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.
OSHA issued a fine of $75,156 to packaging firm Ampac Mobile Holdings LLC after two workers were injured by machinery at the firm’s manufacturing plant in Mobile, AL, the agency announced in a recent release.
Amputations, fractured fingers, second-degree burns and head trauma are just some of the serious injuries suffered by U.S. meat plant workers every week, according to data seen by the Guardian and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism.
OSHA cited Cedar Fair LP – which operates as Cedar Point – for failing to protect workers from fall hazards after an employee suffered serious injuries at its Sandusky, Ohio, amusement park. The company faces proposed penalties of $142,270 for one willful and one serious safety violation, the maximum penalties allowed under the law.
One momentary decision in a hazardous workplace forever changed the lives of a worker who suffered grievous injuries and the co-worker whose actions inadvertently led to that injury.
It also led to more than a quarter million dollars in fines against the company that employed them.
In the face of global competition, fabricators are looking for new ways to lower per-piece costs. While automation is one option, another attactive opportunity is machine safeguarding. Having proper safetyguarding in place can not only reduce accidents, it can increase a fabricator's overall productivity and profitability, eliminate costly OSHA violations and legal expenses, and lower insurance premiums.
Koch Foods of Gainesville, LLC., was cited for exposing employees to amputation hazards; and failing to provide fall protection, identify which employees were using hazardous energy control locks, and train employees exposed to noise hazards. Proposed penalties total $208,977.
With a large swath of the nation in the grip of icy cold temperatures, frostbite is a very real hazard for anyone who must spend time outdoors.
Frostbite is a serious condition that’s caused by exposure to extremely cold temperatures - a bodily injury caused by freezing that results in loss of feeling and color in affected areas.
This article by Elizabeth Floyd Mair of the Altamont Enterprise is a rare summary of a court case involving an employer challenge of an OSHA citation related to the gruesome death of a day laborer who was dragged into a wood-chipper on May 4, 2016. The employer, Tony Watson, owner of Countryside Tree Care, is contesting citations totaling $141,811 related to the death of Justus Booze, a 23-year old day laborer halfway through his first day on the job.
Two serious injuries to workers – including an amputation of a left index finger -- brought OSHA investigators to an auto parts manufacturing facility in Buford, Georgia. The agency subsequently cited Elringklinger USA Inc. for exposing workers to electrical, fall, and noise hazards. Proposed penalties total $308,906.
OSHA inspected Elringklinger USA on May 2, 2017, after an employee performing maintenance on a screen print machine was injured.
