EMERCOM, the agency that includes the Russian State Fire Service, reported 129,161 people and 19,343 pieces of apparatus were fighting the 589 fires active on Aug. 5 in the country.
According to the Department of Justice, the amount of the civil penalty is “precedent-setting” yet “appropriate in light of the unacceptable risk” created by the underground storage tanks at the defendants’ 17 gas stations in Maryland and Delaware.
Among the wide range of dangers inspectors listed were the risk of laceration, amputation, or crushing injuries; electrical hazards; fire and explosion hazards stemming from combustible dust; improper storage of flammable liquids; and insufficient monitoring of exmployees’ exposure to hexavalent chromium.
"While it is fortunate that no one was injured here, good luck is never an acceptable worker safeguard,” said Patrick Griffin, OSHA's area director for Rhode Island. “For the safety and well-being of its workers, this employer must take effective, ongoing action to prevent these hazards from recurring."
The agency’s latest action, with penalties of $420,000 against the mail facility in White River Junction, Vt., follows its citations against five individual postal facilities in June in various parts of the country -- all centering around insufficient electrical safety practices -- with fines adding up to more than $1.3 million for the month, plus DOL's filing on July 6 against USPS for enterprise-wide relief.
At the specialist level, trainees are expected to don and doff a hazmat suit. For some, this can bring out anxieties that range from fear of suit entrapment to decreased mobility or visibility.
With construction of venues for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games well under way, a study commissioned by HSE analyzed the risks and hazards at major sports events around the world. The 2010 FIFA World Cup was insured for a total of about $9.4 billion, according to Lloyd's.
Two workers were burned while applying primer inside a tanker trailer. One worker died and another remains hospitalized with burns to more than 90 percent of his body. A third worker, the attendant monitoring the confined space in the event of an emergency, was blown off the tank when the vapors ignited.
Held in Reno and sponsored by MSHA, the national contest features 38 teams from 16 states. Awards will be presented Thursday.
Willful violations were issued for failing to develop specific procedures to protect workers from the unexpected release of electrical energy, and for failing to provide adequate machine guarding for employees working around rotating shafts.
An investigation found workers were exposed to potential fire and explosion hazards from combustible dust collected in an inadequately designed dust collection system and several electrical safety deficiencies, including unguarded or ungrounded live electrical parts and equipment, and workers not trained in electrical safety-related work practices, among other things.
The company was cited for 43 safety and health violations for hazards ranging from inadequate PPE and machine guarding to failing to determine employee exposure levels to hexavalent chromium.
An Aug. 3-4 public hearing by the NTSB about an Indianapolis crash will look at design changes and tank crashworthiness standards. Meanwhile, PHMSA has proposed incorporating six special permits in the Hazardous Materials Regulations, mainly for agricultural shipments.
Traffic and revenues rose 22 percent at a constant exchange rate, but the company operating the Channel Tunnel posted a first-half loss because 48 million euros' worth of indemnities have been held up since May 2009.
“Each day, oilfield workers are exposed to any number of hazards, including falls, fires, and explosions,” said John Hermanson, OSHA regional administrator in Philadelphia. “This alliance further strengthens OSHA’s ongoing efforts to protect workers in this area.”
An inspection found that the company failed to provide adequate guarding on lathes, grinding, and other dangerous machines, and that it did not sufficiently develop and implement training on locking a machine's energy source and alerting others about the state of that power source.
"These citations and sizable fines reflect the Postal Service's failure to equip its workers with the necessary knowledge and skills to safely work with live electrical parts," said Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA Dr. David Michaels. "The Postal Service knew that proper and effective training was needed for the safety of its workers but did not provide it."
All told, the inspections at four of the discount retailer's Connecticut locations resulted in seven repeat citations with $95,200 in proposed fines, 13 serious citations with $38,500 in fines, and 10 other-than-serious citations with $7,000 in fines, for a proposed total of $140,700.
This year's campaign theme, "Smoke Alarms: A sound you can live with," emphasizes the importance of smoke alarms in preventing fire deaths, injuries, and property loss.
For fiscal year 2010, the program offers 28 targeted topic areas including crane safety, combustible dust, maritime, oil and gas, and eye safety.