OSHA has cited seven construction companies – three Miami-based contractors and four San Antonio-based subcontractors – with 45 serious and one other-than-serious violation for exposing workers to asbestos hazards at a San Antonio construction work site. Proposed penalties total $148,000.

The Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) has updated its Truck-Mounted Forklift Safety Manual to provide machine operators, maintenance personnel and others on the jobsite with up-to-date industry safety and maintenance information.

The Department of Labor’s (DOL) informational campaign to make working at height safer – and thus reduce construction fall fatalities – is apparently falling on deaf ears in New Jersey, at least where one company is concerned.

Here are this week's top occupational safety and health-related news stories from www.ISHN.com:

OSHA says it will extend for three months its temporary enforcement measures in residential construction through December 15, 2012.

Is your industry one of those most frequently cited by OSHA for respiratory protection program violations?

OSHA and NIOSH have recently issued a hazard alert on ensuring that employers in hydraulic fracturing operations take appropriate steps to protect workers from silica exposure.

OSHA has issued a direct final rule and notice of proposed rulemaking that applies the requirements of the August 2010 cranes and derricks in construction standard to demolition work and underground construction.

OSHA says its Southeast regional offices will increase enforcement efforts aimed at reducing an upward trend in construction-related fall fatalities. Falls are one of the four leading causes of employee fatalities in the Southeast.

OSHA has cited specialty metal forgings producer A. Finkl & Sons Co. with 26 safety violations at the company's Chicago facility, including two willful violations that involve failing to provide fall protection around open pits and rectify multiple hazards found in crane inspections. Proposed penalties total $352,700.