OSHA says that if the construction industry focused on eliminating the top four causes of fatalities among workers, 410 worker fatalities a year could be prevented.  Out of 4,114 worker fatalities in private industry in 2011, 721 (17.5 percent) were in construction.

A new battle in the long legal war over truckers’ hours of service (HOS) is taking place in a federal appellate court in Washington, D.C. today. Nonprofit consumer advocacy group Public Citizen is attempting to force the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to require what it calls “meaningful limits” on the hours truckers may drive – limits that Congress called for nearly 20 years ago, in an effort to improve transportation safety.

Fatal falls, slips, or trips took the lives of 666 workers in 2011, or about 14 percent of all fatal work injuries, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Falls to lower level accounted for 541 of those fatalities.

Minnesota experienced a significant drop in workplace fatalities in 2011, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor (BLS). Preliminary data from the BLS's Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries shows that there were 60 fatalities from work injuries in Minnesota in 2011.

A study by the Center for Safety and Health Sustainability (CSHS) reveals troublesome gaps and a lack of transparency in occupational safety and health (OSH) sustainability reporting among organizations rated highly for sustainability performance.

A “safety stand down” to promote safety and health practices at oil and gas exploration and production sites in Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas continues through Feb. 28. The program is an initiative by OSHA and the National Service, Transmission, Exploration & Production Safety Network, more commonly known as STEPS.

The revised ANSI/ASSE A10.32 Standard ‘Personal Fall Protection for Use in Construction and Demolition Operations’ released last week contains new equipment criteria, providing minimum guidelines for fall protection equipment, to establish performance criteria for this equipment in construction and demolition and to make recommendations for use and inspection.

A dramatic increase in oil and natural gas production in the U.S. has been accompanied by a rise in the fatality rate among industry workers, according to NIOSH Director Dr. John Howard, who says a new NIOSH study finds a direct relationship between the number of drilling rigs and the industry’s fatality rate.

On June 18, 2009, an employee in a work zone, wearing his reflective safety vest was killed by a dump truck that backed up and struck him with its rear passenger side wheels. The dump truck had an audible back up alarm and operating lights. On June 9, 2010, an employee standing in front of a loading dock facing the building was crushed to death by a tractor trailer backing into the same dock.