OSHA has cited Spear Excavating LLC – based in Pennsburg, Pennsylvania – for exposing employees to trenching hazards at a worksite in Malvern, Pennsylvania. The company faces $106,057 in proposed penalties. OSHA initiated an inspection on August 2, 2018, after receiving a complaint alleging the hazards.

OSHA's Respiratory Protection Standard applies to general industry, construction, shipyards, marine terminals, and longshoring. The OSHA respirator standard applies to all occupational airborne exposures to contaminated air where the employee is.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries reported 54 fatalities in 2009 from scaffold staging. In a BLS study, 72 percent of workers injured in scaffold accidents said either the planking or support gave way, slipping, or being struck by a falling object. All can be controlled by compliance with OSHA standards.

OSHA cited wholesale auto and truck parts distributor Parts Authority Georgia, LLC, for exposing workers to smoke and fire hazards. Inspectors determined that the company allowed obstructed exits; exposed workers to struck-by hazards from damaged storage rack supports and shelves; and failed to provide training on recognizing chemical hazards.

A company that provides temporary agriculture labor has been cited by OSHA, after one of its employees died from a heat-related illness. OSHA found that Rivera Agri Inc. failed to protect employees working in excessive heat after a farmworker succumbed to apparent heat-related symptoms while working in a cornfield near Grand Island, Nebraska.

From east to west, north to south, both federal OSHA and state-level agencies say busy conducting investigations and issuing citations to companies who violate safety regulations. This review of recent cases indicates a variety of citations issued, for confined space, fall and trenching hazards, among others.

OSHA has cited Sabel Steel Service Inc. – based in Montgomery, Alabama – for exposing employees to amputation, fall, and other hazards at four of the company's facilities. The manufacturer faces $320,261 in penalties.

A 46-year-old hockey-playing oilfield worker nearly died last December connecting a hose to a valve at a rural Saskatchewan production operation in February, 2014. His face was sprayed with a mix of gas, water and oil. He inhaled and swallowed it.

A blistering new report by the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General (OIG) says that OSHA’s revised fatality and severe injury reporting requirements are failing to produce accurate data, which hinders the agency’s ability to effectively target compliance assistance and enforcement efforts.