OSHA's Fort Worth Area Office initiated an inspection on June 28 in response to a report that employees working on a new sewer line were exposed to inhalation of a hazardous chemical.
MSHA recently announced that federal inspectors issued 315 citations, orders, and safeguards during special impact inspections conducted at 10 coal mines and six metal/nonmetal mines last month.
OSHA cited the company in January 2011 for willful and serious violations of workplace safety standards, including fall hazards of up to 17 feet for employees working at Rowes Wharf in Boston.
OSHA's Austin Area Office initiated an investigation on June 24 following a report that a third-floor balcony had collapsed at a construction site. Three employees fell 16 feet to the ground and received medical treatment for their injuries.
The repeat violation is for failing to lock out the energy sources of mechanical and hydraulic forging presses during die changes, servicing, and/or maintenance. Colfor Manufacturing was cited for the same violation in February 2010.
The work from which the report was drawn marks the first time that NIOSH has developed a prospective, centralized roster of workers for a response event of this magnitude.
PSM inspections of chemical facilities through a new National Emphasis Program is listed first among the five most important developments expected from OSHA next year by two lawyers in the OSHA Practice Group of Epstein Becker Green.
The contractors have been cited for inadequate safeguards to protect workers exposed to airborne concentrations of lead while performing torch cutting operations. The citations carry a total of $127,400 in proposed fines.
A boarding team found the crew of the Still Mis Behavin did not have the required number of fire extinguishers or safety flares, the life raft was not mounted in the proper location, and the emergency position indicating radio beacon had expired.
"Failing to ensure machine guarding is in place to protect workers from the point of operation puts employees at risk for injury and amputation hazards," said Howard Eberts, OSHA's area director in Cleveland.
An inspection was initiated July 22 after a worker sustained a serious injury to his left arm caused by a piece of falling steel when a lifting magnet malfunctioned and dropped a load weighing approximately 2,900 pounds.
The Anchorage Daily News reports the police department's increased enforcement during the past decade has reduced traffic deaths in the city by 85 percent.
With the 2010 decrease, Texas has seen a decline in such workplace injuries and illnesses for four years in a row, according to the Texas Department of Insurance Division of Workers’ Compensation.
The agency said it has proposed $468,000 in penalties against Boomerang Tube LLC for alleged violations at its Liberty Works in Texas.
OSHA initiated an inspection after receiving a referral from the Pennsylvania Department of Health regarding an employee with blood containing an elevated level of lead.
A willful health violation was issued for exposing workers to an oxygen deficient environment when processing pizzas in the liquid nitrogen cryogenic freezer.
Comments on the notice of proposed rulemaking are due by Jan. 12. There would be an administrative review before an out-of-service order in such a case could take effect.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Alderman Anthony Beale, who chairs the City Council Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure, introduced a reform package that includes revamped training for drivers and a limit of no more than 12 hours of driving per day.
The civil penalty is one of the largest ever under the CWA provisions prohibiting the unauthorized discharge of dredged or fill material into waters of the United States.
The agency's $195,930 proposed fine and description of the June 12 fatality sounds all too familiar.