The Tampa Bay Times has published a fascinating and tragic investigative piece on the June 29, 2017 incident where five workers at Tampa Electric — Michael McCort, 60, Christopher Irvin, 40; Frank Lee Jones, 55, Antonio Navarrete, 21, and Amando J. Perez, 56 — lost their lives at the Big Bend Power Station after management forced them to do a procedure that they knew was hazardous.
Aluminum Shapes, a New Jersey company, has the rare distinction of being the subject of one of only ten enforcement-related press releases issued during the first six months of the Trump administration. What did they do to earn this honor and the $1.9 million penalty that came with it?
I wrote a few weeks ago about the death of three workers in a confined space incident where the initial worker passed out and two would-be rescuers died attempting to rescue the original victim.
FARGO, ND — A contract worker painting stripes on the runway of Hector International Airport was killed in a collision with an SUV early Monday, July 31, 2017, said Shawn Dobberstein, executive director of the Fargo Airport Authority. The name of the worker has not yet been released.
Police say a construction worker was found dead, pinned in an elevator shaft after he returned to his worksite to retrieve something he’d forgotten. Stephen Simpson, 53, a Brooklyn resident, was pronounced dead Sunday after fellow workers discovered his body pinned in the shaft of the 56-story Manhattan luxury building at West 41st Street and Tenth Ave.
The Office of Management and Budget released its Spring (very, very late Spring) Regulatory Agenda yesterday. The Regulatory Agenda is what it sounds like: a plan and timeline for each agency’s regulations, what the next steps are and when they are expected. The Regulatory Agenda is released every Spring and Fall.
Loren Sweatt, Senior Policy Advisor for the House Committee on Education and the Workforce will reportedly be named Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA. Pending a nomination and confirmation of an Assistant Secretary (rumored to be Scott Mugno from FedEx), Sweatt will be the OSHA’s highest official and in effect (if not in name) Acting Assistant Secretary.
OSHA released a grant announcement last week for its Susan Harwood Worker Training Grants. No, the Trump administration did not wake up and suddenly realize how important job safety and health training is to high risk and vulnerable workers. These grants are funded by FY 2017 money which has already been appropriated and must be spent.
Good news! The House Appropriations Committee released its FY 2018 Interior and Environment Appropriations budget bill today and it fully funds the Chemical Safety Board. The Trump administration had recommended that the Board be eliminated. The sub-committee will vote on the bill tomorrow.
