An OSHA investigation following the death of two workers at a crude oil refinery in Wynnewood, Oklahoma resulted in fifteen serious citations against Wynnewood Refining Company – earning the company a spot in the agency’s Severe Violator Enforcement Program (SVEP).

Felony charges for some violations and higher penalties for others are among the provisions in a bill introduced in the U.S. Senate by Sen. Patty Murry (D-Wash.). If enacted, Senate Bill 665 -- the Protecting America’s Workers Act (PAWA) – would make significant changes in the Occupational Safety and Health Act.

A trainee at a Las Vegas-based energy company died in September of last year after falling 75 feet from a horizontal ladder being used as a temporary platform between a transmission tower and a live 500-kilovolt transmission line.

A call from the Moonachie, NJ Police Department last October alerted OSHA to a serious accident at a worksite – caused by a hazard that the agency has focused considerable resources on reducing.

From oil and gas industry safety concerns to fall-related fatalities to truckers hours of service, here are the top OEHS-related stories of the week as featured on ISHN.com:

An employee checking asphalt levels from the top of a tank died after falling 15 feet and hitting his head on a concrete structure supporting the tank. The September 2012 accident at Corvallis, Mont.-based M.R. Asphalt Inc. resulted in 16 safety and health violations, including one willful for failing to provide a guardrail or fall protection on the working surface.

OSHA has cited Highway Technologies Inc. in Minneapolis for 10 safety – including six willful – violations after a worker died from injuries sustained while working with equipment that came into contact with overhead power lines on I-94 near Menomonie, Wis., on Sept. 17, 2012.

OSHA defines a willful violation as “one committed with intentional knowing or voluntary disregard for the law's requirements, or with plain indifference to worker safety and health.” Of the 21 healthy and safety violations earned by Smithville Manufacturing Co. in Ohio recently, only one was willful – but it was the one related to the traumatic amputation of a worker’s finger by an unguarded press machine.

Workers at an Ohio manufacturing company were exposed to lead, according to OSHA – along with electrical and machine guarding hazards. The OSHA inspection that uncovered those conditions lead to 26 health and safety violations against Mahle Engine Components USA Inc.

A natural gas company’s failure to provide a worker with FR clothing lead to a fatality, according to OSHA, which has cited Pennsylvania-based J.R. Resources for eight safety and health violations. The employee died from injuries sustained during a flash fire.