A California construction company that dismantled a trench box while an employee was still working inside, causing him to be fatally crushed, has been cited by Cal/OSHA for safety violations. The agency determined that general contractor Bay Construction Co. committed willful-serious safety violations by unsafely removing a linear support rail that fell and killed the worker.

On oil and gas worksites, diesel engines power machines ranging from drilling rigs to high-powered hydraulic fracturing pumps, to generators and lighting equipment. The diesel exhaust from these engines, however, is a toxic mix of chemicals that includes small particles of carbon, or soot, which can be accidentally inhaled.

With the holiday shopping season officially underway, OSHA is reminding employers to protect their workers, many of whom are new or temporary hires working in intense conditions. “Whether employees are stocking shelves, packing boxes, delivering products, or selling merchandise, they have the right to a safe workplace,” said Acting Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Loren Sweatt.

A towing vessel crew’s inability to close windows and doors when a fire began in the engine room nearly cost them their lives, according to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which investigated the incident.

California’s Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) has posted California’s 2017 occupational injury and illness data on employer-reported injuries. According to the estimates provided by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII), California had 466,600 nonfatal occupational injuries in 2017, a number stable from the prior year.

A survey conducted earlier this year by a Canadian bank found that nearly 40 per cent of British Columbia (B.C.) homeowners were planning on renovating their homes. And while that’s great news for the construction industry, it’s important to be aware of the health dangers that asbestos-containing building materials in older homes pose to contractors and their crew.

The Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM), an industry group representing 1,000+ manufacturers, has petitioned Cal/OSHA about making changes to a rule governing the use of highly automated agricultural equipment. The AEM says the regulation, as drafted, would negate many of the benefits of highly automated agricultural equipment and autonomous agricultural equipment.

A construction worker was killed at a Brooklyn, New York worksite on the day before Thanksgiving by a piece of sheet metal that fell from an unapproved forklift. News sources say 44-year-old Over Paredes of Newark, New Jersey was working on the roof of a six-story condo development when a manual forklift that was hoisting part of a metal-framed wall topped onto its side, releasing the metal.

United States Congressman Joe Courtney (D-Conn.) has introduced a bill that would require OSHA to issue a workplace violence prevention standard for the health care industry. The Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act, H.R. 7141, directs OSHA to issue a standard requiring health care and social service employers to write and implement a workplace violence prevention plan.

When thinking of workers’ compensation insurance, we typically think of the money and other benefits provided to workers injured on the job. When public health researchers think of this same insurance, they may also see a potential opportunity to learn more information about work-related health and safety hazards.