On July 3, 2015, an employee of Tyson Foods was preparing for work at the line 4B tender clipping station at the company’s poultry processing plant in Sedalia, Missouri.
The stand slipped, pinching her middle finger between the frame and the processing line. Her finger was amputated between the nail-bed and first knuckle.
The manufacturing industry requires workers to engage in high-risk activities, such as soldering, welding, metal cutting, raw material assembling, and heavy lifting and rigging. Moreover, magnetic fields, compressed gases, and harmful radiations can negatively impact a worker’s health. In fact, workplace hazards lead to nearly 150 deaths per day in the US.
Compressed air is integral in nearly every industry, from powering tools and providing pressure for robotic assembly arms to inflating tires and even cleaning off dusty surfaces.
Companies might offer training on how to use compressed air and its related tools, but does any of this include how to use them safely? Why should companies offer compressed air safety training, and what negative repercussions could they face for not providing it?
If your employees wear small, wearable devices powered by lithium batteries – such as body cameras – they are potentially at risk from burns or other injuries if the devices catch fire or explode. Those outcomes may occur if the batteries are defective or become damaged. There were more than 25,000 overheating or fire incidents involving lithium battery-powered consumer products over a recent five-year-period, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Teenage health care worker regulation change prompted calls for review
February 1, 2019
The U.S. Department of Labor is investigating whether the U.S. Department of Labor under the Trump administration is following proper procedures when making regulatory changes to worker safety regulations.
In a letter to Congressional Democrats, who’d requested an audit of the DOL’s rulemaking process, DOL Inspector General Scott S. Dahl said a review of the “integrity of the rulemaking process” at OSHA was already underway.
A requirement that employers disclose more information about worker injuries to safety officials and the public has been scaled back by the Trump administration.
The Labor Department action, reflecting the administration’s broad push to ease regulations on business, weakens an Obama-era initiative to improve safety enforcement and crack down on underreporting of job injuries. The 2016 rule, which had been hailed by safety advocates, drew the ire of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups.
A coalition of advocacy groups have filed a complaint (PDF) with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia over OSHA’s rollback of a provision in its final electronic injury and illness reporting rule, which was issued during the partial government shutdown. Public Citizen, along with the American Public Health Association and the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists said in the suit that OSHA “failed to provide a reasoned explanation” for its decision to reverse a requirement that certain businesses electronically submit workplace injury and illness records to OSHA.
They’re breathable, cool to the touch and boast the best oily/wet grip available (along with “pick a dime off the floor” dexterity). In other words, Ergodyne’s new ProFlex® ANSI Level 4 Cut-Resistant Gloves leave workers with no excuse.
An OSHA regulation gets finalized – after dropping a controversial requirement; workplace violence claims four employees of a Florida bank and oil pipeline explosions kill dozens in Nigeria and Mexico. These were among the top stories featured on ISHN.com this week.
Companies with 250 or more employees will not be required to electronically submit information from OSHA Form 300 (Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses) and OSHA Form 301, under the final rule issued yesterday by OSHA.
That Obama-era provision was eliminated after an unusually speedy review of the rule by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.