An analysis of data from more than 1.5 million workers’ compensation claims submitted from 2015 through 2019 reveals that 35% of all workplace injuries occur within a worker’s first year of employment. The Travelers, a workers’ compensation carrier, analyzed more than 1.5 million claims across several years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and found that […]
A new type of seat may lead to fewer cases of low back pain and other musculoskeletal disorders for truck drivers in the near future. Researchers with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) found that a new “active” seat reduces truck drivers’ exposure to whole body vibration, which often leads to musculoskeletal […]
A metals manufacturer didn’t evaluate all work practices and equipment that required using de-energization procedures to keep workers safe. One of its employee paid for that mistake with his life. What happened: An employee was repairing a portable water heater which hadn’t been de-energized first. A shot of current ripped through his body and electrocuted […]
When work-from-home (WFH) started at the beginning of the pandemic, many employees assumed it was temporary. That meant, if they had ergonomic problems with their WFH set-up, they didn’t complain much. Now we’re having more complaints, injuries and workers’ comp claims. How do you support ergonomics when you aren’t in the same place as the […]
A Chicago candy manufacturer was cited by OSHA after a worker suffered a partial finger amputation while bypassing safety locks on a machine’s access doors. The worker was attempting to remove stuck paper debris in a bag sealer machine when the device’s jaws closed. Inspectors found the employer allowed workers to bypass the locks, according […]
A Pennsylvania contractor pleaded guilty in federal court Sept. 24 to willfully violating an OSHA regulation resulting in the death of a worker. Insight Pipe Contracting LLC, a Butler County contracting company, pleaded guilty to violating a federal regulation requiring vehicles or mechanical equipment with elevating structures to maintain 10 feet of clearance around energized power […]
In what is believed to be first-of-its-kind legislation, California’s governor has signed into law a measure that takes aim at production quotas in warehouses that may lead to worker injuries. Governor Gavin Newsom’s office says AB 701 “establishes new, nation-leading transparency measures for companies to disclose production quota descriptions to their workers and prohibits the […]
We got word about a fatality at a warehouse. A 22-year-old temporary worker who was operating a forklift was crushed between two forklifts. The employee who was killed was picking parts from racks. The operator of the other forklift was working at the third shelf of a rack near the other employee. The employees stand […]
After six workers died following a liquid nitrogen leak that displaced the oxygen in the room they were working in, four companies were fined almost $1 million for the roles they played in the tragic incident. Foundation Food Group Inc. and Messer LLC, both based in New Jersey, and Packers Sanitation Services of Wisconsin and […]
