to remind a public transit provider of that again in its report on what caused a fatal train crash in Washington, DC.
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Tags: National Transportation Safety Board, train crash, Washington DC Metro
It seems like an essential security step: Make sure someone can’t wander into your workplace and steal a company vehicle. But that’s exactly what happened recently at Washington DC’s Metro transit system.
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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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As a safety pro, you’ve probably contemplated this question: Are minimum government regulations enough to keep my employees and/or customers safe? It’s a question that probably should be asked in connection with the sinking of a tourist-filled duck boat in Philadelphia that killed two passengers.
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Tags: duck boat crash, government regulations, keep employees safe
It’s full-speed ahead for OSHA, which is trying to make up for what it views as eight lost years during the Bush administration.
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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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Do you require employees in safety-sensitive jobs to report whether they use certain prescription medications? You may want to pass this story along to them as a reminder why it’s so important that they comply with your company’s policy.
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When a new stretch of the Bay Bridge opened in San Francisco last year, the California Department of Transportation posted signs warning drivers about an upcoming sharp curve and announcing a 10 m.p.h. drop in the speed limit. Now the family of a deceased truck driver is suing, claiming the signs weren’t enough.
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Tags: Bay Bridge, Caltrans, safety warnings, truck crash, wrongful death lawsuit
A company required a female employee to take a physical strength test before returning to work after an injury. Was it a valid test of the employee’s ability to perform her job safely, or was it gender discrimination?
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Tags: ankle injury, gender discrimination, physical ability test, return to work, truck driver
The federal government has reversed a ban on flying for pilots taking antidepressants. Part of the reason: Antidepressants have advanced to the point where the risk of the drugs being a safety hazard has subsided.
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Tags: antidepressants, drowsiness, Federal Aviation Administration, pilots
School districts and private bus contractors in Pennsylvania will now get a summary of a school bus driver’s entire driving history. The change follows a recent fatal school bus crash.
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Tags: crash, driving record, fatal bus crash
Lawyers for Walt Disney world have revealed new details into the monorail crash last July that killed a train operator.
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Tags: monorail fatality, Walt Disney World, wrongful death lawsuit
Investigators say a school bus driver was talking on his cell phone and listening to music on an MP3 player during his morning run leading up to a fatal crash. On top of that, the driver was previously involved in a fatal vehicle crash while dialing his cell phone.
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Tags: cell phone, fatal crash, school bus, transportation
If you get into enough debates about using cell phones while driving, eventually someone is likely to say, “What about all the other things people do while driving? I’ve seen people eating, putting on makeup, shaving … ”
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Safety pros know that employees’ health is an important factor in their workplace safety. But how far should companies go to change workers’ personal habits, such as eating, for the sake of safety?
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Tags: Body mass index, commercial drivers, FMCSA, sleep apnea, wellness program
A new study measures whether there are fewer crashes after states ban cell phone use while driving.
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Tags: cell phone ban, crashes, Department of Transportation, Highway Loss Data Institute, texting
A broadcast report says the airline that operated the flight that crashed and killed 50 people near Buffalo, NY, recently issued a policy limiting pilots’ ability to call in fatigued.
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Tags: Colgan Air, Continental Flight 3407, fatigue, flight crash
A sanitation employee, who was preparing to urinate while standing on a platform on the back of a garbage truck, fell off the truck as it was backing up. He was killed after the truck backed over him. His family is seeking workers’ comp benefits because of a modification made to the truck.
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Tags: garbage truck, intentional wrong exception, truck backed over him, workers' compensation
The Bureau of Labor Statistics says 10% of all workplace deaths are caused by employees being struck by objects or equipment.
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Tags: Bureau of Labor Statistics, secure equipment, struck-by
OSHA is looking into an explosion that killed a truck driver in Seminole, OK.
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Tags: explosion, propane torch, trucker killed
A worker involved in a crash with a workplace vehicle claims his status as a medical marijuana user should exempt him from discipline.
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Tags: discipline, drug impairment, medical marijuana, vehicle crash
A National Transportation Safety Board investigation shows a collision between two trains in California in 2008 that killed 25 people and injured 102 more was caused by the engineer running a red light while text-messaging.
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Tags: cell phones, Metrolink, NTSB, texting, train crash
An employee used a company vehicle, which he was allowed to drive, to get coffee and suffered a serious accident. He applied for workers’ comp benefits. Did he receive them?
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Tags: company vehicle, personal comfort doctrine, Workers' comp
Criminal prosecution of companies where safety violations cause serious injuries or fatalities are rare in the U.S. With that in mind, it’s interesting to note how such cases are handled in another democracy.
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Tags: Australia, criminal prosecution, serious injury or death
Imagine this: You’re driving along a highway when suddenly a 44,000-pound coil of steel comes rolling toward you.
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Tags: coil fell off truck, improperly secured load, semi-trailer
More than 3 million employees aren’t allowed to text or use hand-held phones while driving for business now that a federal order has taken effect.
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Tags: ban on texting, cell phones, Department of Transportation, hands-free device, President Obama
California’s Supreme Court has refused to reconsider a decision granting workers’ comp benefits to an employee after she was injured while shopping for a work-related potluck.
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Tags: injured in the course of work, teamwork, Workers' comp
You’re probably aware of the campaigns to get drivers to slow down in road construction zones. But while governments have been focusing on that, they’ve paid less attention to the role of contractors in construction zone crashes.
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Here’s a warning you can give to your company’s drivers: Beware snow-covered traffic signals. They’re a new problem due to energy-efficiency efforts.
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Tags: green, LEDs, traffic accidents, traffic lights
Two young women, both found guilty of causing fatal car crashes while using a cell phone behind the wheel, got different sentences for their crimes. Which one do you think was the more appropriate sentence?
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Tags: distracted driving, fatal car crash, texting while driving
Can an employee get injured by just sitting in a vehicle and driving?
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Tags: back pain, driving, truck drivers
Do any of your employees walk to work? The group, Transportation for America, has released its ranking of the most dangerous large metropolitan areas for pedestrians.
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Tags: cities for walking, most dangerous, Transportation for America
A year ago, the federal government announced new hours-of-service rules for commercial vehicle drivers. Now there’s word that they’re about to change again.
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Tags: commercial motor vehicle, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, hours of service
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