A 31-year-old worker was the second person killed in a year at Madden Bolt Corp. when a cutting-table explosion in August 2014 hurled the employee and a steel plate into the air. The plate then landed on the fallen worker, OSHA investigators determined.
Georgia-Pacific Chemicals facing $60,500 in penalties
February 5, 2015
Workers at Georgia-Pacific Chemicals LLC were exposed to dangerous chemicals, such as formaldehyde and other potential health and safety hazards, because the company failed to implement proper chemical management procedures at its Columbus plant.
OSHA has fined Ashley Furniture Industries, Inc. approximately $1.76M after finding that the company has had more than 1,000 worker injuries in past three years, including more than 100 amputations (PDF*) from woodworking machinery.
A worker at WKW Erbsloeh North America Inc.'s Alabama facility was helping with tank maintenance when he slipped, fell backwards, and became submerged himself in a tank filled with highly corrosive phosphoric and sulfuric acid.
Tangled extension cords, overloaded power outlets in wet locations, blocked exits, faulty forklifts, machines without safety guards and damaged floors were all in a hazardous day at work for employees at Xpedited Services LLC's warehouse in Jersey City, OSHA investigators found.
Construction company cited for willfully violating safety laws
January 28, 2015
A chance to get on-the-job training in construction turned tragic when a Delaware high school student suffered a severe head injury after a one-story fall off an unguarded balcony at a local construction site.
When two Lone Star Management LLC employees were directed to use a gas-powered forklift to move pallets of fireworks and cardboard out of an explosives storage facility, the gas ignited, causing an explosion and fire.
While operating an industrial machine, a worker at MCM Precision Castings Inc. was exposed to noise levels that averaged 97 decibels, equal to the noise of a jackhammer, over his eight-hour shift. Employees of the Weston, Ohio-based company were also exposed to dangerously high noise levels and crystalline silica dust, a cause of chronic lung disease, OSHA has found.
Employers face more than $110K in fines for failing to provide fall protection
January 21, 2015
Workers doing renovation at the former Dye Works in Easthampton faced potentially fatal falls of up to 40 feet because their employers failed to provide proper protection, OSHA has found. Agency inspectors visited the work site on July 11, 2014, in response to a complaint about fall hazards there.
Clyde Nettles Jr. was in an unprotected trench reconnecting drainpipes at Fort Bragg on July 24, 2014, when, without warning, the walls collapsed around him and another worker. The other worker was able to escape uninjured, but 22-year-old Nettles was not.