It’s not a category you’ll find in OSHA statistics on workplace deaths. However, a new study shows a possible link between your co-workers and mortality.
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Tags: co-workers killing you, support in the workplace, Tel Aviv University
It’s been said that if both sides in a dispute are unhappy with you, you must be doing something right. That could be the situation involving the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC) since it faces two separate lawsuits …
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Tags: lawsuit, Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation, Workers' comp
In September, an Allentown, PA, newspaper published a series of articles about employees at an Amazon.com warehouse working in severe heat. Now, the other shoe has dropped: An employee sued Amazon for exposure to cold conditions.
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An investigation by iWatchNews.org shows a number of employee deaths at “model workplaces” within OSHA’s Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) haven’t been recorded in the agency’s database that monitors the program. And the facilities remain in VPP today.
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Tags: David Michaels, deaths recorded, i2p2, iWatch News, National Safety Council, OSHA funding, user fees, VPP
Sure, it’s great video for any TV reporter: Record your narration (what they call a “stand-up”) while work crews clear away storm debris in the background. But this TV reporter probably never expected to capture this on video:
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Tags: chainsaw, close call, YouTube
Retail giant Wal-Mart appears to be out $10 million in connection with a serious injury suffered by a truck driver who was making a delivery to one of the chain’s stores in northern Colorado.
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Tags: Colorado, jury verdict, slip and fall, Wal-Mart
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
The only thing that will truly help an employee who is feeling drowsy at work is to take a nap. But will workers be able to get enough rest during a nap if they’ve been consuming caffeine?
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What are OSHA inspectors targeting now? The agency has released its top 10 violations for fiscal year 2011.
Tags: fall protection, hazard communication, most frequently cited OSHA violations, respiratory protection, scaffolding, top 10
Several OSHA investigators have been interviewing plant workers to find out what caused a grain elevator in Atchison, KS, to explode. The explosion killed six workers.
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Tags: Bartlett Grain, grain elevator explosion, Grain Handling Facilities Standard
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
The head of OSHA says the agency’s new hazard communication standard may be finalized in the early part of 2012.
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Tags: David Michaels, GHS, Globally Harmonized Standard, hazard communication
Some business leaders claim the reason the U.S. economy has been floundering is because of the number of new regulations imposed by the Obama administration. Bloomberg News has conducted an analysis of new regulations enacted by the last several presidents. The results may surprise some people.
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Tags: beryllium, Bloomberg News, combustible dust, diacetyl, federal rules, injury and illness prevention programs, Obama regulations
Know anyone dressing up as a zombie for Halloween? You might want to pass along this story.
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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
Cal-OSHA is investigating the deaths of two brothers who were working at a compost center in Lamont, CA. They were overcome by fumes in a confined space.
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Tags: CAL-OSHA, confined space, overcome by fumes, protective gear
The latest statistics on workplace injuries and illnesses contain good news for U.S. workers and their employers, particularly in these challenging economic times.
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Tags: Bureau of Labor Statistics, construction, direct and indirect cost of injuries, illness and injury rate, manufacturing, nonfatal workplace injuries
When social services worker Mark Lindquist knew the Joplin, MO, tornado was approaching, he jumped into action to protect three developmentally disabled adults in a group home from harm. Now a workers’ comp insurer says it won’t pay for Lindquist’s extensive injuries that have cost him $2.5 million so far.
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Tags: Joplin tornado, risk, Workers' comp
The law caught up with a Toledo, OH, man who was captured on video working on a roofing job while receiving workers’ comp benefits.
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Tags: roofing, Video, workers' comp fraud
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
As someone in charge of workplace safety, you know it’s possible to create a new hazard by eliminating an old one — an unintended consequence. It appears that’s the case in Nevada where a new ban on using hand-held cell phones while driving went into effect this month.
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Tags: cell phone law, hand-held cell phones, hands-free cell phones, Nevada, unintended consequences
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
Did suspension over a safety incident spark a shooting rampage in Cupertino, CA, that left three people dead and six others injured?
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Tags: Lehigh Permanente, shooting, suspension
Workers’ comp experts agree: One of the worst moves you can make with injured employees is to let them think you’re an adversary. After all, there are plenty of lawyers looking to befriend them.
You know it isn’t safe to talk on the phone to an employee who’s driving. But this case seems to suggest that you’re better off not even knowing your employee’s cell phone number.
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OSHA says it’s trying to level the playing field with new rules for residential construction. But some builders say the new rules are having the opposite effect: They’re tilting the field in such a way that cheaters are prospering, and those who comply are in danger of falling over the edge.
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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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Imagine this: A worker at your company is killed on the job. OSHA issues your company a fine. You make changes in your safety program to prevent a similar incident, and OSHA drops the fine completely. Not possible? It is.
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Tags: dump truck, Indiana OSHA, INDOT, OSHA drops fine
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
Is no place, no action, safe from a potential injury at work? Guess not.
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Tags: bathrooms, exploding toilet, General Services Administration, Washington DC
A federal court has ruled that three former Chicago Bears players can’t file for workers’ comp benefits in California and should file in Illinois instead. This appears to end the players’ attempt to file in a state with better benefits.
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Tags: Chicago Bears, NFL, NFL Players Association, Workers' comp
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
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
A police investigation into a crash between a tractor trailer and an Amtrak passenger train in Maine says the truck driver was distracted by a cell phone call right before the collision. The crash killed the truck driver and caused $3 million worth of damages to the train.
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Tags: Amtrak, cell phone, distracted driving, fatal truck train crash, Triumvirate Environmental
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