A series of federal workplace safety and health inspections at four Dollar General stores in Alabama and Georgia in the summer of 2021 found the nationwide discount retailer’s long history of exposing employees to dangerous working conditions continues. 

OSHA issued citations related to methylene chloride hazards, including allowing workers to be overexposed to the solvent, and failing to provide personal protective equipment, eye wash stations, and medical surveillance for workers exposed or potentially exposed to the solvent. 

The U.S. Department of Labor announced today a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking by the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration to improve worker safety and health by ensuring the agency’s general industry and construction industry rules reflect current industry practice and state-of-the-art technology. 

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited the employer involved in a February 2021 double fatality at a downtown Boston worksite and his successor company again for failing to provide employees with essential and required safeguards, this time at an East Boston residential construction site.  

A federal investigation into fatal injuries suffered by an 86-year-old worker at a Henderson sawmill and pallet manufacturer found the company exposed workers to hazardous energy sources and lack of machine guarding.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration reminds employers that the agency began collecting calendar year 2021 Form 300A data on Jan. 2, 2022. Employers must submit the form electronically by March 2, 2022.

NIOSH provided more than $5 million in extramural funding during fiscal year 2021 to 38 projects that address challenges related to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. This amount includes supplemental funding for State Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Surveillance Programs and funding for investigator-initiated research through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) COVID-19 response efforts

An employee of a frozen-pizza manufacturer suffered a fatal injury while cleaning a machine on July 20, 2021. An inspection by the OSHA determined that Rich Products Corp.’s failure to implement energy control procedures – commonly known as lockout/tagout – exposed its third-shift sanitation workers to serious hazards.

Fatal overdoses in New York have nearly tripled in the last decade, with nearly 85 percent of them linked to controlled substances, including opioids. Nationally, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates fatal opioid overdoses kill 91 people each day in the U.S.

The Biden administration has officially withdrawn a rule that would have required workers at big companies to get vaccinated or face regular COVID testing requirements.