Because Reynolds Nationwide did not test the atmosphere and properly ventilate the air in food transport tankers before allowing workers to enter, those workers risked potentially lethal suffocation caused by dangerous fumes, according to OSHA, which has levied $179,000 in fines against the company.
New York Presbyterian-Columbia University Medical Center in Northern Manhattan last year replaced linen laundry bags with thin plastic bags that broke and needlessly exposed workers to laundry contaminated with blood, bodily fluids and other infectious materials.
When chemicals can contact the eye or body and cause injury, immediate action is necessary to rinse affected areas. Emergency showers and eyewashes are the primary equipment for such action.
Three employees were exposed to dangerous levels of lead, arsenic, iron oxide and copper particles and fumes while torch-cutting steel at a scrapyard operated by OmniSource St. Marys.
During the past two years, two prisoners on a work-release program suffered permanent lung damage while other employees at the Fiberdome Inc.’s Lake Mills fiberglass manufacturing plant in Lake Mills, WI, plant were exposed to harmful levels of chemicals, dust and noise, according to reports released by OSHA.
While renovating an Evanston, Ill. Middle school, workers from six separate companies were exposed to asbestos, lead and electrical hazards, according to OSHA, which inspected the site after receiving a complaint. Staff and students were on summer break during the July 2014 inspection..
In the most recent Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) crackdown on companies who violate hazardous materials regulations, seven U.S. companies are facing heavy fines for failing to label their hazmat shipments – and to train their employees on how to safely ship hazmat and how to respond if something goes wrong with it.