All preventable workplace fatalities make me mad, but none make me madder than trench collapses and confined space fatalities. There is no reason for any of them to happen. The hazards of trenches and confined spaces are well known and there are good OSHA standards that would prevent these deaths if followed.
OSHA has issued a dozen citations and proposed $226,431 in fines following its investigation into the Nov. 29, 2016, death of a 26-year-old machine operator at a Pensacola-area electrical cable manufacturer.
On April 28, while thousands of Americans were commemorating Workers Memorial Day, 21 year old Kevin Hartley was hard at work stripping a bathtub. Co-workers found Kevin unconscious and rushed him to the hospital where he died later that afternoon of cardiac arrest.
A fall, suffocation and being crushed claimed the lives of two construction workers and left another with serious injuries in separate incidents in New York last week.
Zachary Henzerling, a 20 year old ” big kid at heart,” was on his third week at work for Environmental Enterprises Inc., a hazardous waste management facility in Spring Valley, Ohio, when he was killed 2012 in a flash fire and explosion on Dec. 28, 2012.
The fatal explosion earlier this month at a Wisconsin corn mill shows the need for increased enforcement of safety laws and regulations, according to an advocacy group, which points to a history of violations at the workplace.
A renaissance in safety and health thinking is taking place as rates for fatal and serious injuries and illnesses continue unabated. This movement is re-examining of some of the concepts that underpin the safety and health profession.
First there was the National Safety Stand-Down to Prevent Falls in Construction. Now, contractors are being asked to stop work at their trenching operations in order to raise awareness of trenching and excavation hazards.
NIOSH has led a research program focused on small business safety and health for more than two decades because we know workers in small businesses are injured and killed on the job at a higher rate than workers in larger businesses. Over the years, we have expanded our research focus from identifying small businesses in high-risk sectors to understanding how community networks affect worker safety and health.
Quick action by co-workers saved the life of a South Dakota construction worker who was almost completely buried in a trench collapse last week.
News reports say the man was working in a sewer trench Tuesday in Emery when the incident occurred, covering all but one of his hands in dirt.