A large explosion at Carbide Industries that killed two workers and injured two others resulted from a failure by the company to investigate similar but smaller explosive incidents over many years while deferring crucial maintenance of the large electric arc furnace that blew up, according to a U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) report.

A worker in a New England warehouse was recently found unconscious and seizing. Several of his co-workers also became sick. The culprit? Carbon monoxide poisoning. All of the windows and doors were closed to conserve heat, there was no exhaust ventilation in the facility, and very high levels of carbon monoxide were measured at the site.

The first deadline in the implementation phase of OSHA’s Hazard Communications Standard isn’t fast approaching, but it is approaching. Employers have until Dec. 1, 2013 to train workers on the new label elements and safety data sheet format.

Wyoming’s most-fined refinery for safety violations is facing another round of penalties, this time stemming from a formal complaint and three August incidents at the facility, according to a report in the Casper Star-Tribune. The Wyoming Occupational Safety and Health Administration has proposed a $259,950 fine against the Sinclair Oil-owned Sinclair Wyoming Refinery. The fine would be the largest levied against a refinery in Wyoming in the past five years.

Wyoming oil refineries faced more citations for dangerous safety conditions per oil barrel of production capacity than those in any other state over the past five years, a Casper Star-Tribune analysis of federal data shows. Government safety inspectors tagged Wyoming refiners with 239 citations for serious, willful or repeat safety violations in 2008-2012, according to data from federal OSHA. That means Wyoming refiners were cited on an average of every eight days.

Foxconn, the manufacturer of Apple’s iPhone and iPad, will for the first time allow workers to elect union representatives, according to a statement released by the company. The firm said it would hold elections for a chairman and 20 members of its Federation of Labour Unions Committee every five years.

The list of New Year’s Resolutions you made (and may still be keeping) probably did not include what the Electrical Safety Foundation International (ESFI) says should be a high priority item: being electrically safe in 2013.

The California Division of Occupational Safety & Health (Cal/OSHA) has issued 25 citations against Chevron USA, with proposed penalties totaling nearly $1 million, for state safety standard violations related to the August 6, 2012 fire at Chevron’s Richmond refinery.