A workers’ advocacy group says a new Department of Labor (DOL) proposal will put teen workers at risk, while the DOL says it will put teen workers to work – yet maintain safety. At issue is the DOL’s action entitled “Expanding Employment, Training, and Apprenticeship Opportunities for 16- and 17-Year-Olds in Health Care Occupations under the Fair Labor Standards Act.”

Pedestrian safety, a move to ban asbestos, drones’ potential risk to national security and #MeToo in the workplace were all in the news this week on ISHN.com.

A waste collection worker was run over and killed by his own truck earlier this year because his employer failed to ensure the truck’s safety restraint was in working order and that it was being used by workers driving from the right-hand side of the truck.

A Wisconsin meatpacking company faces nearly a quarter of a million dollars in penalties after an employee suffered serious injuries from being caught in an unguarded machine. OSHA has cited JBS Green Bay Inc. - based in Green Bay, Wisconsin - for one willful and 10 serious violations, and faces proposed penalties of $221,726, which includes the maximum penalty for the willful violation.

OSHA has launched a new program to address hazards from exposure to fertilizer-grade ammonium nitrate (FGAN) and agricultural anhydrous ammonium. The Regional Emphasis Program (REP) will be effective in the states of Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas.

An OSHA investigation into a worker fatality at an Ohio country club uncovered a host of safety violations. The Rocky Fork Hunt and Country Club in Gahanna, Ohio, which has what it describes on its website as “175 scenic acres of landscaped grounds, dense forest, hills and fields” was the site of a fatal accident after a lawnmower a worker was operating tipped over.

Experienced employers — from industrial safety managers to construction supervisors -- keep a close eye on measures for worker fall protection. Failures in this category have led OSHA’s annual list of top 10 most-cited violations for most of the past decade.

While Rod Rosenstein and Brett Kavanaugh may be on their way out, OSHA nominee Scott Mugno and other Department of Labor nominees may be on their way in according to intrepid Bloomberg reporter Chris Opfer.

After a yearlong delay that OSHA said it needed to address stakeholder concerns, employers in the construction industry must comply with a requirement for crane operator certification in the Cranes and Derricks Construction Standard as of November 10. Crane operators are certified (29 CFR 1926.1427), demonstrating sufficient knowledge and skill of the machines they’ll operate through both written and practical tests.

A Georgia peanut processing facility that failed to live up to its formal settlement with OSHA faces $309,505 in proposed penalties. OSHA says a follow-up inspection it conducted at the Leesburg worksite as part of that agreement found that Great Southern Peanut LLC failed to: