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A Confined Space blog post

“We were supposed to have another 20 years.” Death in the trench

December 18, 2017

“Touching” “Infuriating” and hopefully “Educational” and “Motivating” are all words that come to mind reading this amazing article, Death in the Trench, by veteran investigative reporter Jim Morris. You should probably stop here and read it, but I can’t help providing a few reasons why. Morris, writing for the Center for Public Integrity, tells the story of the 2016 death of Jim Spencer, buried alive in an 8-foot deep trench.

Safety company logs a million injury-free man hours

December 15, 2017

A Tulsa, Oklahoma safety services company doesn’t just talk the talk. Having just achieved one million man-hours without a recordable injury, JCL Service Company apparently walks the walk, too. Both divisions of the JCL company—JCL Safety Services and JCL Risk Services—reached this safety milestone by completing over one million man-hours without any of the following injury-related incidents occurring: days off work, restricted work, transfer to another job, medical treatment beyond first aid, loss of consciousness, or an injury resulting in death.

A FairWarning story

Fluoride in the water: Too much of a good thing?

Dan Ross

December 15, 2017

In the early 1900s, a young dentist named Frederick McKay moved to a Colorado town where the residents’ teeth — though in some cases stained chocolate brown — had far less decay than was typical back then. He and other researchers eventually linked the phenomenon to fluoride in the town’s drinking water – a eureka moment that would usher in what is often called one of the 10 great public health achievements of the 20th century.

Drone operator caused drone, helicopter collision

December 15, 2017

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has determined that the operator of a drone that collided with an U.S. Army helicopter failed to see and avoid the helicopter because he was intentionally flying the drone out of visual range and did not have adequate knowledge of regulations and safe operating practices.

The high cost of large-loss fires

Workplaces among the facilities affected

December 15, 2017

Major or “large-loss” fires in the U.S. in 2016 cost $1.2 billion in property losses and resulted in 14 deaths and dozens of injuries, according to the latest edition of the National Fire Protection Association’s (NFPA) “Large-loss Fires in the United States” report. Large-loss fires are defined as events that result in property damage of at least $10 million.

Alabama auto dealership cited after fatal fire

December 14, 2017

OSHA has cited Carl Cannon Inc., an automobile dealership, for serious safety violations after three employees died and two were injured at its Jasper facility. OSHA initiated an investigation in response to a flash fire. Inspectors determined that the employees were using a flammable brake wash to scrub the service pit floor when the fire occurred. As a result, three employees were fatally injured, and a fourth was critically burned. A fifth employee was treated for smoke inhalation and released.

Can restaurant managers ask sick employees about their symptoms?

Under Food Code, to prevent spread of foodborne illness, yes

December 14, 2017

While health concerns are usually considered private matters, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) wants restaurant managers to talk to employees who are ill, to make sure they don’t spread foodborne illness to co-workers and customers. It’s a significant problem. Nearly half of restaurant-related outbreaks are caused by sick food workers. Managers may be hesitant to ask their employees about symptoms and diagnoses, especially since that conversation might lead to workers missing work and forgoing pay.

A Confined Space blog post

Dispatches from the front lines of the battle for workplace safety and health: Short stuff

Jordan Barab

December 14, 2017

COSHCON17 — The Young and the Active — The National Council for Occupational Safety and Health, the umbrella group of all the nation’s COSH groups held its annual conference last week and I was privileged to be able to chair a very moving panel on “Lessons from Workplace Fatalities” with some of my heroes: family activist Katherine Rodriguez, whose father, Ray Gonzales was killed in a fire at BP Texas City in 2004, Tonya Ford, director the United Support and Memorial for Workplace Fatalities, whose uncle Robert “Bobby” Fitch fell to his death at an Archer Daniel Midland plant in 2009, and Jonathan Karmel, author of Dying to Work: Death and Injury in the American Workplace.

NTSB: Poor decisions, lax safety oversight led to sinking

December 14, 2017

The deadliest shipping disaster involving a U.S.-flagged vessel in more than 30 years was caused by a captain’s failure to avoid sailing into a hurricane despite numerous opportunities to route a course away from hazardous weather, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) announced during a public meeting Tuesday. The cargo vessel S.S. El Faro sank Oct. 1, 2015, in the Atlantic Ocean during Hurricane Joaquin, taking the lives of all 33 aboard.

Your holiday laser light display may endanger aircraft

FAA: Make sure they're aimed at your house, not the sky

December 13, 2017

Each holiday season for the past several years, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has received reports from pilots who said they were distracted or temporarily blinded by residential laser-light displays. The FAA's concerns about lasers – regardless of the source – is that they not be aimed at aircraft in a way that can threaten the safety of a flight by distracting or blinding the pilots.