Government Safety Regulations - Articles - Page 96

Vineyard worker dies in machinery

May 31, 2019

A Napa Valley grape company is contesting the violations that OSHA issued to it after the death of a worker in a field in October 2018. Following an investigation into the death of 49-year-old Leon Marcelo Lua, OSHA issued citations for five safety and health violations – three of them serious - against De Coninck Vineyards in American Canyon. Proposed penalties: $38,000.

22 OSH violations at one facility

May 31, 2019

OSHA has issued a whopping 22 citations to Kumho Tire Georgia Inc., Sae Joong Mold Inc., and J-Brothers Inc. after a follow-up inspection found safety and health hazards at the tire manufacturing facility in Macon, Georgia. The three companies collectively face $523,895 in proposed penalties.

Workplace violence, LOTO, silica on OSHA’s spring 2019 regulatory agenda

May 31, 2019

The spring 2019 regulatory agenda released by OSHA last week includes rulemakings in various stages that will be priorities for the agency in the near future. Included on the agenda:

OSHA in the age of robotics

Evolving tech may bring changes to 30-year-old LOTO rule

Maureen Paraventi

May 30, 2019

OSHA’s recent call for comments that may be used to help update its Lockout/Tagout (LOTO) standard highlights an area of growing concern for safety professionals: robotics-human interaction. When the agency’s Control of Hazardous Energy (LOTO) standard was issued in 1989, industrial robots were in use – primarily in manufacturing – but they bore little resemblance to their modern day counterparts. In the 1960s, '70s and '80s, industrial robots were capable of gripping objects, moving them from one point to another and performing assembly tasks.

Food company must improve safety at 8 facilities

May 24, 2019

A New Jersey food manufacturer has reached a region-wide settlement with OSHA and agreed to pay $152,934 in penalties for a range of safety citations. The settlement with Pennsauken-based J&J Snack Foods Corp. will affect the company’s eight food manufacturing and warehouse facilities in New Jersey and New York.

Worker engagement requires enabling workers to speak up

Empowering is not enough – you must ENABLE!

Rob Fisher

May 24, 2019

Most organizations, especially those that manage higher risks, have a “requirement” for the workforce to stop work and get help when they are “unsure.” When you talk to managers, they believe this empowerment is what is needed to get people to stop.

Recent OSH enforcement: Carcinogens, saws and unguarded machinery

May 23, 2019

The Alaska Occupational Safety and Health Division issued 14 citations and $270,723 in penalties to Trident Seafood Corporation after two workers were seriously injured by unguarded machinery. Inspectors found that the company failed to provide machine guarding on augers, conveyors, sprocket wheels, and chains.

Feds to remove "regulatory barriers" to self-driving cars

May 23, 2019

Two federal agencies are taking steps to speed up the introduction of vehicles equipped with automated driving systems (ADS) on U.S. roads. The U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) have issued advance notices of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) “on the removal of unnecessary regulatory barriers” to the use of ADS in the U.S.

NC contractor earns 15 fall protection violations in five years

Company slogan is “Always Done Right”

May 23, 2019

OSHA’s recent enforcement actions against DDG Construction Services Inc. must have been like déjà vu all over again for the Charlotte, North Carolina-based company. The agency cited DDG for failing to provide workers with fall protection at a commercial building site in Springfield, Missouri – bringing the number of fall violations the company has been cited for since 2014 to 15. Proposed penalties for the latest round of citations: $98,693.

OSHA eliminates a residential construction requirement

May 22, 2019

OSHA is eliminating a construction industry requirement that it says will “lessen the compliance burden of employers without jeopardizing the safety of employees.” In a final rule published in the Federal Register on May 14, the agency says employers will no longer have to post maximum safe-load limits of floors in storage areas when constructing single-family dwellings or wood-framed multi-family structures.