The number of coal company officials charged in a case involving defrauding regulators about black lung disease has risen to nine, according to a recent announcement from the U.S. Department of Labor. U.S. Attorney Russell M. Coleman said Glendal “Buddy” Hardison, the former manager of all Armstrong Coal mines in western Kentucky, is the latest official from thecompany to be charged by a federal grand jury for conspiracy to defraud an agency of the U.S. government by deceit, trickery, and dishonest means.

A bill intended to reduce workplace violence in the healthcare industry is getting strong support from the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) and nursing organizations, but a labor lawyer says it prevents stakeholders from having a say in the rulemaking process. Recently re-introduced by Representative Joe Courtney (D-CT), H.R. 1309 is entitled, "Caring for Our Caregivers: Protecting Health Care and Social Service Workers from Workplace Violence.”

A coalition of leading health organizations is criticizing "allies" of the tobacco industry for launching “an outrageous attack” on the FDA in its efforts to address the youth e-cigarette epidemic. A statement by the American Cancer Society, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, American Heart Association, American Lung Association, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, Public Health Law Center and Truth Initiative notes that the skyrocketing use of e-cigarettes by young people calls for a comprehensive public health response including strong regulatory and enforcement efforts by the FDA.

OSHA has cited Bruce Foods Corporation – a Mexican food manufacturer based in El Paso, Texas – after an employee suffered an amputation. The company now faces $194,350 in fines. OSHA cited the company for 24 serious safety violations including failing to train employees in lockout/tagout procedures, inadequate machine guarding, lack of fall protection, and exposing employees to live electrical parts.

Garrett Wilhelm was chatting with the Facetime app on his Apple iPhone, police say, as he sped along an interstate highway northwest of Dallas on the day before Christmas in 2014. He crashed his SUV into a sedan carrying a young family, killing five-year-old Moriah Modisette and injuring her parents and sister.

A motion picture company has been issued a serious citation by OSHA for an accident in August 2018 that left a stunt man hospitalized for weeks with serious injuries. The agency says Eye Productions, Inc. failed to protect stunt coordinator Justin Sundquist from hazards while filming the CBS television show MacGuyver in Chattahoochee Hills, Georgia. Sunquist fell from the back of a vehicle that was traveling at approximately 18 mph, according to OSHA.

OSHA is now enforcing the requirement that employers must evaluate the competency of their operators before allowing them to operate cranes independently. The agency updated its standard for cranes and derricks in construction by clarifying each employer's duty to ensure the competency of crane operators through training, certification or licensing, and evaluation.

One worker noticed a large crack in the soft dirt of an unprotected wall of a utility trench. He and the other worker in the trench at that time were told to use caution…but continue working. The subsequent collapse of that unprotected wall killed a man and earned his employer nearly a quarter of a million dollars in fines from Cal/OSHA. Investigators for the state agency said Livermore-based contractor Platinum Pipeline, Inc. committed willful-serious safety violations by instructing employees to continue grading the bottom of the trench without providing any protection, even after identifying the soil as unstable.

It almost sounds like the plot of a movie. Alert neighbors living near a home being renovated notice that some workers are improperly removing exterior asbestos tiles from the structure. They confront the man who claims to be the homeowner. He promises to remove the asbestos correctly, but the neighbors take videos showing that his workers continue to commit asbestos-related violations. Angry that the neighborhood’s residents – and those workers – are being exposed to the dangerous substance, they contact the...

No, OSHA has not banned safety incentive programs. In fact, on October 11, 2018, agency regional administrators received a memo from Kim Stille, acting director of enforcement programs, which walks back the Obama administration OSHA’s more hard line stance on safety incentive programs. Even under former agency head Dr. David Michaels, OSHA never out-and-out “banned” incentive / reward programs. Michaels and his leadership team took a tougher line on incentive / reward programs that retaliated against or punished workers for reporting work-related injuries or illness.