The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has proposed a $4 million civil penalty for Spitfire Aviation Services, LLC, of Fayetteville, Ark., for numerous violations of the Federal Aviation Regulations.
OSHA is proposing penalties against four contractors for alleged safety violations following a scaffolding accident that killed three workers at the 21 Rio construction site near downtown Austin.
OSHA has cited Farmers Union Coop Supply Co. of Stanton, Neb., with one alleged willful and nine alleged serious violations of the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act after a worker suffocated from lack of oxygen in the boot pit of a concrete grain elevator June 19.
OSHA has begun publicizing weekly summaries of fatalities and catastrophes resulting in the hospitalization of three or more workers. Employers must report these incidents to OSHA within eight hours. The summaries below (for the week of November 23-27, the most recently posted information) include only preliminary information, as reported to OSHA area offices or to states which operate OSHA-approved state plans. OSHA investigates all work-related fatalities and catastrophes. OSHA will link the data on its summary chart to the inspection case file, also on the OSHA public website.
In response to the recent announcement of the impending change to the Noise Reduction Rating (NRR) for hearing protection devices, the National Hearing Conservation Association (NHCA) has provided its recommendations to EPA. Based on expert member input and review, NHCA’s recommendations are intended to improve the utility of hearing protection devices for occupational hearing conservation programs and for personal use.
OSHA and the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division has signed an alliance with the Consulate General of Mexico in New York as part of an effort to promote the labor and human rights of Mexican and other Hispanic workers. The New York State Department of Labor (NYS DOL) and the Catholic Migration Office (CMO) of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn are also part of the alliance.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released the Fourth National Report on Human Exposure to Environment Chemicals. The report is a 527-page document that summarizes blood and urine levels for 212 chemicals, including levels for 75 chemicals which have never before been measured in a representative sample of the U.S. population.
A report of conference presentations and discussions among participants from the National Academies of Science, universities and research institutions, and representatives of professional associations, industry and labor, recommends attention to workplace environments to maintain “work ability” as workers age, along with legislative fixes and research to fill in knowledge gaps for keeping workers healthy and productive.
An American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) representative testified yesterday during an OSHA hearing on a proposed combustible dust standard that ASSE can support a new standard, but only one that is no less effective than the National Fire Protection Association’s (NFPA) voluntary consensus standards addressing combustible dust.
In order to communicate messages to workers in a complex business environment, a majority of companies plan to increase their use of social media in the coming year, according to a survey by Watson Wyatt, a leading global consulting firm.