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

A man who posed as a government inspector to extort tens of thousands of dollars from construction companies has been sentenced to prison.

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Tags: extortion, fake inspector, OSHA inspection, prison sentence

Like Sammy Hagar, you may not be able to drive 55. But no matter how quickly you’d like to get where you’re going, chances are you’ll stay well under 100 the next time you’re on the open road. The question is why.

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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

A newspaper has investigated reports about working conditions at an Amazon.com warehouse that serves one-third of the country. Employee claims point to extreme indoor heat, closed doors when it was hot, work rates that couldn’t be sustained and firing threats when workers couldn’t keep up in the heat.

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Tags: Amazon, closed doors, extreme heat, firing threats, heat index, heat stress, Integrity Staffing Solutions, OSHA inspection, paramedics, The Morning Call

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

More than one out of every five OSHA inspections result from employee complaints. Is your industry one of the top 10 that generate the most complaints?

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Tags: employee complaints to OSHA, general contractors, injury, OSHA inspections, Recordkeeping, roofing, United States Postal Service, violation of an OSHA standard

When a fatality or serious injury occurs at a nearby business in your industry, expect OSHA to pay a visit to look for similar hazards.

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Tags: immigrant, machine guarding, Spanish, tortilla manufacturer

An eight-month investigation reveals 80 employee deaths at companies in OSHA’s Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) between 2000 and 2008. What may be even more shocking: 65% of these companies have maintained their VPP status.

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Tags: Center for Public Integrity, David Michaels, Government Accountability Office, Voluntary Protection Program, VPP

If a state tells its occupational safety and health inspectors that they have to find a higher percentage of serious, willful and repeat violations, has it set up a quota system?

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Tags: inspection quota, Las Vegas, Nevada, serious willful repeat violations

OSHA wants to make significant changes to its injury reporting regulations. One involves which companies have to report. The other involves the situations that have to be reported.

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Tags: amputations, fatalities, hospitalization, industrial classification, injury reporting

Once again, OSHA has proposed a million-dollar fine for an employer with a history of violations.

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Tags: amputation, fall hazards, Severe Violator Enforcement Program

Earlier this year, a review panel addressed OSHA’s ability to issue fines for not having injury records that date back from more than the current year. Now OSHA has used its new authority to level an additional $40,000 in fines to one company.

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Tags: amputations, OSHRC, Recordkeeping, willful violation

An attempt to prevent OSHA from obtaining records from a company’s workers’ comp insurance carrier has failed.

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Tags: deaths of two teenage workers, grain elevator, Haasbach LLC, OSHA subpoena, Workers' comp

OSHA has made a link between terrorism and workplace safety in New York City — it may not be what you think.

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Tags: emergency action plans, evacuations, New York City, theaters

Do you work at a company that has more than one facility? It might pay to keep track of OSHA inspections at your company’s other facilities. Those other inspections can have an impact on you.

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Tags: electrical, exit doors, failure to train workers, lockout/tagout, machine guarding, Parker Hannifin, repeat citations

A nonprofit organization focused on workplace safety has called on California to lift a state freeze to hire more Cal-OSHA inspectors.

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Tags: CAL-OSHA, California, OSHA inspectors, Worksafe

On April 28, 2011, OSHA turned 40 years old. Is the agency suffering an early mid-life crisis?

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Tags: Chamber of Commerce, i2p2, inspectors, job killer, maximum fines, mid-life crisis, OSHA 40-years-old, permissible exposure limits, retaliation, unions

A major federal and state crackdown has resulted in hundreds of unsafe buses and drivers being removed from the roads.

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Tags: FMCSA, motor carrier, out of service, safety inspection, unsafe drivers

Usually, a business knows it’s being investigated by OSHA, MSHA, or any other safety agency because the inspector comes to the company’s facility. A recent safety citation shows that’s not always the case.

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Tags: Cobalt Coal Corp., MSHA fines, Spike TV, TV show Coal

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

On March 25, 1911, 146 workers died in the Triangle Shirtwaist Co. fire in New York City. It’s been called an event that fundamentally changed U.S. workplace conditions. But have workplace safety attitudes really changed in 100 years?

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Tags: BP, fire safety, immigrants, safety attitudes, safety too costly, Triangle Shirtwaist fire, Upper Big Branch mine, workplace conditions

The University of Notre Dame is responsible for the death of a student-worker while he was filming football practice on a scissor lift in high winds, according to a report from Indiana OSHA (IOSHA).

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Tags: high winds, IOSHA, Notre Dame, scissor lift, student worker

An investigation by the New York State Attorney General’s office uncovered that UPS had a good internal procedure for inspecting its trucks for safety but failed to use it.

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Tags: cracked frames, inspections, safety plan, truck safety, UPS

Federal law requires companies to allow a union representative to accompany an OSHA compliance officer on a facility inspection. But in a recent case involving Honeywell, there’s an added factor:

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Tags: acid leak, Honeywell, OSHA inspection, union rep, warrant

A lot of debate will occur between this week’s announcement of President Obama’s proposed budget, including funding for OSHA, and the start of the new federal fiscal year on Oct. 1. Forget about that debate for now. Instead, take a look at what OSHA plans to do with its funding, especially if you own a small business.

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Tags: enforcement, inspections, OSHA budget, severe violators, small business

The U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has issued a report on regulatory impediments to job creation. The report lists five OSHA proposals that business groups say would inhibit job growth.

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Tags: combustible dust, i2p2, musculoskeletal disorders, noise standard, on-site consultation

Pointing to an alleged pattern of violations, OSHA is seeking a court order to require a Norridge, IL, company to provide a monthly report of its work locations so they can be monitored.

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Tags: Gerardi Sewer & Water Co., severe violator, trenching

A Michigan company faces $137,750 in fines from the state’s workplace safety agency (MIOSHA) following a recent inspection. The hefty fines also follow recent federal criticism of MIOSHA’s lower than average penalties.

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Tags: Bharat Forge America, confined space, MIOSHA

Six months ago, 29 men died in the worst U.S. coal-mining disaster in 40 years. Since then, another 13 miners have died, despite a crackdown by the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). What’s going on?

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Tags: MSHA, pattern of violations, Upper Big Branch mine

OSHA’s latest sweep of facilities shows that the agency is casting a wide net.

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Tags: CVS, emergency action plan, exit routes, retail company, serious violation

OSHA is going postal. No, not like that.

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Tags: inspections, lockout/tagout, OSHA, OSHA fines, PPE

A woman is suspected of bilking construction companies in California out of $500,000 by posing as an OSHA inspector.

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Tags: CAL-OSHA, construction companies, posing as OSHA inspector

A worker reports an injury. An investigation shows the injury was caused because the worker ignored a safety rule. Under company policy, the employee is disciplined. Now, other workers aren’t reporting injuries because they don’t want to be disciplined. What do you do?

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Tags: disciplining workers, OSHA cracking down, reporting workplace injuries

Members of Congress should have some idea about how difficult it is to comply completely with OSHA standards: Only 28% of their offices do so.

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Tags: Congress, Congressional offices, OSHA standards