The family of a Kentucky man killed in a workplace incident has filed a lawsuit against his employer, GE Appliances, and other parties. Steve Herring, who’d worked for the company for more than two decades, died in February after being pinned by machinery while working on a refrigerator-building assembly line. News sources are reporting that the state OSHA’s investigation into the fatality found that it could have been caused by an inadvertent activation of an improperly positioned gate interlock control.
Inadequate planning and communication were what led to the 2016 gas pipeline explosion and fire in Alabama that killed two workers and injured four others, according to an investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
The October 31 blast near Helena occurred when a contractor who was excavating damaged the Colonial Pipeline Company’s (Colonial) 36-inch diameter refined liquid petroleum transmission pipeline
There are so many boxes at Dollar Tree stores that workers are always running out of room. The boxes form unstable piles that block aisles, reach precarious heights and, most seriously, block emergency exits. At one store, inspectors found that an employee was injured and needed help when boxes fell on them. Another time, an OSHA inspector was videotaping conditions in a store when a tower of boxes tumbled and nearly hit another worker.
An arc flash at Xcel Energy's Cabin Creek Hydroelectric Generating Station in Colorado left five employees with non-life-threatening injuries, according to a report from the Clear Creek Courant, Idaho Springs, Colo.
At 8:10 a.m. authorities responded to an emergency at the plant, which is above Georgetown along Guanella Pass Road.
OSHA has cited Dana Railcare – based in Wilmington, Delaware – for confined space hazards after an employee fatality in Pittston, Pennsylvania. The railcar service provider faces $551,226 in proposed penalties. An employee was asphyxiated in May 2019, while servicing a rail car containing crude oil sludge. OSHA cited the company for four willful and three serious violations for failing to protect employees from the hazards of entering permit-required confined spaces, and inadequate respiratory protection procedures.
When OSHA inspectors saw employees of Blue Nile Contractors, Inc. exposed to trenching and excavation hazards while installing water lines at a Kansas City, Missouri jobsite, it wasn’t a first for the company. Among the violations arising from that May 2019 inspection were four repeat violations, along with five serious ones – with proposed penalties of $210,037.
Wearable technologies are an increasingly popular consumer electronic for a variety of applications at home and at work. In general, these devices include accessories and clothing that incorporate advanced electronic technologies, often with smartphone or ‘internet of things’ (IoT) connectivity. While wearables are increasingly being used to improve health and well-being by aiding in personal fitness, innovative applications for monitoring occupational safety and health risk factors are becoming more common.
Google “safety culture” and you get about 1,600,000,000 results in 0.95 seconds. Safety and health managers have long known the importance of culture – the organization’s values, beliefs and leadership - on safety, morale, productivity, engagement, presenteeism and absenteeism. Culture has been at the top of safety and health issues for the past ten years at least.
The Concrete Polishing Council (CPC), a specialty council of the American Society of Concrete Contractors (ASCC), has developed seven Job Hazard Analysis (JHA) sheets for tasks primarily related to the process of polishing concrete. JHAs are used on the jobsite, prior to starting work each day, to remind craftsmen of the risks inherent in the work for that day, and the precautions that must be taken to avoid accidents.
Two themes emerged this week in the safety and health violations OSHA issued to non-complying companies: workers endangered by fall and trenching hazards.
L N Framing, Inc., a residential and commercial framing contractor, was cited for exposing employees to fall hazards at a Jacksonville, Florida worksite. The company faces $58,343 in penalties for failing to ensure that employees used a fall protection system while installing roof trusses and interior framing on the second floor of a residential home under construction.
