May 3, 2012 by Fred Hosier
An engine cooling manufacturing company has been placed in OSHA’s Severe Violator Enforcement Program (SVEP) following a fatality last year and previous serious injuries to workers. The company now also owes OSHA $210,000.
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Tags: energy control, machine guarding, Severe Violator Enforcement Program, worker crushed to death
April 18, 2012 by Fred Hosier
“Disregard for the law” is how Labor Secretary Hilda Solis describes the events that led to a grain explosion that killed six workers and left two others seriously injured. Now OSHA has decided on the penalties for two companies involved in the incident.
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Tags: Bartlett Grain, dust accumulation, fatal grain explosion
April 16, 2012 by Fred Hosier
You’ve probably heard about OSHA inspections started because a compliance officer happened to be driving by a construction site and saw a potential violation. This story involves an investigation started because of a newspaper photo.
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Tags: CAL-OSHA, fall protection, firefighter, Santa Rose Fire Department
April 11, 2012 by Fred Hosier
OSHA has cited a pasta manufacturing plant with three willful and three serious violations in connection with a dust explosion that sent two maintenance employees to the hospital with serious burns to their upper bodies.
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Tags: combustible dust, Gilster-Mary Lee, sugar dust
April 5, 2012 by Fred Hosier
Computers are making it easier for state inspectors to check whether businesses have workers’ comp insurance policies. The result: more fines.
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Tags: Georgia, Workers' comp, Workers' Compensation Board
April 3, 2012 by Fred Hosier
A year-and-a-half ago, OSHA instituted new policies aimed at increasing average amounts for certain types of safety and health fines. After reviewing the results, the agency is making one change that actually will cut some businesses a break.
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Tags: OSHA fines, reduction for small employers, small businesses
March 27, 2012 by Fred Hosier
OSHA started this investigation after inspectors witnessed workers exposed to fall hazards at two commercial work sites in Wisconsin.
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Tags: fall hazards, fall protection, repeat violations
March 15, 2012 by Fred Hosier
The South Dakota Wheat Growers Association has settled a case with OSHA involving the suffocation death of a worker in a sunflower seed silo.
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Tags: confined space, engulfed, grain handling, suffocated in sunflower seeds
March 14, 2012 by Fred Hosier
OSHA has filed 16 safety violations against a company in Warrior, AL, in connection with the death of a worker on Sept. 12, 2011.
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Tags: caught in machine, crushed to death, Severe Violator Enforcement Program
March 13, 2012 by Fred Hosier
The Knoxville Zoo has settled with Tennessee OSHA the case involving the death of an elephant keeper. An 8,500 pound elephant pushed the keeper into the metal bars of a stall, and the employee later died of internal injuries.
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Tags: General Duty Clause, handler killed by elephant, Knoxville Zoo
March 7, 2012 by Fred Hosier
This company got snared in OSHA’s Site-Specific Targeting (SST) program which focuses on employers with injury rates that are higher than their industry’s national average.
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Tags: high injury rate, lockout/tagout, Site-Specific Targeting program
February 23, 2012 by Fred Hosier
Two companies involved in packaging Hershey’s chocolates face $288,000 in OSHA fines in connection with violations regarding foreign exchange students. On top of the OSHA violations, an organization representing guest workers calls the situation one that “kills decent U.S. jobs.”
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Tags: failing to record injuries, foreign exchange students, Hershey, OSHA 300 log
February 21, 2012 by Fred Hosier
Publix Supermarkets faces $182,000 in OSHA fines in connection with the amputation of an employee’s hand.
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Tags: amputation, Publix, Severe Violator Enforcement Program
February 8, 2012 by Fred Hosier
OSHA has fined an Oklahoma grain company in connection with an incident last August that caused two 17-year-olds to suffer leg amputations.
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Tags: caught in conveyor, grain company, leg amputations, machine guard
January 30, 2012 by Fred Hosier
OSHA issued plenty of six- and seven-figure fines in 2011. Here are ten examples of what companies did to become part of a club no one would want to be a member of.
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Tags: grain elevator deaths, PPE, Top 10 OSHA fines, training
January 27, 2012 by Fred Hosier
A contractor faces $169,000 in OSHA fines after an inspection revealed cave-in hazards at a construction site.
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Tags: cave-in hazards, imminent danger, willful violations
January 13, 2012 by Fred Hosier
Here’s a statement that caught our eye: The owner of a small manufacturing business in New Jersey told a local newspaper that his employees are “not concerned about having a safe place to work, they’re concerned about having a place to work.”
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Tags: employees not concerned about safety, machine guarding, OSHA regulations, out of business
January 12, 2012 by Fred Hosier
OSHA has fined a tree surgery company following the death of an employee last summer in Idaho City, ID.
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Tags: Davey Tree Surgery, fail to provide training, killed by falling tree
January 9, 2012 by Fred Hosier
Not all OSHA fines are created equal: Willful and repeat citations carry larger penalties than those classified as serious. Which standards are most likely to be cited as willful and repeat?
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Tags: repeat, serious, top 10 OSHA violations, willful
January 5, 2012 by Fred Hosier
A worker’s complaint brought OSHA to a Houston company. The complaint was substantiated, and OSHA found even more violations that added up to a hefty fine because the company had been cited for them before.
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Tags: machine guards, Severe Violator Enforcement Program, willful violations, worker complaint
December 27, 2011 by Fred Hosier
OSHA originally inspected this company after an employee was injured when a steam-jacketed kettle of beans exploded. Now the agency says the company hasn’t corrected several hazards since the September 2010 incident.
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Tags: ammonia, electrical hazards, follow-up inspection, kettle of beans exploded, personal protective equipment
December 21, 2011 by Fred Hosier
In a rare criminal prosecution of a company for safety violations, a California-based company will pay $1.65M in connection with the deaths of five workers in a fire at a power plant in Colorado.
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Tags: criminal prosecution, flammable chemicals, power plant fire, RPI Coating, Xcel Energy
December 15, 2011 by Fred Hosier
OSHA has fined a suburban St. Louis recycling company $195,930 in connection with the death of a worker who had been trying to clear a jam in a baler machine.
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Tags: baler, clear a jam, lock out and tag out, powered industrial trucks, recycling
November 25, 2011 by Fred Hosier
Imagine this: You’ve been fined by OSHA. Not only that, the agency has alerted the media that your actions put your employees in danger. Do you respond, and if so, how?
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Tags: excessive OSHA penalties, OSHA press release, Remington Arms Co.
November 17, 2011 by Fred Hosier
The title of the press release says, “OSHA encourages major retailers to provide crowd management measures.” A better word instead of “encourages” would have been “warns.”
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Tags: Black Friday, crowd control, OSHA warning, retailers, Wal-Mart trampling death
November 8, 2011 by Fred Hosier
OSHA has fined a Rochester, NY, recycling company in connection with the June death of an employee inside a compactor.
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Tags: compactor, crushed to death, lockout/tagout, recycling, repeat violations
November 3, 2011 by Fred Hosier
Even without a combustible dust standard, OSHA can fine companies for failing to provide appropriate fire and explosion protection from combustible dust.
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Tags: combustible dust, fire and explosion, hearing conservation program, permissible exposure limits, respirators
October 28, 2011 by Fred Hosier
OSHA is increasing the amounts some companies pay for fines by extending its repeat violation policy to more situations. Now, the same violation at a different location within five years counts as “repeat.”
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Tags: maintenance, repeat violation, unintended startup of machinery
October 19, 2011 by Fred Hosier
A worker at a grocery store fell 11 feet onto a concrete floor and suffered broken bones and head trauma. Instead of calling 911, store management lifted the worker into a wheelchair and pushed him to a dock to wait for a relative to take him to the hospital.
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Tags: broken bones, emergency services, employee fall, General Duty Clause, head trauma, Market Basket, repeat citation
October 10, 2011 by Fred Hosier
OSHA has ordered a farmer-owned cooperative to increase safety training for grain bin employees and pay a $550,000 fine.
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Tags: farm coop, OSHA settlement, rescue drills, safety consultant, Safety training, trapped in soybeans
October 5, 2011 by Fred Hosier
Two co-owned trailer manufacturing companies in Texas face a combined $949,800 in OSHA fines following an investigation that was prompted by employee complaints.
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Tags: days away from work, employee complaints, eye injuries, hearing test, toxic fumes
October 4, 2011 by Fred Hosier
Following the death of a worker inside a machine used to sort recyclables, OSHA has fined a Marietta, OH, company $186,300 for a total of 21 violations.
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Tags: lockout/tagout, Marietta Industrial Enterprises, recycling machine, Severe Violator Enforcement Program
September 29, 2011 by Fred Hosier
Was the death of a trainer at SeaWorld Orlando due to a benign act by a killer whale or because of willful disregard for employee safety? That question is being asked in the appeal of an OSHA fine.
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Tags: Dawn Brancheau, fatal whale attack, General Duty Clause, SeaWorld, Tilikum
September 27, 2011 by Fred Hosier
A supermarket is facing OSHA fines after an inspection found night shift employees were locked in and not allowed to leave the building without the employer’s permission.
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Tags: employees locked in, locked exits, Mermaid Meat Co., obstructed exits, supermarket, Triangle Shirtwaist fire
September 22, 2011 by Fred Hosier
A new OSHA directive outlines the types of businesses and the reasons why inspectors will review a company’s workplace violence prevention efforts.
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Tags: General Duty Clause, healthcare, high-crime areas, OSHA directive, retail, working alone, workplace violence
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