OSHA has cited Dollar Tree Stores Inc. for exit and storage hazards at a store located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The national discount retailer faces $296,861 in penalties. Responding to a complaint, OSHA inspectors found blocked emergency exits, unsecured compressed gas cylinders, unsanitary bathrooms, electrical panels not properly maintained and materials stacked unsafely. OSHA cited Dollar Tree for two willful, one repeat and two other-than-serious violations for these conditions.

What is risk assessment? Do you check for rain before deciding to carry an umbrella? Doing so is an example of risk assessment, which describes a process for answering three basic questions on a particular hazard:

In rodeo, it’s not really a matter of if you’ll get injured, but when and how badly. Last year, a major shoulder injury that tore six of the eight tendons in his riding arm took one rider out of competition for several months. Every rider who competes in professional rodeos carries a catalog of their injuries.

The former owner of a framing company in Florida has been sentenced to 30 days in prison, after pleading guilty to one count of willfully violating federal fall protection standards. Stalin Rene Barahona – former owner of the now-dissolved SB Framing Services Inc. in Naples will begin serving his sentence on Feb. 26, 2020.

The National Safety Council has received a second $500,000 grant from the McElhattan Foundation for the NSC Work to Zero initiative, launched last January to educate employers about technological safety advancements that promise to reduce and ultimately eliminate preventable deaths in the workplace. Since receiving the first grant last December, NSC has conducted research into emerging and existing technologies and will release a comprehensive report in February that details which technologies could reduce fatality risk in the most hazardous situations for workers.

OSHA has cited Mayco Manufacturing LLC – operating as Mayco Industries Inc. – for exposing employees to lead and arsenic in addition to machine, electrical and fall hazards. The Granite City, Illinois, lead smelter faces $223,148 in penalties for 18 serious health violations. The inspection occurred after OSHA received a report that employees suffered caustic burns from water mixed with sodium hydroxide used to extinguish a fire.

Artificial stone countertops, also known as "quartz stone countertops," are made by polymerizing quartz aggregate and resin binder. These materials look similar to natural stone and are increasingly used in residential construction and home furnishings. Between 2010 and 2018, imports of quartzite countertops in the United States have increased by nearly 800% (US International Trade Commission).

OSHA has cited Wright Metal Products Crates LLC – based in South Bend, Indiana, and operating as WMP Crates – for exposing employees to amputation, chemical and other safety hazards at a worksite in Lavonia, Georgia. The company faces $195,034 in penalties.

Late-December workplace incidents in coal mining and construction left three workers dead and their families devastated. In West Virginia, 21-year-old Raymond L. Starkey was fatally injured Dec. 23 while helping to repair a beltline at Murray Energy’s Marshall County Coal Co. Mine near Cameron. The incident is being investigated by the Mine Safety and Health Administration, the West Virginia Office of Miners’ Health, Safety and Training, United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) safety experts and Murray Energy.

A company owner in Roslindale, Massachusetts was sentenced this week to two years in the House of Corrections after being found guilty of two counts of manslaughter for the deaths of two employees. Kevin Otto, owner of Atlantic Drain Services, will have three years’ probation following his sentence, and he can never again employ anyone in a job that involves excavation.