LONDON, Ohio — Employees at Reynolds Nationwide risked potentially lethal suffocation caused by dangerous fumes as the company did not test the atmosphere and properly ventilate the air in food transport tankers before allowing workers to enter. After receiving an employee complaint, the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration initiated an investigation on Aug. 6, 2014, at the London tank-cleaning facility.

HOUSTON — Combustible dust left uncontrolled or suspended in the air can explode, which was one of many safety hazards discovered after an inspection at the Thomas Moore Feed facility in Navasota, Texas, by the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration. OSHA inspectors found 18 violations and proposed a penalty of $58,100.

Employer name: MP Global Products LLC, Norfolk, Nebraska

Investigation site: 2500 Hadar Road, Norfolk, Nebraska

After receiving a formal complaint from an employee alleging unsafe working conditions, the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration's Omaha Area Office initiated an inspection on Aug. 5, 2014.

Investigation findings: OSHA's investigation found multiple safety and health hazards at the company which manufactures padding from recycled denim products.

HOUSTON — A 31-year-old worker was the second person killed in a year at Madden Bolt Corp. when a cutting-table explosion in August 2014 hurled the employee and a steel plate into the air. The plate then landed on the fallen worker, U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigators determined. As a result, OSHA has cited the Houston-based employer for 10 serious violations.

In September 2013, a forklift driver at Madden Bolt died after the machine turned over and pinned him underneath.

NILES, Ohio. — A 49-year-old machine operator was fatally crushed while reaching into an extrusion press to remove unprocessed aluminum parts because his employer, BRT Extrusions Inc., failed to ensure the machine's power was fully off so that it would not turn on during maintenance, a procedure known as lockout/tagout. An investigation into the Aug. 6, 2014, incident by the U.S.

MADISON, Ohio — Every year, thousands of people are electrocuted at work by current from live wires and energized parts. Electrical current often enters through the skin, muscles or hair and then spikes through the nervous system, burning tissue in patches. One of those who suffered this kind of injury was a 24-year-old temporary maintenance employee at International Paper Co. in Madison. Burns hospitalized him and left him unable to work for more than four months.

ST. LOUIS — Garda Armored Car failed to train its employees to use portable fire extinguishers, despite being cited by the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration for the same violation in March 2013. Responding to a complaint, OSHA inspected the armored car company on Oct. 20, 2014, and found that the business had not trained employees as instructed.

BLUE ISLAND, Ill. — Without proper protections, employees who work with lead can bring this toxic metal home on their clothes, shoes, skin, hair and hands with the potential to poison children and other family members. "Take-home lead" as it's called is particularly dangerous for pregnant women and preschoolers.

FRANKLIN, Ohio — Mere months after two employees were injured by dangerous machines, Burrows Paper Corp. again put workers at risk. Acting on a complaint, the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration found workers unjamming and servicing machines without proper safeguards during an Aug. 25, 2014, inspection. This is the fourth time in the past year that Burrows has been cited for hazards at its Franklin food box manufacturing facility.

DALLAS — The dangers of worker exposure to hexavalent chromium, a known carcinogen that can cause serious long-term health issues, including lung cancer and kidney failure, should have come as no surprise to the Lane Plating Works Inc. owner. Air-monitoring tests told him that workers were being overexposed to the dangerous toxin, but he failed to correct the hazard. As a result, the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited the Dallas-based chrome plating shop for two willful violations and 19 serious violations.

Employer name: H & W Contracting, Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Investigation site: Columbia and East Willow Streets, Harrisburg, South Dakota

On July 28, 2014, the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration's Bismarck Area Office initiated an inspection under the National Emphasis Program on Trenching after witnessing workers exposed to trenching hazards.

Employer name: Flink Co., 502 N. Vermillion St., Streator, Illinois

Inspection site: 150 Benchmark Drive, Streator, Illinois

On July 23, 2014, an inspection was initiated by the North Aurora Area Office of the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration after receiving a complaint.

ARCADIA, Wis. — In a three-and-a-half year period, 4,500 employees at Ashley Furniture Industries Inc., in Arcadia, experienced more than 1,000 work-related injuries. One worker became another terrible statistic when he lost three fingers in July 2014 while operating a dangerous woodworking machine without required safety mechanisms in place. Of the injuries recorded, more than 100 were caused by similar machinery.

Employer name: Northrop Grumman Corp.

Inspection site: Lake Charles, La.

Date inspection initiated and what prompted the inspection: The inspection began August 2014 as the result of a complaint, but was expanded to also address the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's National Emphasis Program for Hexavalent Chromium.

ARCADIA, Wis. — In a three-and-a-half year period, 4,500 employees at Ashley Furniture Industries Inc., in Arcadia, experienced more than 1,000 work-related injuries. One worker became another terrible statistic when he lost three fingers in July 2014 while operating a dangerous woodworking machine without required safety mechanisms in place. Of the injuries recorded, more than 100 were caused by similar machinery.

Employer name: PAI Industries Inc.

Inspection site: 950 Northbrook Parkway Suwanee, Georgia 30024

Date investigation initiated: OSHA initiated the investigation on Oct. 1, 2014 as part of its Regional Emphasis Program for Safety Hazards in the Auto Parts Industry.

NEW YORK — About a year ago, New York Presbyterian-Columbia University Medical Center in Northern Manhattan replaced linen laundry bags with thin plastic bags that broke and needlessly exposed workers to laundry contaminated with blood, bodily fluids and other infectious materials.

Clothing, sheets, towels and other soiled laundry spewed onto the floor of the basement when bags broke or failed to stay closed as they came down laundry chutes. Employees were further exposed as they gathered and repacked the laundry.

TARRYTOWN, New York — Employees of a Brooklyn-based commercial and residential roofing contractor faced the threat of deadly or disabling falls as they replaced the 20,000-square-foot roof of Westchester County's Bedford Hills Elementary School, the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has found.