While cleaning an auger used to rice potatoes, a 39-year-old production worker found her left arm caught in a running auger.

Officials say an Oklahoma City roofing and building products company will now have to pay thousands in damages after firing two employees. 

OSHA’s recent enforcement activity serves as a reminder to employers across all industries of the obligation to record work-related COVID-19-related infections, hospitalizations and fatalities. An employer’s failure to comply with OSHA’s recordkeeping and reporting requirements could result in significant penalties.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently issued guidance and an accompanying one-page summary outlining which standards are most frequently cited during coronavirus-related inspections. 

Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic through Dec. 31, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has issued citations arising from 300 inspections for violations relating to coronavirus, resulting in proposed penalties totaling $3,930,381.

OSHA reached a settlement agreement with the Target Corporation, resolving several cases before the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. Target agreed to pay $464,750 in penalties to resolve a series of eight cases at the review commission.

The Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration (MIOSHA) issued COVID-19 “general duty" citations to 19 different businesses with serious violations for failing to uphold safety and health workplace guidelines, potentially putting workers in harm’s way. 

OSHA has cited a second large meat production company for failing to protect employees from exposure to the coronavirus.

California’s workplace safety regulator has cited a frozen food manufacturer and its temporary employment agency for failing to protect hundreds of employees from the coronavirus at two Los Angeles area plants.

OSHA has cited Smithfield Packaged Meats Corp. in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, for failing to protect employees from exposure to the coronavirus.