OSHA has proposed $112,000 in fines against Home Depot USA Inc., chiefly for failing to correct hazards previously cited at the retail chain's West Nyack, N.Y., store.
OSHA has cited Worthen Industries Inc., a Nashua, N.H., manufacturer of glues and adhesives, and S.L. Chasse Welding & Fabrication Inc., a Hudson, N.H., steel erection contractor, for alleged violations of workplace safety standards following a Jan. 23 explosion at Worthen's manufacturing plant, according to an agency press release. Combined penalties against the two employers total $257,500.
ORC Worldwide, an environmental health and safety global consultancy based in D.C. with a client roster of many of the world’s largest companies, issued a generally favorable position piece on HR 5663.
The House Education and Labor Committee approved July 21 legislation that would increase criminal and civil penalties for OSHA violations, strengthen whistleblower protections and speed up hazard abatement. The Robert C. Byrd Miner Safety and Health Act (H.R. 5663), passed on a largely party line vote of 30-17, would also provide stronger enforcement tools to the Department of Labor to enforce mine safety regulations.
President Obama has sent a memorandum for the heads of executive departments and agencies outlining a new plan to protect Federal workers on the job: “The Presidential POWER Initiative: Protecting Our Workers and Ensuring Reemployment.”
OSHA has announced a new rule addressing the use of cranes and derricks in construction, which will replace a decades-old standard. Approximately 267,000 construction, crane rental and crane certification establishments employing about 4.8 million workers will be affected by the rule.
Less than half of young adults don't get cholesterol screening even though up to a quarter of them have elevated cholesterol, according to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Adult obesity rates increased in 28 states in the past year, and declined only in the District of Columbia (D.C.), according to F as in Fat: How Obesity Threatens America's Future 2010, a report from the Trust for America's Health (TFAH) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). More than two-thirds of states (38) have adult obesity rates above 25 percent.
Many U.S. employees use social media for personal reasons, but a vast majority have not yet jumped onto the social media bandwagon for business use, nor are they interested in receiving information about their health benefits through social media, according to a new survey by the National Business Group on Health, a non-profit group of nearly 300 large U.S. employers.
A $13 million settlement has been reached between four parties and the United States to expedite cleanup of the contaminated Blackburn and Union Privileges Superfund Site in Walpole, Mass., the Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced. The parties involved in the settlement include W.R. Grace & Co.-Conn., a former owner and operator of the site; Tyco Healthcare Group, also former owner and operator; as well as BIM Investment Corp. and Shaffer Realty Nominee Trust, the current owners.