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.

Gilster-Mary Lee Corp. of Steeleville, Illinois has been cited by OSHA for six safety violations including three willful after two maintenance employees conducting welding operations sustained serious burns to their upper bodies as the result of an explosion within a dust collector at the company's pasta manufacturing plant on Oct. 6, 2011. The incident occurred as the two employees were repairing a hole in the side of a metal trough.

Two employees of a granite and marble business in suburban Detroit were fatally crushed Monday afternoon when multiple slabs of granite fell on them. Sterling Heights Fire Chief Chris Martin said it appeared that the workers were using an overhead crane to move granite slabs – each weighing more than 1,000 pounds. When slabs were lifted off their storage rack, others shifted, causing slabs to fall on the men.

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.

The employer of a man killed in a trench collapse last year in Colorado has been charged with manslaughter, according to the Granby Police Department. The June 14, 2018 incident claimed the life of Rosario Martinez-Lopez, who was working in a trench at a condominium project when the collapse occurred. By the time emergency crews dug him out, he was unresponsive.

A shipbuilding worker with nearly four decades worth of experience fell to his death yesterday while working on the aircraft carrier USS George Washington. News sources say Tim Ewing, a construction supervisor who’d worked for Newport News Shipbuilding for 39 years, may have fallen while working in a tank.

A Hollywood motorcycle stunt that looked dangerous actually was – to the filmworkers who were executing it. A recent incident during the filming of “Bad Boys for Life,” starring Will Smith, Vanessa Hudgens and Martin Lawrence, resulted in injuries to two people and OSHA citations against their employer, Garden Films Productions LLC.

After being trapped for approximately three hours, a construction worker was extricated yesterday from the sand and debris in which his foot had been caught at a downtown Minneapolis construction site. In a statement, project manager Kraus-Anderson said the worker’s “foot was caught between the retaining wall board and the building’s footings, with sand up to his knees” while he was removing the retaining wall boards.

Inadequate shoring may have caused the roof collapse yesterday in Houston that injured nine construction workers at a hotel being built in north Houston. According to news sources, the incident occurred while workers were pouring concrete.