Practical EHS Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
As today’s workplace becomes more complex, regulation of that workplace increases. In this section, you’ll find the practical advice you need to understand exactly what OSHA, other federal agencies, and their state counterparts, require of you, and to comply in the ways that best satisfy both your and their needs. Look also for important court decisions, advice on how to handle enforcement actions, and news of upcoming changes in workplace health and safety law.
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Federal safety inspectors found that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) endangered maintenance workers at its healthcare facility in Prescott, Ariz., by allowing them to work on steam lines without ensuring they followed required safety procedures. Similar hazards previously killed two workers at a VA facility in Connecticut. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety […]
On April 19, the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) announced that Meeder Equipment Company, a Rancho Cucamonga, California, equipment company, faces $272,250 in fines for serious safety violations following a confined space death of a worker who suffocated in a 10,000-gallon propane gas tank. On August 18, 2022, a mechanic employed by […]
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced April 19 that Bare Bones Farms of Greenwood, Mississippi, is facing fines totaling $90,182 for willful and serious safety violations following the death of a teenage South African worker, who suffocated in a grain bin. The 19-year-old, 2 coworkers, and their supervisor climbed into a storage bin […]
Dollar General Corp. and its parent, Dolgencorp LLC, face $554,486 in new Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) fines following inspections of stores in Texas and Wisconsin, the agency announced April 13. At stores near Houston, Texas, and Green Bay, Wisconsin, OSHA inspectors found exit routes and walkways blocked, which are unsafe conditions that make […]
On March 30, 2023, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced that a Fort Walton Beach, Florida, framing contractor has been cited a sixth time since 2021 for not complying with OSHA standards for fall and eye protection and other hazards. Panhandle Guest Design Inc. now faces new proposed penalties totaling $82,500 following the […]
A Tampa, Florida, framing contractor with a history of safety violations faces $464,079 in new Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) fines for 3 willful violations and 1 repeat violation, the agency announced March 28. On September 24, 2022, OSHA inspectors observed employees of Domingos 54 Construction Inc. without fall safety gear while working atop […]
An Austin, Texas, Porsche dealership must pay $15,000 in compensatory damages to a whistleblower who was terminated after informing coworkers of their COVID-19 exposure risk, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced March 27. On March 20, Labor Department (DOL) attorneys obtained a consent judgment in the U.S. District Court for the Western District […]
Parter Medical Products, Inc., of Carson, California, failed to protect its employees from overexposure to ethylene oxide (EtO), a toxic chemical, according to the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA), prompting the agency to issue 18 citations, including 6 citations for willful, serious violations. Penalties total $838,800, the state agency announced March 21. […]
Two Connecticut men have been arrested following a fatal trench collapse last summer and face charges of first-degree manslaughter and first-degree reckless endangerment, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced March 17. OSHA inspectors investigated the July 22, 2022, collapse of an 8-foot-deep trench in Vernon, Connecticut, that killed an employee of Botticello Inc., […]
On March 16, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced citations and penalties following an investigation into two workers’ fatal burns at an Oregon, Ohio, refinery’s crude unit operated by BP Products North America Inc. The agency cited BP with 10 serious violations and one other-than-serious violation and proposed penalties totaling $156,250. As workers […]