A federal jury last week ruled that the company who hired workers to clean up a coal ash spill in Tennessee failed to protect them from the hazards involved. The ruling clears the way for workers affected by the highly toxic substance to seek damages from Jacobs Engineering, the company tasked with cleaning up a massive coal ash spill at the Tennessee Valley Authority's (TVA) Kingston Fossil Plant.

Without saying why, federal traffic safety officials have quietly altered crash data, revealing that more than three times as many people die in wrecks linked to tire failures than previously acknowledged. For several years, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) stated that the annual death toll from tire-related crashes was 200. Then last year NHTSA abruptly ramped up the estimate, stating on its website that 719 people had died in 2015 in such crashes.

A panel on fan blades. Witnesses who’ll describe a “failure sequence.” Those are just two of the elements that will be featured in the National Transportation Safety Board’s investigative hearing today into an engine failure on a Southwest Airlines plane that killed a passenger. On a flight from New York to Dallas, a fan blade broke, causing a catastrophic engine failure and causing shrapnel to strike the plane, breaking a window. Despite the efforts of her fellow passengers, Jennifer Riordan died after being partially ejected from the plane through the broken window.

Heat stress illness among United States Postal Service employees in Las Vegas has resulted in a $129,336 fine against the USPS. An OSHA investigation revealed that at least four USPS employees at the Silverado Station branch in Las Vegas received treatment for heat-related illness this year, including one hospitalization.

Holland Township, MN — A man tiling a field in central Minnesota died on Friday morning in a workplace accident. The construction company employee was installing drainage tile in the field near 60th Street SW and 150th Avenue SW in Holland Township when the accident was reported just before noon.

In a psychologically safe workplace, every employee feels comfortable, accepted, and respected. Although it may seem to be a simple and understandable thing, many companies fail to create a safe environment for their employees. For example, on some teams, junior members are not taken seriously during meetings and their opinions may be criticized more than others’ because of their lack of seniority.

Was it drugs or alcohol? A medical emergency? Federal officials aren’t saying, but an air traffic controller at the Las Vegas tower had to be removed from her position last week after she began slurring her words and giving incoherent commands to pilots – then stopped talking altogether.

The 43rd annual Great American Smokeout® on Thursday, November 15, 2018 takes on a new theme: "Day 1," according to the American Cancer Society (ACS) - one that reflects an evolution from quitting for the day to the recognition that successful cessation takes time and planning. Smokers are encouraged to use the day to map out a plan for a smoke-free life.

OSHA has cited Northeast Framing Inc. – based in Lunenberg, Massachusetts – for exposing workers to falls and other hazards following an employee’s fatal fall at an East Boston, Massachusetts, worksite in May 2018. The company faces $311,330 in penalties, the maximum allowed by law.

Private industry employers reported nearly 45,800 fewer nonfatal injury and illness cases in 2017 compared to a year earlier, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data released last week. The BLS’ Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII) tallied approximately 2.8 million nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses reported by private industry employers in 2017, which occurred at a rate of 2.8 cases per 100 full-time equivalent (FTE) workers.