Thousands of people are blinded each year from work-related eye injuries. These injuries are due to none or ill-fitting protection.

For the second time in a year, the U.S. Department of Labor has cited a Dollar General store in Greencastle for endangering its workers’ safety and continuing the nationwide discount chain’s long history of federal workplace safety violations and penalties.

A federal workplace safety investigation into how an employee suffered serious injuries in January 2022 at a Temple, Texas manufacturing facility operated by Carpenter Co. found the company had not installed adequate machine guards or locking devices on a hot laminating machine to protect workers from unsafe contact with the machine’s operating parts.

After a 40-year-old worker suffered the partial amputation of one finger and an injury to a second one while cleaning a machine at a Pennsylvania metal buildings manufacturer in January 2022, federal workplace safety inspectors found the company willfully exposed the worker to amputation hazards.

The U.S. Department of Labor cited a South Georgia pillow manufacturer following an inspection that found three workers had sustained amputation injuries amid repeat workplace safety violations.

Federal workplace safety investigators determined that an oil company’s failure to take adequate safety precautions contributed to a drilling site explosion near Grassy Butte on Nov. 4, 2021, that permanently disabled one worker and left two others with serious injuries.

Expenses are an unavoidable reality and the cost of doing business. The trick is to pick the right things to spend money on, to maximize revenue and minimize cost. In the post-COVID era absenteeism has skyrocketed in many industries, becoming a key focus for executives who want to bring down costs.