Posted with permission from Confined Space, a newsletter of workplace safety and labor issues.
After a 3 month-long trial, jurors are finally deliberating on the fate of three rail workers accused of criminal neglegence when a “bomb train” carrying 73 cars of highly combustible crude oil derailed in the small Quebec town of Lac-Mégantic in 2013, killing 47 people.
The fifth time was not a charm for a Holland, Ohio roofing company that was cited recently by OSHA for exposing employees to falls and other safety hazards. The contractor, Casey Bortles, has been cited for similar violations four times since 2014. The most recent round of citations comes with a penalty total of $91,629.
A New Jersey company faces $199,996 in proposed penalties for safety and health violations, after failing to abate similar hazards it was cited for two years ago.
The EPA is considering eliminating age requirements that currently prevent teen workers in the agriculture industry from handling dangerous pesticides.
The rule, which prohibits workers under 18 years old from being in contact with pesticides, was issued in 2015 because pesticides can affect brain development and increase cancer risk in children.
OSHA has issued serious confined space citations to a construction company in Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands, after three of its employees died from exposure to hydrogen sulfide gas.
The tragedy occurred on July 7, 2017, as USA Fanter employees were working in and around a well that was not identified as a permit-required confined space.
OSHA has cited Tampa Electric Co. and Gaffin Industrial Services Inc. after five employees were fatally injured, and one other suffered serious burns.
In June 2017, OSHA investigated the Big Bend River Station electrical power plant in Apollo Beach following the fatalities. Inspectors determined that the employees were burned when a blockage inside a coal-fired furnace broke free and spewed molten slag into the work area.
Bullying – specifically racial bullying – appears to be behind a workplace violence incident yesterday in suburban Detroit that left one person dead, another critically injured and a third facing life in prison.
Police are saying that the double shooting at Reliable Fence Company in Clinton Township, Michigan stemmed from an ongoing dispute between employees.
For the second year in a row, Hawaii claimed the top spot with the happiest workforce in America, according to career matching platform Sokanu, which has released an infogographic on the results of their annual survey about job satisfaction.
When her black cat rapidly dropped from a healthy 14 pounds to a skeletal five pounds, it was natural for Arlene Blum to investigate whether a toxic chemical in her home might be to blame. The veterinarian’s diagnosis raised that possibility, and Blum had expertise in the harm that chemicals can cause.
Worker dies after northeastern Indiana industrial accident
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) — Authorities say a worker has died in an accident at an industrial facility in northeastern Indiana. The Allen County sheriff’s department says the woman got stuck in a machine at Fort Wayne Plastics on Sunday afternoon.
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