OSHA has again cited Chanell Roofing and Home Improvement LLC – based in Cleveland, Ohio – for exposing employees to fall hazards. The company faces penalties totaling $200,451 for violations of OSHA’s fall protection standards at two separate jobsites in Avon, Ohio. OSHA inspectors cited the company for two willful violations for failing to install and require the use of a guardrail, safety net, or personal fall arrest system while employees worked on residential roofs.
In the wake of a fatal 2018 crash of an Airbus AS350 helicopter into New York City’s East River, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is calling for a halt to doors-off helicopter flights that place passengers in supplemental passenger restraints - until federal regulators can better evaluate the safety of the restraints, which could interfere with the aircraft and hamper escape.
The OSHA citations Dollar Tree Stores just received for exposing employees at its stores in Alabama and Connecticut to workplace hazards should feel familiar to the national retailer. The company “has an extensive history of similar violations and continues to show a disregard for safety measures designed to keep employees safe on the job,” said OSHA Mobile Area Director Jose Gonzalez.
OSHA has cited Day & Zimmerman NPS, Inc., for exposing employees to electric shock hazards at the Tennessee Valley Authority Sequoyah Nuclear Power Plant in Soddy Daisy, Tenn. The company faces $71,599 in proposed penalties.
Two employees pulling electrical cable suffered burns from an arc flash.
Arc eye, or welder’s flash, is an inflammation of the cornea, caused by the UV rays from the arc during welding. The symptoms, which appear a few hours to several hours after exposure, can include mild to severe pain, red watery eyes, sensitivity to light and the feeling of a foreign object in the eye. Typically, arc eye is temporary, but repeated or prolonged exposure can lead to permanent eye injury.
OSHA has cited Dana Railcare – based in Wilmington, Delaware – for confined space hazards after an employee fatality in Pittston, Pennsylvania. The railcar service provider faces $551,226 in proposed penalties. An employee was asphyxiated in May 2019, while servicing a rail car containing crude oil sludge. OSHA cited the company for four willful and three serious violations for failing to protect employees from the hazards of entering permit-required confined spaces, and inadequate respiratory protection procedures.
OSHA inspections increase, the crew of a fishing vessel escapes a sinking ship and two young UPS workers lose their lives in a California workplace incident. These were among the occupational safety and health stories featured on ISHN.com this week.
"This report is further evidence that the tobacco industry is succeeding in addicting a new generation to nicotine."
December 6, 2019
Twenty-three percent of middle and high school students in the U.S. – a total of 6.2 million youth – have used a tobacco product in the past 30 days, according to the The National Youth Tobacco Survey results released yesterday.
Why that matters: Most long-term tobacco product use begins during adolescence – and tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable disease, disability, and death in this country and many others.
Crane operators take note: OSHA will not accept crane operator certifications or re-certifications issued by Crane Institute Certification (CIC) after December 2 because CIC is not compliant with OSHA’s operator certification requirement, according to a temporary enforcement policy announced this week by the agency.
The EPA said yesterday that it will not impose new financial responsibility requirements for the petroleum and coal products manufacturing industry (the industrial sector that transforms crude petroleum and coal into usable products) “because the financial risk to the federal government from those facilities is already addressed by various existing federal and state technical and financial requirements and modern material management practices.”