An Illinois concrete company has been cited for safety violations by OSHA following the death of a temporary worker who was fatally crushed while working alone in a permit-required confined space on July 20, 2013.

The West Fertilizer plant explosion in Texas garnered a great deal of attention from ISHN.com visitors. Also on their reading list: temp worker safety, confined space tragedies and arc flash hazards. Here are the most-read Facility Safety stories of the year:

OSHA will co-moderate a free webinar with the American Staffing Association at 3 p.m. EST on Thursday, July 18, to discuss best practices for protecting temporary workers.

It’s 4:18 a.m. and the strip mall is deserted. But tucked in back, next to a closed-down video store, an employment agency is already filling up. Rosa Ramirez walks in, as she has done nearly every morning for the past six months. She signs in and sits down in one of the 100 or so blue plastic chairs that fill the office.

A session on Wednesday afternoon at ASSE’s Safety 2013 promotes itself stating: “Most workplaces are like a mini United Nations. People from different cultures bring a range of values, attitudes, beliefs and behaviors that can challenge and impede your S, H & E efforts.

In recent months, we have received many reports of temporary workers suffering fatal injuries — some during their first days on the job. One of our most recent high-profile enforcement cases was with Bacardi Bottling Corp. following the death of a 21-year-old temporary worker. LAWRENCE DAQUAN "DAY" DAVIS was crushed to death on his very first day at work while he was cleaning up glass inside a palletizer at the Florida bottling facility.

...Sadly, we have more to reflect on this year than we would have liked. Our hearts go out to the families who lost loved ones in the April 17 fertilizer plant fire and explosion in West, Texas. Among the 14 dead and approximately 200 wounded were heroic paramedics and firefighters, and plant workers who - in a scene reminiscent of 9/11 — rushed toward the fire, desperately trying to cool the fire to give time to warn and evacuate residents.