The June, 2013 collapse of a steel structure at Texas A&M that was intended to serve as the university’s equestrian shelter injured four workers and earned OSHA citations for two Houston-based construction companies.
Grand Rock Co. Inc. of Painesville, Ohio has been cited by OSHA for one willful and one serious safety violation after a worker suffered the amputation of four fingers on June 12. The employee was operating an unguarded machine that bends tubes at the Painesville automotive parts manufacturer.
OSHA has cited Houston-based Piping Technology and Products Inc. for four repeat and three serious violations after a worker was injured in June from being struck by a broken die piece on a mechanical press. Proposed penalties total $199,800.
Employee insurance picks up costs for some work-related injuries
December 10, 2013
Many workers' compensation (WC) claims result in no payment from the WC system, but do lead to increased costs for employee group insurance plans, reports a study in the December Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, official publication of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM).
Workers comp claims, incident reports can provide helpful data
December 6, 2013
The rise of work-place injuries related to musculoskeletal disorders -- which is costing U.S. businesses more than $20 billion a year -- may be reduced if companies include ergonomic risk assessments in their occupational health and safety management systems, according to an article in the December issue of Professional Safety.
On August 16, 2007, Master Electrician William Giffen, owner of CAMAND Electrical Services, Ottawa, Canada, and an experienced 17-year veteran of electrical maintenance services, was testing secondary fuses at a high-tech data center (after it was hit by lightning for the second time that day) when he was caught in an arc-flash incident at a 13.8kV switch.
Twenty-three year relationship emphasizes commitment to safety
December 5, 2013
GreenWood, Inc., an integrated operations, maintenance and construction solutions provider, recently celebrated a safety milestone of 4.5 million safe work hours at their Merck project site in Elkton, Virginia. GreenWood provides Merck with various construction related services.
When you think of electrical burns, you often think about injuries that come from direct contact with current – shocking experiences. Keep in mind electrical burn injuries are often compounded by thermal or heat burns from blasts or “arc flashes.”
The majority of occupational injuries suffered by clinicians and nurses are due to patient transfers, according to a recent survey, which found that one in three clinicians and nurses report being injured while moving patients from a bed to a chair.
According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), arc-flash is an electric current that passes through air when insulation or isolation between electrified conductors is no longer sufficient to withstand the applied voltage. The flash is immediate, but the result of these incidents can cause severe injury including burns. Each year more than 2,000 people are treated in burn centers with severe arc flash injuries.