As OSHA inspectors were traveling to an inspection near Auburn they passed an open excavation where workers were not being protected from cave-ins. The OSHA officials stopped and opened an inspection at the NPL Construction site, and requested that the workers be removed from the trench.
"Even in a retail outlet, employees can be exposed to deadly or disabling hazards if the proper safeguards and training are absent, as they were here," said Edward Jerome, OSHA's area director in Albany.
OSHA's Houston South Area Office initiated a safety and health inspection Feb. 9 at the company's facility after receiving a report that a worker had been found, unresponsive, inside a tank trailer that was being prepared to be washed.
Fiscal year 2011 funding will target the development and implementation of training and training materials for mine emergency preparedness as well as mine emergency prevention in underground mines.
We need to revise fire service training to include awareness training on many different topics, just like this one.
“The hazards of working in confined spaces are well-documented and this is a classic example of the kind of injury that occurs when employers fail to adequately protect their employees,” said Cal/OSHA Chief Ellen Widess.
During an inspection opened on March 31, OSHA found Blue Heron employees working in an unprotected excavation greater than 5 feet in depth.
OSHA cited Don Wartko Construction Inc. with five willful safety violations for failing to protect workers from cave-ins during trenching operations at three separate worksites in Cleveland.
The company was cited for one willful, one repeat, 20 serious, and one-other-than serious violation, following a combined safety and health inspection at the company's facility.
"Mine operators cannot be permitted to violate mine safety laws and simply refuse to pay penalties assessed for those violations," said Joseph A. Main, assistant secretary of labor for mine safety and health.
Water is not the only danger of flooding. The mold that may occur after water has receded can be far more hazardous to the homeowner and family.
The two are confined spaces in construction -- to be issued in November 2011 -- and protective equipment for electrical power generating, distribution and transmission workers -- coming in September.
Britain's Health and Safety Executive prosecuted two companies and secured guilty pleas July 4 in connection with the deaths in May 2009.
Coal mines were issued 339 citations, 12 orders, and two safeguards, while metal/nonmetal operations were issued 62 citations and 13 orders in May.
The Web-based tools include the full text of “A Guide to Miners' Rights and Responsibilities,” links to additional information on miners' rights, an electronic form for filing an anonymous hazard complaint, a discrimination complaint packet, and black lung benefits and resources.
The rule requires mine operators to maintain the percentage of incombustible content of the combined coal dust, rock dust, and other dust at 80 percent in all accessible areas of underground bituminous coal mines.
OSHA initiated an investigation following the accident that occurred when two employees were installing storm water pipes in a trench that was approximately 60 feet long and 18-20 feet deep without trench protection, such as a trench box or proper sloping.
The final rule will include procedures to improve training, mitigate fatigue, and clearly define roles and responsibilities for employees in control rooms for DOT-regulated pipelines.
From 2000−2009, 350 workers died in trenching or excavation cave-ins—an av¬erage of 35 fatalities per year.
OSHA's investigation was initiated in March after an employee was pinned and injured in a 9-foot-deep trench when a large piece of the trench wall caved in on him.