There were 24 mining fatalities in the U.S. in 2019, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) reports. This is the fewest annual fatalities ever recorded, and only the fifth year in MSHA’s 43-year history that mining fatalities were below 30.

A school district in Michigan ran afoul of federal laws protecting whistleblowers when it fired an employee who reported unsafe working conditions. That determination against the Dearborn Heights School District – made last week by OSHA - carries with it a $102,905.78 penalty, for back wages, damages and other compensation.

Employers grapple with the coronavirus, flight attendants cheer a proposed comfort animals on planes rule and indoor air quality affects construction workers, too. These were among the top occupational safety and health, environmental health and safety and regulatory stories featured on ISHN.com this week.

OSHA has cited Aluminum Shapes LLC for workplace safety and health hazards after a crane operator was injured in August 2019 at the aluminum manufacturer’s Delair, New Jersey, foundry. The company faces $169,524 in penalties for these violations.

Flight attendants are applauding the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) bid to restrict the types of animals allowed in cabins, saying emotional support animals have threatened the safety and health of crew members as well as passengers. Amid a surge in passengers claiming that their emotional support animals – of many species – must fly with them in the passenger areas of planes, the DOT has released a notice of proposed rulemaking that seeks to amend the definition of a service animal in air transportation.

OSHA stayed busy in fiscal year 2019. The agency trained a record 1,392,611 workers on safety and health requirements through its various educational programs. OSHA also helped small employers identify 137,885 workplace hazards through its On-Site Consultation Program, which OSHA estimates protected 3.2 million workers from potential harm.

A Florida shooting range employee who was fired after reporting workplace safety concerns to OSHA will get $30,000 in back wages and compensatory damages, under a settlement with the agency. The U.S. Department of Labor says the agreement with Orlando-based Shooting Gallery Range Inc. is the result of a U.S. District Court consent judgment issued January 24, 2020.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear has announced plans to reestablish the state’s Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board – a regulation-setting agency that had previously been abolished by his predecessor, former Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin. The newly formulated board will consist of 12 members representing industry, agriculture, labor, and safety and health.

Terrain awareness technology that the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has been pushing for since 2006 may have helped prevent the helicopter crash that killed nine people on Sunday – including NBA legend Kobe Bryant – but the FAA refused to make it mandatory.