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.

OSHA has cited U.S. Nonwovens Corp. – a home and personal care fabric product manufacturer – for repeat and serious safety violations after an employee suffered a fractured hand at the plant in Hauppauge, New York. The company faces $287,212 in penalties. Investigators determined the employee’s injury occurred when his hand became caught in a fabric-softener sheet-cutting machine.

Last October, Erick Solis, a 19-year-old temp worker at a Los Angeles food company, lost two fingers when his hand got caught in an unguarded dough-rolling machine. Cal/OSHA, the state job safety agency, cited the company, JSL Foods Inc., for willful violations because an almost identical accident had happened before.

A construction worker was trapped for at least 90 minutes after a 10-foot-deep hole opened up outside Disney's Animal Kingdom on Tuesday, according to Orange County Fire Rescue. Firefighters responded just before 2 p.m. to a construction area next to the rideshare pickup and drop-off area in the parking lot.

Are you a worker who is experiencing low back pain? You aren’t alone! A recently published article from NIOSH reports that more than 1 in 4 (26%) working adults experience low back pain. Some groups of workers have more pain than others. For example, workers in construction occupations are more likely to experience low back pain than those in other occupations. And, workers 45-64 years old have more pain than younger workers.