Workplace hazards - Articles - Page 6

Smelting company employees sustain caustic burns; company cited

January 13, 2020

OSHA has cited Mayco Manufacturing LLC – operating as Mayco Industries Inc. – for exposing employees to lead and arsenic in addition to machine, electrical and fall hazards. The Granite City, Illinois, lead smelter faces $223,148 in penalties for 18 serious health violations. The inspection occurred after OSHA received a report that employees suffered caustic burns from water mixed with sodium hydroxide used to extinguish a fire.

A NIOSH Science Blog post

Outbreak of silicosis in artificial stone countertop affects workers in four states

Katelynn Dodd MPH Amy Heinzerling MD, MS Cecile Rose MD, MSW Carolyn Reeb-Whitaker RPIH Dr. Robert Harrison MD, MPH

January 6, 2020

Artificial stone countertops, also known as "quartz stone countertops," are made by polymerizing quartz aggregate and resin binder. These materials look similar to natural stone and are increasingly used in residential construction and home furnishings. Between 2010 and 2018, imports of quartzite countertops in the United States have increased by nearly 800% (US International Trade Commission).

Workers at Indiana manufacturing co. exposed to amputation, other hazards

January 2, 2020

OSHA has cited Wright Metal Products Crates LLC – based in South Bend, Indiana, and operating as WMP Crates – for exposing employees to amputation, chemical and other safety hazards at a worksite in Lavonia, Georgia. The company faces $195,034 in penalties.

“We will not rest until we know the circumstances”

End-of-year workplace incidents claim lives

January 2, 2020

Late-December workplace incidents in coal mining and construction left three workers dead and their families devastated. In West Virginia, 21-year-old Raymond L. Starkey was fatally injured Dec. 23 while helping to repair a beltline at Murray Energy’s Marshall County Coal Co. Mine near Cameron. The incident is being investigated by the Mine Safety and Health Administration, the West Virginia Office of Miners’ Health, Safety and Training, United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) safety experts and Murray Energy.

Mass. company owner going to jail in worker trench deaths

December 17, 2019

A company owner in Roslindale, Massachusetts was sentenced this week to two years in the House of Corrections after being found guilty of two counts of manslaughter for the deaths of two employees. Kevin Otto, owner of Atlantic Drain Services, will have three years’ probation following his sentence, and he can never again employ anyone in a job that involves excavation.

Family sues after worker dies on assembly line

December 16, 2019

The family of a Kentucky man killed in a workplace incident has filed a lawsuit against his employer, GE Appliances, and other parties. Steve Herring, who’d worked for the company for more than two decades, died in February after being pinned by machinery while working on a refrigerator-building assembly line. News sources are reporting that the state OSHA’s investigation into the fatality found that it could have been caused by an inadvertent activation of an improperly positioned gate interlock control.

Fatal pipeline explosion was preventable, says NTSB

December 16, 2019

Inadequate planning and communication were what led to the 2016 gas pipeline explosion and fire in Alabama that killed two workers and injured four others, according to an investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). The October 31 blast near Helena occurred when a contractor who was excavating damaged the Colonial Pipeline Company’s (Colonial) 36-inch diameter refined liquid petroleum transmission pipeline

A FairWarning Report

Boxed in: Dollar Tree, the giant discount chain, cited for job safety violations at dozens of stores

Amy Martyn

December 11, 2019

There are so many boxes at Dollar Tree stores that workers are always running out of room. The boxes form unstable piles that block aisles, reach precarious heights and, most seriously, block emergency exits. At one store, inspectors found that an employee was injured and needed help when boxes fell on them. Another time, an OSHA inspector was videotaping conditions in a store when a tower of boxes tumbled and nearly hit another worker.

Five injured in arc flash at Colorado hydroelectric station

December 11, 2019

An arc flash at Xcel Energy's Cabin Creek Hydroelectric Generating Station in Colorado left five employees with non-life-threatening injuries, according to a report from the Clear Creek Courant, Idaho Springs, Colo. At 8:10 a.m. authorities responded to an emergency at the plant, which is above Georgetown along Guanella Pass Road.

Pa. company cited after confined space death

December 10, 2019

OSHA has cited Dana Railcare – based in Wilmington, Delaware – for confined space hazards after an employee fatality in Pittston, Pennsylvania. The railcar service provider faces $551,226 in proposed penalties. An employee was asphyxiated in May 2019, while servicing a rail car containing crude oil sludge. OSHA cited the company for four willful and three serious violations for failing to protect employees from the hazards of entering permit-required confined spaces, and inadequate respiratory protection procedures.