OSHA has ordered the Utah Transit Authority, headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, to immediately reinstate a wrongfully discharged employee to his former position and pay more than $130,000 in back wages with interest, compensatory damages and attorney's fees, an agency press release said. OSHA's recently completed investigation determined that the Utah Transit Authority discharged the worker in violation of the whistleblower provision of the Federal Railroad Safety Act.
The U.S. Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration announced in a recent press statement the release of a new Program Information Bulletin pertaining to the prohibition of advance notification of federal mine inspectors on mine property. The PIB reminds mine operators, miners' representatives and MSHA enforcement personnel that the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 (Mine Act) prohibits providing advance notice of inspections conducted by MSHA inspectors. In addition, the PIB clarifies potential consequences for anyone who violates this advance notice prohibition.
In a recent letter to OSHA on the proposed ‘Walking-Working Surfaces and Personal Protective Equipment’ rule (29 CFR, Part 1910), the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) urged OSHA to utilize existing fall standards and the voluntary consensus standards process widely used in industry as it develops the new rule.
The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and The Fire Protection Research Foundation, an affiliate of the NFPA, will be hosting a two-day long symposium on New Strategies for Dust Explosion Hazard and Control, set to take place on October 20 and 21 at Embassy Suites Kansas City-Plaza, Kansas City, Missouri, according to an NFPA press release.
Along with texting or talking on a cell phone, dogs left unrestrained inside a moving vehicle are a frequent distraction, a new study by the American Automobile Association warns.
A report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that tobacco use in the most popular films hit a high in 2005, and has been falling since.
EPA and the U.S. Justice Department today announced that Air Products LLC has agreed to pay nearly $1.5 million in civil penalties to resolve hazardous waste mismanagement violations at its Pasadena, Texas chemical manufacturing facility. The settlement resolves Air Products’ Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) violations in transferring spent acid to the neighboring Agrifos fertilizer manufacturing plant.
From SeaWorld’s web site blog: “SeaWorld disagrees with the unfounded allegations made by OSHA and have already informed the agency that we will contest this citation. The safety of our guests and employees and the welfare of our animals are core values for SeaWorld and areas in which we do not compromise.
The National Transportation Safety Board announced in a recent press release that the agency will hold a forum on fishing vessel safety beginning Wednesday, October 13, 2010 at 9:00 a.m. The two-day forum will be chaired by NTSB Board Member Robert Sumwalt.
In a one-year period, the cost of medical care and productivity losses associated with injuries from motor vehicle crashes exceeded $99 billion — with the cost of direct medical care accounting for $17 billion, according to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The total annual cost amounts to nearly $500 for each licensed driver in the United States, said the study in the journal Traffic Injury Prevention.