OSHA updates a program designed to reduce amputations in the manufacturing industry; company execs in France found guilty of “institutional harassment” and alcohol-related fatalities are increasing in the U.S. These were among the occupational safety and health stories featured on ISHN.com this week.
Among the end of 2019-beginning of 2020 workplace incidents in the U.S. were employees killed or seriously injured by collapsed machinery, a pallet grinder and an exploding wheel.
In Nebraska, a 39-year-old woman sustained traumatic injuries to her head, arms and upper body when she was partially pulled into the pallet grinder she’d been working with. The woman, an employee of Tradewell Pallet in Gretna, was air lifted to a hospital by a medical condition, where she was reported to be in critical condition, according to news sources.
OSHA has issued an updated National Emphasis Program (NEP) that signifies the agency’s intent to focus inspections on identifying amputation hazards in manufacturing industry facilities. The NEP, which was first issued in 2015, specifically targets industrial and manufacturing workplaces where employees are injured by unguarded or improperly guarded machinery and equipment.
The sinking of two vessels being towed in Massachusetts bay in 2018 was likely due to a decision by a tow captain and vessel owner to attempt a transit in wind and waves “that exceeded their original plan for the voyage,” according to a report issued by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which investigated the incident. Two crew members received minor injuries in the December 2 incident, which occurred while the towing vessel Big Jake was towing five barges and two workboats.
The hard hat celebrates a landmark birthday, drug use among construction workers – and how to test for it – and safety technology comes to the construction industry. These were among the top construction industry safety stories of 2019.
Occupational fatalities in the U.S. increased last year, a lawsuit follows an assembly line death and the NTSB identifies safety issue behind devastating pipeline explosion. These were among the stories featured on ISHN.com this week.
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
Amazon operates on-site emergency clinics, named AmCare, for workers. The idea is that employees can go to those facilities, which have on-staff, licensed emergency medical technicians and injury prevention specialists, and get treated faster without needing to travel off-site.
As convenient as this may sound, however, reports suggest there are some issues with that approach. Here are some of them.
After two separate inspections, OSHA has cited ArcelorMittal Cleveland LLC for exposing employees to falls. The agency has proposed $222,579 in penalties.
OSHA inspected the steel plant after an employee suffered multiple fractures and a partial amputation of his right leg from a fall in June 2019.
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.
