When a business owner filed an insurance claim to collect benefits for the family of an employee killed in a wood chipper, state authorities discovered alleged fraud.
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Tags: tree trimming, wood-chipper death, workers' comp fraud
The final, and most comprehensive, report on the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico points to seven company practices that contributed to the incident. They’re the types of mistakes that could be made by any company, not just an oil giant.
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Tags: BP oil disaster, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, cost saving, Deepwater Horizon, risk management, time saving, Transocean
What’s the penalty for not having workers’ comp insurance? In some cases, like this one, it’s jail.
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Tags: contractor, jail, Workers' comp
Should the federal government use a plea agreement reached in connection with a Colorado worker’s death as a template for similar cases involving fatalities?
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Tags: asphyxiation, engulfed by grain, Safety training, Tempel Grain Elevator, victim's family
A Colorado grain elevator company is scheduled to plead guilty and be sentenced Aug. 5 in connection with the death of a 17-year-old worker who was buried alive in a grain bin in 2009.
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Tags: buried alive in grain, criminal charges, emergency action plan, grain elevator, Safety training
An official from the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) delivered a stinging indictment of the operators of the Upper Big Branch (UBB) mine in West Virginia where 29 miners were killed in an explosion.
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Tags: Massey Energy, mine explosion, MSHA, productivity, records, training, Upper Big Branch, worker intimidation
Two doctors and two of their employees have been indicted on charges involving an alleged $17 million in workers’ comp insurance overbilling. How does something like this happen?
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Tags: California, medical imaging, overbilling, sleep center, Workers' comp, workers' comp fraud
A former OSHA inspector from Wichita, KS, faces three federal counts of making false inspection reports.
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Tags: construction sites, false inspection reports, OSHA inspector
It’s almost one year since the oil well explosion in the Gulf of Mexico that killed 11 workers and caused the biggest offshore spill in U.S. history. A recent news report says the federal government is consolidating its efforts to bring criminal charges against the company and perhaps some of its managers.
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Tags: BP explosion, criminal charges, Deepwater Horizon, involuntary manslaughter, sacrificed safety
In the nation’s first criminal prosecution involving the heat-related death of a farm worker, a plea agreement has resulted in small fines, probation and community service time for two supervisors.
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Tags: criminal prosecution, death of pregnant employee, working in hot weather
A business owner has been fined for numerous safety violations in the death of a 15-year-old boy who was buried in burning asphalt.
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Tags: buried in burning asphalt, Interlake Paving, teen worker's death
A business owner in Virginia faces criminal charges in connection with the death of a 14-year-old in a wood chipper. The owner was also the teen’s uncle and guardian.
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Tags: criminal charges, killed in wood chipper, teen killed, Young people and safety
When investigations into workplace deaths find particularly egregious safety failures, the penalties won’t stop with fines from OSHA. These cases can be forwarded to prosecutors for criminal charges. That’s what happened in this California fatality.
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Tags: death of pregnant employee, involuntary manslaughter, jail time
As debate continues on whether Congress should pass a bill that would increase OSHA fines to discourage companies from disregarding safety, let’s take a look at how two other countries have recently handled corporate executives responsible for workplace disasters.
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Tags: executives fined, Hungary, prison, red sludge, worker crushed to death
As many as 70 construction workers may have received OSHA 30-hour certification cards without completing the required training.
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Tags: conspiring to defraud OSHA, construction workers, fake OSHA cards, training
Police are trying to determine whether to file murder charges against an accused shoplifter who knocked over a store clerk while allegedly trying to steal a TV.
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Indictments have been returned against United Oil Recovery Services and three of its managers in connection with a worker’s death in 2008.
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Tags: hydrogen sulfide, indictments, managers charged in death
How far should the “exclusive remedy” provision of workers’ comp go?
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Tags: court, criminal charges, Workers' comp
Sources have told a newspaper that federal authorities are interviewing current and former Massey Energy employees as part of a “sprawling criminal investigation” into the April 5 fatal explosion in the Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia.
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Tags: criminal charges, Massey Energy, miner fatalities, Upper Big Branch mine
Prosecutors asked for prison time for the owner of a tree cutting company after he was found guilty of negligent homicide in connection with a worker fatality. But the judge disagreed and sentenced him to a suspended jail term.
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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
Increasingly, officials are seeking criminal charges against business owners and managers in connection with workplace fatalities. Now, two men face up to 15 years in prison in connection with a crane collapse in New York City.
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Tags: crane collapse, criminal charges, prison
An employer is accused of violating workplace safety regulations after a worker was fatally struck by a mechanical horse during a party.
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Tags: bizarre accident, mechanical horse, struck in the head
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:
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Tags: BP, Obama administration, OSHA fines, prison time, top 10
A construction company faces $789,000 in fines and its owner could spend up to six months in jail following a worker fatality.
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Tags: criminal charges, fall fatality, jail, per-employee citations
“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.
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Tags: 16 deaths per day, Protecting America's Workers Act, worker deaths
Two executives and two companies face prison time and huge financial penalties in connection with the deaths of five workers in a workplace fire.
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Tags: RPI Coating, worker deaths, workplace fire, Xcel Energy
Tyson Foods will pay a $500,000 fine for willfully violating safety regulations that led a worker to be overcome by hydrogen sulfide fumes and later die.
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Tags: criminal fine, hydrogen sulfide, Tyson Foods
UCLA has paid $31,875 in fines and taken corrective steps after a lab fire that claimed the life of an employee. But now, the university wants to appeal the citation for a technical reason.
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Tags: Cal-OSHA fine, Sheri Sangji, UCLA fatal fire
The owner and a manager of a roofing company in Santa Rosa, CA, will both go to jail after a pair of incidents involving employee falls through skylights. One employee died, the other was permanently disabled.
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Tags: fall protection, falls through skylights, permanently disabled
California is serious about providing outdoor workers with relief from heat: Three top officials for a now out-of-business farm labor contractor face involuntary manslaughter charges in the death of a teen from heat stress.
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Tags: heat stress, involuntary manslaughter, Maria Vasquez Jimenez, relief from heat
Although the Occupational Safety and Health Act doesn’t include provisions for criminal penalties, prosecutors will use environmental law to send managers to jail for violations.
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Tags: concealed facts from OSHA, lie to OSHA, plant manager sentenced to prison
An investigation has turned up a scam in which an OSHA certified trainer sold dozens of fake cards crediting workers with participating in required 30-hour safety training.
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Tags: 30-hour safety course, certification, OSHA
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