"The significant hazard of a four-story plunge was exacerbated by the lack of required lifesaving rescue equipment," said C. William Freeman III, OSHA's area director in Hartford, Conn.
The company, a small municipal solid waste burner, was accused of not taking the correct measures to control its mercury, dioxin, and furan emissions.
A former NFPA senior electrical specialist, Mastrullo is now an OSHA employee in Boston. NFPA says his evangelism in the cause of electrical safety helped to make 70E and other electrical safety programs more prominent around the world. This photo shows, from left, NFPA Chief Electrical Engineer Mark Earley; OSHA New England Regional Administrator Marthe Kent; NFPA President James Shannon; and Mastrullo.
At its April 16 meeting, the California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board is expected to adopt an amended Section 1598 that requires workers on foot who are exposed to vehicular traffic during work on public streets and highways to wear garments that meet ANSI/ISEA 107-2004.
This combines the British OSHA agency's Pesticides Safety Directorate and Chemicals Assessment Schemes Unit into a single entity responsible for regulating biocides, pesticides, detergents, chemicals, and duties under the Classification and Labelling regime.
The city's mayor and Maryland Gov. O'Malley announced there will be regular joint meetings and have committed to revise laws that hamper extradition of violent offenders who commit crimes in the district but live in Maryland.
Nine states ban text messaging by all drivers, and nine ban the practice by novice drivers. Several states ban cellphone use by bus drivers.
The American Trucking Associations' Safety Management Council will present awards in September for best vehicle accident and worker injury incidence, as well as national safety director and HR professional of the year.
The total penalty includes an other-than-serious proposed fine of $3,500 because the company allegedly failed to notify OSHA of the fatality within eight hours of the incident.
In the latest inspection, employees allegedly were working on scaffolding, in an aerial lift, and on the roof at a worksite in Torrington, Conn., with exposure to falls of up to 22 feet. Also, electrical, overhead, and chemical hazard communication deficiencies were identified at the site.
MSHA levied the fine in connection with an October 2008 incident where methane ignited and seriously burned two miners, the agency said.
Among other things, the agency's new, 51-page guidance document explains how to use Assigned Protection Factors numbers and Maximum Use Concentration limits, per the 2006 revisions to its Respiratory Protection standard.
Revised in 2008 to target violators with prior fatalities and similar violations, EEP was handled so poorly that no appropriate enforcement action was taken in 29 cases -- and those employers subsequently experienced 20 fatalities.
The 94th annual meeting in the series will take place at the sumptuous Manchester Grand Hyatt hotel in San Diego, Calif.
Interviewed by OH&S Editor Jerry Laws by e-mail, OSHA Underground blogger Kane and OSHA Aboveground's Abel answered 30 questions about OSHA's effectiveness, its best leader in recent years and who should now take command, and how employees are affected by the snail's pace of regulations.
More than a million U.S. workers are exposed to potentially harmful vibrations from the tools they use at work, says Joseph D. McGarry, president of Gloves-Online.com.
The first-ever national survey of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in the U.S. coastal zone and Great Lakes found them concentrated near urban areas, especially near Los Angeles and New York City. Both sediment and mollusk concentrations directly correlate with local human populations.
Three centers of excellence funded in 2006 and 2007 are researching beneficial approaches to make the workplace safer and healthier for health care workers and other groups.
The efforts of APIC and other organizations this year are aimed at significantly reducing health care-associated infections. APIC CEO Kathy Warye, shown here, hailed a recent CDC study showing gains against MRSA among ICU patients.
Statistics show the percentage of injuries involving lacerations is considerably higher for the construction industry than for all other industries. And yet, despite the availability of comfortable, cut-resistant gloves, it is not unusual for most construction workers to go gloveless for at least part of the work day.