Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Loren Sweatt spoke at the Pennsylvania Governor's Safety and Health Conference on October 28, 2019.

An Ohio county court has sentenced Jim Coon – a roofing contractor based in Akron, Ohio – to prison after he pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the death of a 39-year-old employee who fell from a three-story roof while working without required fall protection in November 2017.

A fatal fall was among the OSHA enforcement cases finalized over the past few days – violations that show a persistent failure among some construction industry employers to address fall hazards. Falls are the leading cause of fatalities in construction. In Dayton, Ohio, a company that has been cited for fall protection violations five times since 2014 was cited once again.

A construction worker who watched two co-workers fall to their deaths at a hotel construction site in Florida last year is suing Marriott and its partner companies for failing to provide sufficient safeguards for workers. News sources say the August 29 incident occurred during construction of a 16-story hotel.

Two Susan Harwood Training Grant Program recipients have developed free training programs to help protect construction workers from fall hazards. The University of Tennessee training program offers three modules on OSHA's role in workplace safety, health and safety standards affecting construction workers, and preventing common types of falls at construction sites.

According to a report by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), a high number of American workers were seriously injured or died on the job due to traumatic brain injuries. The study found that construction workers sustain more traumatic brain injuries than workers at any other type of workplace in the United States. Between 2003 to 2010, more than 2,200 construction workers died due to a traumatic brain injury.

Oregon OSHA has launched a free online course to help employers and workers across the state meet the agency’s requirements to eliminate fall hazards, prevent falls, and ensure that workers who do fall do not die. The two-hour course, “Fundamentals of Fall Protection,” includes six parts with 28 videos and is designed to supplement employers’ fall protection training programs.

Once again, fall-related violations were behind most of the biggest fines OSHA issued to construction companies in the second quarter of 2019. One of the contractors, Shawn D. Purvis, has been charged criminally in relation to a death that occurred on one of his company's jobsites.

A worker’s high-profile death at a baseball stadium, workplace violence at a car dealership and not all types of sitting are equally bad for your health. These were among the top occupational safety and health stories featured on ISHN.com this week.