"Company management was aware of the requirements to establish a lockout program and did not take action," said Kurt Petermeyer, director of OSHA's Mobile (Ala.) Area Office.
The job will consist of replacing all 6,350 windows in the 73-story, downtown-Atlanta Westin Peachtree Plaza hotel, which was damaged by a tornado in March 2008.
Industry operations covered include the transfer of cargo between ships, trucks, pipelines, and other modes of transportation, and the operation and maintenance of piers, docks, and associated buildings and facilities.
"This case is a clear example of what can and does happen when adequate and effective scaffolding and fall protection are lacking at a jobsite," said OSHA's Brenda Gordon, commenting on the incident in Boston's Roxbury neighborhood.
The new resource from NIOSH is sure to be needed: BLS has projected this occupation will grow faster than any other through 2016.
"OSHA determined that this company is fully aware of the deficiencies it has in its safety program and what needs to be changed to provide safe work conditions for employees but hasn't acted to correct those deficiencies," said Roberto Sanchez, director of the agency's area office in Birmingham, Ala.
"There's no excuse for workers being repeatedly and needlessly exposed to potentially fatal or disabling falls," said Brenda Gordon, OSHA's area director for Boston and southeastern Massachusetts.
"[W]e will shine a spotlight on the hazards and challenges faced by this vulnerable sector of the nation's workforce so that we can begin crafting new, badly needed strategies to prevent thousands of injuries and deaths every year," said OSHA chief David Michaels.
Tim Fisher, ASSE's director of Practices and Standards, said ASSE is developing technical briefs for ANSI/ASSE A10.47-2009, "Work Zone Safety for Highway Construction," and ANSI/ASSE A10.16-2009.
Research aimed at adapting circulation control technology to wind turbine blades will be conducted by PAX Streamline, a California company, in collaboration with the Georgia Institute of Technology. The two-year project, which will lead to construction of a demonstration pneumatic wind turbine, will be supported by a $3 million grant from the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy --the federal energy research and development organization also known as ARPA-E.
OSHA has cited Lyons & Sons Inc. with seven serious citations and Cocoa Services LP with five serious citations for workplace safety and health violations following the death of a worker.
"No one ever thinks the trench he or she is working in will collapse, but the fact is cave-ins happen in seconds, crushing and burying workers beneath tons of soil and debris before they have a chance to react or escape," said Brenda Gordon, OSHA's area director for southeastern Massachusetts.
"Our inspections, and a worker fatality at the Blakely (Ga.) plant, show the need for management to get serious about the safety and health of its employees," said Robert Vazzi, OSHA's area director in Savannah, Ga.
The NYC Buildings Department says the three construction fatalities in 2009 -- a sharp decrease from 19 the year before -- were the fewest in the past four years.
Just write a short essay (100 words max.) explaining your biggest fall protection challenge and submit it online by Jan. 29 for a chance to win a brand-new ExoFit NEX™ from Capital Safety. No more than one entry per person will be accepted. We'll announce the winner here by Feb. 12.
Click here for a link to the entry form in a Q&A with Capital Safety-North American Product Manager Nate Bohmbach.
The event, held in conjunction with Reach Expo 2010, will feature a variety of noted professionals in the overhead crane and rigging industry.
"We constantly refresh our pool of ideas. Our end users are very vocal about what works and doesn't work."
The Jan. 27-30 meeting at the Silver Legacy Resort and Casino in Reno, Nev., culminates with an eight-hour Safety Training Seminar.
Learning how to minimize the risk of potentially dangerous or fatal fall hazards allows organizations to take a proactive approach to worker safety. In November 2007, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) released a comprehensive family of standards, known as the Z359 standard or "Fall Protection Code," to help organizations learn how to reduce risk.
According to the society, four factors can contribute to slip, trip, and fall hazards: 1) workers; 2) machines/equipment; 3) work environments; and 4) management.