Construction Safety


Illinois Contractor Cited $360,000 for Trenching Hazards, Repeat Violations

OSHA issued willful citations alleging that Gerardi failed to properly protect workers from trench cave-ins, the result of four separate inspections conducted under the OSHA Trenching and Excavation Special Emphasis Program.

Noise Control: How to Plan for OSHA's New Interpretation

Designing to achieve the desired reduction in noise without excessive capital cost and negative operational impact is often a delicate balance.

OSHA Appoints New Head of Construction Directorate

Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health David Michaels, Ph.D., MPH, has appointed Jim Maddux as the new director of the agency's Directorate of Construction, effective Monday, Dec. 20, 2010.

The rescinded compliance directive allows employers engaged in any of four types of construction activities to use alternative procedures rather than conventional fall protection without having to show the convention protection was infeasible at that particular site.

OSHA Replaces Residential Construction Fall Protection Directive

Recommended by the Advisory Committee on Construction Safety and Health, the National Association of Home Builders, and the Occupational Safety and Health State Plan Association, this change took effect immediately. Its enforcement effective date is June 16, 2011.

Demolition Association Unveils Training Megasite

The National Demolition Association said more than 2,000 eLearning courses are offered in its new online training system.

Philadelphia Hospital Renovation Becomes Star Site

L.F. Driscoll Co. of Bala Cynwyd, Pa., is building an inpatient and diagnostic wing on The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia that will expand a busy cardiac center and one of the largest pediatric oncology centers in the country.

Late 2011 Action Set for Construction Confined Spaces Rule

Semiannual agendas published Monday in the Federal Register are later than usual. Those from the Labor Department's units are sparse.

The authors tested how well various types of ventilation worked at capturing the dust produced by methods currently used for manual concrete surface grinding.

Study Says More Protection Needed for Manual Concrete Grinding

Evaluating the equipment, engineering controls, and grinding methods currently used for manual concrete surface grinding, a study published in JOEH says current methods to control dust aren't sufficiently protective.



Comment Period Under Way for Australia's Model Regs

The deadline to comment on the 582-page document is April 4, 2011, and government safety agencies are urging employers and workers to participate as Australia moves toward harmonized regulations.

Three Mass. Contractors Cited $154,700 for Cave-In Hazards

"The size of these proposed fines reflects the gravity of these hazards and the fact that two of the employers knew cave-in protection and a ladder were required, yet refused to provide these vital safeguards," said Rosemarie Ohar, OSHA's New Hampshire area director.

This CalTrans photo shows one of the slings being used to raise sections that weigh as much as 2.6 million pounds.

Big Lifts a Breeze at SF Bridge Project

Slings enable lifts of sections weighing as much as 2.6 million pounds for the tower sections of the reconstructed San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.

N.Y. Contractor Cited Following Worker's Fatal 50-Foot Fall

As a result of its inspection, OSHA issued Roth Metal Works one willful citation for failing to stabilize the steel beams and four serious citations for the lack of fall protection and scaffold hazards.

Expanded Damage Prevention Program Set for 2011 UCT

The Jan. 25-26 event at Houston's George R. Brown Convention Center will cover the principal causes of damage to underground utilities from excavation projects.

Predecessor Company's Violations Count, OSHRC Holds

In a Nov. 18 decision that was a case of first impression, the commission held that a company's change in legal status does not prevent a repeat violation from being upheld against the successor company.

Stucco Contractor Plastered with Fines for Repeat Fall Hazards

The company received citations for failing to maintain a safety program, fully plank scaffold platforms, provide a ladder for safe scaffold access, remove and replace damaged scaffold components, and properly brace scaffolds with cross braces.

Fall Injury Brings $51,200 in Fines

Two companies, a subcontractor and the general contractor on a New Hampshire job site, were fined after a worker tripped and fell 14 feet during the dismantling of a stairway.

Lessons of MGM Grand Fire Remembered

Thirty years ago, inadequate building design contributed to the deaths of 85 people in the Las Vegas high-rise, which was one of the deadliest hotel fires in U.S. history.

Owner, Company Convicted in Rochester Asbestos Case

The Justice Department announced Monday that a federal court jury convicted Keith Gordon-Smith and his asbestos abatement company, Gordon-Smith Contracting Inc., of violating CAA asbestos work practice standards and lying to hide the violations.

OSHA said several requests for the informal public hearing were submitted with comments about the proposed rule.

OSHA Sets Public Hearing on Fall Protection Changes

The good and bad about the proposed rule published in May will be open for discussion Jan. 18 at DOL headquarters in Washington, D.C.

CrVI concentrations varied significantly depending on the type of welding being done.

CrVI Study Shows Limits, Promise of Local Exhaust Ventilation

The three authors of the paper published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health conducted the research because there have been few studies on welders' exposures, especially in construction.

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