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Reports from Safety 2015, firefighter cancer risk and how to reduce the fire risk in older homes were among the occupational safety and health stories featured on ISHN.com this week.

by Secretary Tom Perez- I am a big believer in basic fairness: if you play by the rules, you should have the opportunity to succeed. That’s true in life and also in business. The vast majority of employers understand this principle and abide by it every day with measurable success. But I think we can all agree that those businesses that break the law by cutting corners at the expense of their workers should not benefit from taxpayer-funded federal contracts.

Alfa Laval Inc. faces $477,900 in proposed penalties after OSHA inspections discovered dozens of serious workplace safety violations, five of which were identified in previous inspections. Federal investigators found five repeated and 45 serious violations on a range of health and safety issues at the company's Broken Arrow facility, including inadequate protection of workers from machinery, a lack of respiratory equipment and training for hazardous chemicals.

Drivers use the brake almost a million times per year, usually with no problem. But each year, approximately 16,000 preventable crashes occur due to pedal error when drivers mistake the accelerator for the brake. Pedal error crashes can present serious safety risks to the vehicle occupants, surrounding motorists, pedestrians, and property.

We estimated that about 1 in 10 nonsmoking, working women of reproductive age in the United States are exposed to secondhand smoke at work. Women working in the accommodations and food services industry (women working in hotels, restaurants, or bars) were more than twice as likely as women employed in other industries to be exposed to secondhand smoke at work.