A railroad service company was fined $325,000 and sentenced to two years of corporate probation for committing an OSHA violation resulting in a worker’s asphyxiation death. The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania issued the order June 7 to Dana Container, who was doing business as Dana Rail Care at the time […]
A Wisconsin grain facility was cited by OSHA after the engulfment death of a manager in a corn silo. The manager was last seen clearing corn debris from the silo. Employees called 911 when they couldn’t find him at the silo and after he didn’t show up for a regularly scheduled meeting or answer his […]
Companies often struggle with what are called “human factors.” These are problems dealing with human nature. This is a challenge for all of us, even though it can feel like we’re alone sometimes when trying to overcome these challenges. Human factors affect safety, but they can affect other key performance indicators (KPI) as well, such […]
Our lost-time incident rate (LTIR) was high. And we were using a large amount of resources to address these injuries. Sometimes, by the time an employee mentioned pain, it was too late. We had a LTIR injury on our hands. Our root cause analyses were great, but they weren’t helping us lower our injury rate. […]
Sometimes an employee’s blatant disregard of safety rules requires disciplinary action. For whatever reason, they get that “it won’t happen to me” attitude, then they get injured. Sometimes that isn’t even enough for them to get the point. Mistakes happen. Everyone has momentary lapses of reason and do something potentially dangerous. Then there are some […]
The Department of Labor (DOL) ordered BNSF Railway, one of the largest railroads in North America, to reinstate an injured worker and pay more than $290,000 in back pay and damages after wrongly accusing the employee of violating a doctor’s restrictions. OSHA found the railroad violated federal law when it fired the worker, and ordered […]
Who pays when a gig economy employee is injured? The director of a federal workplace safety agency says the question is “very fraught” legally. NIOSH Director Dr. John Howard said at a keynote address at the National Safety Council’s Virtual Congress 202One that employment laws in the U.S. were written for employee-employer relationships. Howard noted […]
A new survey seeks information that will help update a voluntary fall protection standard. The online Fall Experience Survey from The Center for Construction Research and Training and the American Society of Safety Professionals asks for insights from safety pros on the root causes of falls from height. Survey results will help the ANSI/ASSP Z359 […]
Injuries and illnesses among private industry workers remained relatively unchanged in 2019 when compared to 2018 data, despite there being some changes in industry and occupation statistics. Private industry employers reported 2.8 million nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses in 2019, which is unchanged from the 2018 data, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). […]
