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 16, 2011 by Fred Hosier
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
November 11, 2011 by Fred Hosier
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
October 28, 2011 by Fred Hosier
On his way to work, an employee parks his car and walks to the facility entrance. He slips, falls, and seriously injures his knee on an icy/snowy sidewalk. The incident didn’t occur on the company’s property. Despite that, the company is still on the hook for workers’ comp. Why?
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Tags: icy sidewalk, slip and fall, Workers' comp
October 24, 2011 by Fred Hosier
While some lawmakers in Washington are harping on OSHA for creating too many regulations, a recent report says during the last ten years, there have been fewer new regulations produced by the agency than in any other period in its history.
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Tags: diacetyl, OSHA Inaction, Public Citizen, silica, small business, too many new regulations
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 11, 2011 by Fred Hosier
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
October 3, 2011 by Fred Hosier
Imagine this: A worker is injured and returns to light duty work. After a while he says he “can’t stand it anymore” and asks to be laid off. Then he turns around and applies for full workers’ comp benefits. Did he get them?
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Tags: lay off, light duty, neck and back injury, partial disability benefits, total disability benefits, Workers' comp
September 30, 2011 by Fred Hosier
Just one U.S. senator is blocking a bill that would strengthen safety rules for oil and gas pipelines. The senator isn’t opposed to any particular part of the bill; he simply doesn’t like any additional federal regulation at all.
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Tags: less federal regulation, National Transportation Safety Board, new safety regulations, Pacific Gas & Electric, pipeline safety bill, San Bruno pipeline explosion, Sen. Rand Paul, Tea Party
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 26, 2011 by Fred Hosier
Should a company’s workers’ comp insurer continue to pay an injured worker who skips medical appointments, doesn’t communicate with doctors and leaves vulgar voice mails for a case worker?
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Tags: doesn't communicate, end workers' comp payments, severe pain, skips medical appointments, uncooperative worker, vulgar voice mail
September 26, 2011 by Fred Hosier
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
September 19, 2011 by Fred Hosier
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
September 19, 2011 by Fred Hosier
A worker whose job it was to collect overdue cable TV bills, disconnect service and retrieve cable boxes was assaulted while disconnecting service at an apartment complex. Is he eligible for workers’ comp coverage?
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Tags: Boxco, cable boxes, collect cable bills, Workers' comp, workplace assault
September 16, 2011 by Fred Hosier
A transportation advisory board is recommending that all commercial drivers be forbidden from using cell phones while driving, whether the devices are hand-held or hands-free.
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Tags: cell phone ban, Department of Transportation, Kentucky bus crash, NTSB, Ray LaHood, texting ban
September 14, 2011 by Fred Hosier
If you watched TV news on Sept. 13, you probably saw video of a group of citizens rescuing a motorcyclist who was trapped under a car while both vehicles burned. TV news anchors gushed about the heroism of the rescuers. Does this send the wrong message to would-be untrained rescuers?
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Tags: Brandon Wright, burning car, Matt Lauer, motorcycle rescue, Today show, trapped under a car
September 12, 2011 by Fred Hosier
What happens when a worker quits after an injury and then decides she deserves bigger workers’ comp payments?
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Tags: assembly line, carpal tunnel syndrome, Nissan, reconsideration of benefits, Workers' comp
September 12, 2011 by Fred Hosier
Twenty years ago, 25 workers died in a chicken plant fire in North Carolina. The tragedy caused a large upgrade of the state’s occupational safety agency. How is North Carolina OSHA doing now?
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Tags: blocked doors, fire, Imperial Food Products, North Carolina, OSHA inspectors
September 8, 2011 by Fred Hosier
As a person in charge of workplace safety, you’re well aware of the impact that workers’ comp premiums have on businesses. What if you had to obtain similar coverage for someone taking care of a child or elderly relative?
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Tags: babysitters, Babysitters Bill, California, Domestic Workers Bill of Rights, Workers' comp
September 6, 2011 by Fred Hosier
A company with 14 affiliates spread across the country has agreed to pay a $34,750 fine to settle OSHA citations. That doesn’t sound too bad for a big, nationwide construction company. But it’s only the tip of the iceberg.
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Tags: 30-hour OSHA course, construction company, enterprise-wide settlement agreement, fall protection, OSHA citations, safety program
September 2, 2011 by Fred Hosier
Attention, those who believe that OSHA has gone overboard with its workplace safety regulations: You’ve got one less fact to support your argument. When all is said and done, the final count of worker fatalities in 2010 will be higher than in 2009.
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Tags: Bureau of Labor Statistics, California, construction, Florida, homicides, New Hampshire, OSHA regulations, Pennsylvania, Texas, transportation, violence, worker deaths
August 29, 2011 by Fred Hosier
Imagine this: Employees at a work site have some down time while waiting for materials to arrive. To amuse themselves while waiting, they try to smash a bowling ball with a sledge hammer. An employee is injured. Does the injury quality for workers’ comp benefits?
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Tags: bowling ball, goofing off, Pennsylvania, positive work order violation, sledge hammer, Workers' comp
August 29, 2011 by Fred Hosier
A new report suggests that at best, companies are only getting half the job done when it comes to measuring their employees’ safety.
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Tags: lagging indicators, leading indicators, manufacturing, risk control, safety committees, safety metrics, Safety training
August 22, 2011 by Fred Hosier
Dealing with workers’ comp is frustrating enough. But losing a case over a technicality is even more so.
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Tags: light duty, rehabilitation, shoulder injury, Workers' comp
August 22, 2011 by Fred Hosier
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) appears to be sending a message to employers: You can’t automatically refuse to hire applicants who test positive for methadone, a medication prescribed in drug treatment programs for recovering opiate addicts.
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Tags: ADA, EEOC, methadone, recovering addict, safety sensitive job
August 15, 2011 by Fred Hosier
An employee was talking on his company-issued cell phone to a co-worker in his own car when he was shot in the face by someone in a passing vehicle. A ruling says he should receive workers’ comp benefits because he was on the company cell phone at the time of the shooting.
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Tags: cell phones, coming-and-going rule, principal shot, school gangs, Workers' comp
August 12, 2011 by Fred Hosier
Man vs. machine: Which is better at safety? The people at Google think it’s machine, as the company continues to develop its self-driving car. But wait, the self-driving Google car was just in a five-car fender-bender!
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Tags: car crash, Google car, Jalopnik, self-driving car
August 11, 2011 by Fred Hosier
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
August 9, 2011 by Fred Hosier
The U.S. debt agreement will force lawmakers to make tough decisions on where to cut government spending. OSHA is one senator’s target.
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Tags: government spending, OSHA budget, OSHA penalties, OSHA target, Sen. Tom Coburn, Susan Harwood Grants, Voluntary Protection Program
August 1, 2011 by Fred Hosier
For workers who travel as part of their jobs, workers’ compensation covers certain kinds of injuries involved with the travel itself — no question about that. Then, there’s this case …
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Tags: Australia, business trip, injuries involved with travel, workers' compensation
July 27, 2011 by Fred Hosier
About a month from now, a 14th state will allow employees to store legally owned firearms in their locked, privately owned vehicles while at work.
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Tags: Gov. Rick Perry, guns in cars at work, Texas
July 26, 2011 by Fred Hosier
A state workers’ compensation law requires employees to give proper notice of a workplace injury to employers to receive benefits. The question in this case: Did a series of communications between employee and employer add up to proper notice?
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Tags: carpal tunnel, lifting restriction, proper notification, Workers' comp
July 25, 2011 by Fred Hosier
A researcher thinks he’s found three genes that are linked to being accident-prone. What could this mean for workplace safety?
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Tags: accident prone, China, DNA, genes, vehicle crashes
July 14, 2011 by Fred Hosier
In denying a petition to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) cited workplace safety as a factor in its decision.
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Tags: Drug Enforcement Administration, medical marijuana, zero tolerance
July 12, 2011 by Fred Hosier
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
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