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OSHA has cited R.A.W. Construction LLC for exposing its employees to trench collapse hazards. The Tallahassee-based company faces proposed penalties of $148,845. During its investigation of the company’s Loganville worksite, OSHA identified two repeat and five serious violations, including failing to provide cave-in protection, and safe access and egress to employees installing gas lines at the excavation site, and not setting excavated materials at least 2 feet from the excavation.

As retailers and other businesses temporarily increase staffing levels to accommodate heightened seasonal consumer demand, the U.S. Department of Labor is reminding employers of the necessity of complying with federal labor laws related to safety, pay, and benefits. “The busy holiday shopping season places heavy demands on employers and employees, particularly in the retail, warehouse, and delivery sectors."

Firefighter battling SoCal wildfire dies from ‘thermal injuries, smoke inhalation’ SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP) — A firefighter died Thursday while working a colossal wildfire burning in coastal mountains northwest of Los Angeles that has become the fourth largest in California history. Cory Iverson was an engineer with a state fire engine strike team based in San Diego. Iverson, 32, is survived by his pregnant wife and a 2-year-old daughter, said Fire Chief Ken Pimlott of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

In the unlikely event that anyone out there was thinking that workplace fatalities were fading into the past, check out the newest Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries that was released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics today. According to BLS, 5,190 fatal work injuries died on the job in 2016, a 7-percent increase from the 4,836 fatal injuries reported in 2015 and the third year in a row the number has increased.

There were a total of 5,190 fatal work injuries recorded in the United States in 2016, a 7-percent increase from the 4,836 fatal injuries reported in 2015, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported yesterday. This is the third consecutive increase in annual workplace fatalities and the first time more than 5,000 fatalities have been recorded by the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) since 2008.

A jury and judge have ordered Albany-based asbestos abatement and demolition company Champagne Demolition, LLC and its owner, Joseph A. Champagne, to pay $173,793.84 to a former employee who was fired in June 2010 after reporting improper asbestos removal practices at a school worksite in Gloversville, New York. On June 10, 2010, an employee of Champagne Demolition, LLC informed company management of the improper practices. The employee was fired the next day and subjected to verbal threats and legal action.

Nurse Carmelita Kinjo was eager to begin her night shift in the intensive care unit at the Veterans Administration hospital where she worked. As her thoughts turned to the evening that lay ahead of her and the patients she would tend to, she slipped on a wet floor. Someone had forgotten to replace the sign warning that it was wet. Kinjo fell backward, hitting her head and slamming into a wall.