OSHA has cited Goose Lake Construction Inc. after an employee suffered serious injuries when an unprotected trench collapsed, burying him up to his waist at a Glencoe, Illinois, worksite. The agency proposed penalties of $233,377.

A Kentucky sanitation worker is recovering from serious injuries he sustained last week on the job when he was struck by an SUV. News sources say 25-year-old Sheldon Morris was pinned between a garbage truck and the SUV at approximately 7 a.m. on Dec. 31 along a highway in Bedford.

OSHA cited ASARCO – a metal smelting company – for electrical hazards after an arc flash caused three workers to suffer severe burns at its facility in Hayden, Arizona. The company faces $278,456 in penalties for two willful violations and one serious violation.

An incident that occurred Friday on the set of a Hollywood movie being filmed in British Columbia left a crew member with injuries, according to TMZ. EMTs were summoned to the set of “The Last Victim,” a movie starring Ron Perlman. TMZ is reporting that the driver of the truck involved accidentally accelerated, missing its stop and “sending the crew scrambling to safety.”

Following the regulations and staying in compliance are important, but we know you want to go beyond minimum requirements to keep your employees safe. Some regulations have numerous training and employee information requirements, while others have none. Are you covering everything? And what does it take to go above what’s required?

An Alabama newspaper publishing company is facing $145,858 in penalties after an OSHA investigation into an employee injury determined that the company has been exposing its workers to amputation hazards. The incident at BH Media’s Opelika, Alabama facility occurred when an employee suffered a finger amputation when their hand was caught in a stacking machine that unintentionally started while being serviced.

OSHA has cited Dollar Tree Stores at four Idaho locations for exposing employees to unsafe storage of merchandise, and blocked walkways and exit routes. The company faces $898,682 in proposed penalties. OSHA inspectors initially responded to a complaint alleging that a Dollar Tree store in Boise was exposing employees to unstable stacks and piles of boxes in the store’s stockroom.

The termination of two employees who participated in an OSHA investigation into a workplace injury has resulted in a federal judge ordering their former employee to pay them $1,047,399 in lost wages and punitive damages. The case began with a workplace incident in which one of the employees' co-workers suffered the amputation of three fingers.

A Missouri barrel maker is facing $413,370 in penalties after an employee suffered a life-changing injury on the job. The incident at Missouri Cooperage Company LLC, a subsidiary of Independent Stave Company, occurred in February 2019, when a worker suffered a finger amputation after her hand was caught between the belt and pulley system. This was the fifth amputation injury the company reported in a 14-month period.

In the study, “Suicide and drug‐related mortality following occupational injury,” published in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine, researchers found that workplace injury significantly raises a person’s risk of suicide or overdose death. Earlier studies have shown that injured workers have elevated rates opioid use and depression.