safety violations

Counting Down ISHN’s Top 10 Most-Read Articles of 2024

Benita Mehta

December 23, 2024

From breaking news to thought-provoking insights, here are ISHN’s top 10 most-read articles of 2024.

Feds investigating major chemical fire at Bio-Lab Facility in Conyers, GA

ISHN Staff

October 3, 2024

The owner of a Georgia chemical plant that had a massive chemical fire has been cited and fined repeatedly by the federal government, mostly for violations related to employees not receiving proper safety training.

2024's "Dirty Dozen” unsafe employers revealed

Uber, Lyft, SpaceX, Walmart, Waffle House, Tyson among companies singled out for poor safety practices

April 29, 2024

The National COSH announced the 2024 “Dirty Dozen” list of employers who put workers and communities at risk due to unsafe practices.

Boeing CEO stepping down amid safety, quality control issues

ISHN Staff

March 28, 2024

Boeing’s CEO David Calhoun this week announced he would leave the company amid multiple federal probes into its quality control following a 737 MAX door blowout in January.

SpaceX workers ignoring safety to meet Elon Musk's deadlines, report reveals

Employees told to 'get humanity to Mars as quickly as possible'

Benita Mehta

November 15, 2023

A recent report by Reuters reveals that SpaceX employees may be going to extreme lengths to keep up with Elon Musk’s ambitious deadlines, and employees have accused Musk of ignoring safety protocols due to aesthetics.

Buyer of BP’s Alaska oil assets has a history of safety violations

September 5, 2019

BP has announced it is selling all of its Alaska operations to Hilcorp, a privately-owned company with a troubled safety and environmental track-record. The $5.6 billion sale includes BP's stakes in the Trans Alaska Pipeline and the Prudhoe Bay oil field, one of the nation's largest and once its most productive oil field, which BP currently operates.

Worker crushed by a stack of plywood; company cited by Cal/OSHA

March 28, 2019

Cal/OSHA has cited a Bay Area contractor for serious safety violations after a worker was fatally crushed at a San Rafael construction site on September 18, 2018. Investigators determined that West Coast Land and Development, Inc. did not follow regulations when it stacked plywood vertically without securing it. The accident occurred when two employees of the Concord company were framing and installing a shear wall on the third floor of a house under construction.

Worker crushed by beam at San Francisco tunnel project

March 5, 2019

The employers of a worker killed on a light rail tunnel project in San Francisco failed to identify potential hazards and to train workers on safety procedures, according to Cal/OSHA, which has issued $65,300 in penalties in the fatality. The incident occurred last August, while employees were using heavy equipment and tools to work in and around the tunnel.

Fatal results after a crack in a trench wall fails to stop work

February 26, 2019

One worker noticed a large crack in the soft dirt of an unprotected wall of a utility trench. He and the other worker in the trench at that time were told to use caution…but continue working. The subsequent collapse of that unprotected wall killed a man and earned his employer nearly a quarter of a million dollars in fines from Cal/OSHA. Investigators for the state agency said Livermore-based contractor Platinum Pipeline, Inc. committed willful-serious safety violations by instructing employees to continue grading the bottom of the trench without providing any protection, even after identifying the soil as unstable.

Nosy neighbors help Washington crack a case of asbestos violators

Companies tried to avoid responsibility by creating "a legal web of confusion"

February 26, 2019

It almost sounds like the plot of a movie. Alert neighbors living near a home being renovated notice that some workers are improperly removing exterior asbestos tiles from the structure. They confront the man who claims to be the homeowner. He promises to remove the asbestos correctly, but the neighbors take videos showing that his workers continue to commit asbestos-related violations. Angry that the neighborhood’s residents – and those workers – are being exposed to the dangerous substance, they contact the...