An OSHA inspection prompted by three workers being hospitalized for serious burns from a flash fire has resulted in $60,000 in fines against two government contractors.

OSHA has cited Watco Mechanical Services, Jordan General Contractors Inc. and JP Electric after a combustible dust flash fire claimed the lives of two workers at a Hockley, Texas work site. Proposed penalties for the three companies total $119,840.
 

Dozens of labor, faith and community leaders and members gathered on the steps of New York City hall to announce the creation of Back Home, “Back to Work,” a new project to get Hurricane Sandy-affected residents back into their homes by providing safe, fast and effective mold assessment and remediation, according to a press statement issued by the coalition.

The Massachusetts FACE Project—in conjunction with the national Campaign to Prevent Falls in Construction, and with input from local industry and labor safety experts, contractors, and researchers—has updated and published a series of four residential construction fall prevention brochures for contractors.

Contractors who do work for the federal government will be under increased scrutiny – and whistleblower protection – thanks to a set of amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act (S. 3254) recently approved by the Senate.

One construction worker a day dies on a worksite from a fall. One a day. That’s what the national data consistently tells us, since one-third of all deaths on construction sites are from falls. Every year more than 10,000 construction workers in the private construction industry experience serious, even life-changing, injuries from a fall.

After rapid expansion since the inception of OSHA’s Voluntary Protection Program (VPP), the number of sites receiving VPP certification has shown a slight decrease in recent years.

Construction employment fell in May by 28,000, the largest decline in two years, and is now at the lowest level since last August, according to an analysis of new federal data released recently by the Associated General Contractors of America.

Fact. Falls kill. Falls are the number one cause of construction worker fatalities, accounting for one-third of on-the-job injury deaths in the industry.

OSHA is partnering with construction contractors, the Federal Highway Administration, the state of Georgia and local government organizations in a safety stand-down hour at construction sites around Georgia during National Highway Work Zone Awareness Week, which ends tomorrow.