A blistering new report by the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General (OIG) says that OSHA’s revised fatality and severe injury reporting requirements are failing to produce accurate data, which hinders the agency’s ability to effectively target compliance assistance and enforcement efforts.
A Wisconsin meatpacking company faces nearly a quarter of a million dollars in penalties after an employee suffered serious injuries from being caught in an unguarded machine.
OSHA has cited JBS Green Bay Inc. - based in Green Bay, Wisconsin - for one willful and 10 serious violations, and faces proposed penalties of $221,726, which includes the maximum penalty for the willful violation.
OSHA has launched a new program to address hazards from exposure to fertilizer-grade ammonium nitrate (FGAN) and agricultural anhydrous ammonium. The Regional Emphasis Program (REP) will be effective in the states of Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas.
An OSHA investigation into a worker fatality at an Ohio country club uncovered a host of safety violations.
The Rocky Fork Hunt and Country Club in Gahanna, Ohio, which has what it describes on its website as “175 scenic acres of landscaped grounds, dense forest, hills and fields” was the site of a fatal accident after a lawnmower a worker was operating tipped over.
Great Southern Peanut has multiple confined space violations
September 24, 2018
A Georgia peanut processing facility that failed to live up to its formal settlement with OSHA faces $309,505 in proposed penalties.
OSHA says a follow-up inspection it conducted at the Leesburg worksite as part of that agreement found that Great Southern Peanut LLC failed to:
The U.S. Labor Department says its new Office of Compliance Initiatives (OCI) will strengthen compliance assistance outreach by promoting a greater understanding of federal labor laws and regulations.
In announcing the new office last month, U.S. Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta said OCI efforts will help companies prevent violations and protect Americans' wages, workplace safety and health, retirement security, and other rights and benefits. As part of its work, OCI will work with the enforcement agencies to refine their metrics to ensure the efficacy of the Department's compliance assistance activities.
OSHA has cited pallet manufacturer Buckeye Diamond Logistics Inc. - which operates as BDL Supply - for lockout/tagout hazards after an employee suffered an amputation at the Columbus-based company. OSHA proposed penalties of $191,794 for two repeated and four serious violations.
Employees of a woodworking company in Greenville, Alabama performed their work without protective eyewear and respirators.
Those were among the violations that got Harrison Industries LLC - operating as Structural Wood Systems Inc. – multiple OSHA citations. The company faces $85,362 in proposed penalties.
Virginia Occupational Safety and Health issued five citations and $304,130 in penalties to Lanford Brothers Company for exposing workers to respirable crystalline silica hazards while using jackhammers to remove concrete from bridge piers.
OSHA has cited Thorpe Specialty Services Corp. - operating as Thorpe Plant Services Inc. - and Steel Dust Recycling LLC for fall and confined space hazards after an employee was hospitalized following a 30-foot fall at Steel Dust’s Millport, Alabama, facility.
