Participant:    Pfizer Inc.  Andover, Massachusetts

GRAIN VALLEY, MO – Nearly five years after an employee died in a trench collapse, a Missouri contractor exposed two workers to the life-threatening risk of being buried by thousands of pounds of soil as they worked in an unprotected trench weakened by water pooling in an excavation site.

SAN FRANCISCO – The U.S. Department of Labor has ordered a San Jose trucking company to pay more than $145,000 in back wages and damages after a federal whistleblower investigation found the company retaliated against two workers who refused to drive commercial motor vehicles when they felt too sick or fatigued to drive safely.

WASHINGTON ‒ Grain flowing inside a bin can trap and engulf a worker in seconds, and makes for a sobering fact: nearly six of every 10 workers trapped in a grain bin don’t survive.

SEATTLE – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has certified the Walsh Group, a commercial construction management company in Seattle, as a “Star” employer in the agency’s Voluntary Protection Programs.

Now in its 40th year, the VPP is the highest level of OSHA recognition for workplace safety and health excellence.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration is proposing amendments to its occupational injury and illness recordkeeping regulation, 29 CFR 1904.41. The current regulation requires certain employers to electronically submit injury and illness information – that they are required to keep – to OSHA.

Employer name:       Groundworks Colorado LLC

                                          2575 U.S. 6 & 50, Unit A

                                          Grand Junction, CO 81501                    

DALLAS – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration is urging response crews and residents in areas affected by recent storms that spawned tornadoes in north Texas and New Orleans to recognize and protect themselves from hazards created by flooding, power loss, structural damage, fallen trees and storm debris.

PENSACOLA, FL – Despite the findings of a January 2021 federal workplace safety investigation, a Pensacola custom cabinet manufacturer continued to expose workers to fire risks, inspectors with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration found in a follow-up visit.

Employers:                Westlake Chemical Lake Charles South, Westlake, Louisiana

                                    Wastewater Specialties LLC, Sulphur, Louisiana

Employers:                William Specialty Services LLC

                                    100 Crescent Centre Parkway, Tucker, GA 30084
 

                                    G UB MK Constructors

                                    297 River Road, Muscle Shoals, AL 35661
 

                                    Tennessee Valley Authority

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has reopened the rulemaking record partially and scheduled an informal public hearing to seek comments on specific topics that relate to the development of a final standard to protect healthcare and healthcare support service workers from workplace exposure to the COVID-19 virus.

STERLING, MA – A U.S. Department of Labor investigation found that a plastic packaging manufacturer – with a history of workplace safety and health inspections – could have prevented a worker at its Sterling facility from suffering severe burns if they had complied with OSHA’s requirements for lockout/tagout and provided personal protective equipment.

Who: 

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration

Associated General Contractors of America

The Center for Construction Research and Training

Center to Protect Workers’ Rights

ALBANY, NY – The U.S. Department of Labor filed suit against a New York ophthalmologist and his practice in Amsterdam for allegedly firing an employee who raised concerns about the practice’s failure to implement state-mandated protocols to protect employees from COVID-19, and later filed complaints with state health officials.

PROVIDENCE, RI – A federal investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration found that a Smithfield company could have prevented a worker from suffering fatal head injuries while the worker repaired a cement truck on Oct. 21, 2021.

Employer:

Strong Industries Inc.                                                                                                                                                                                                                            3204 Point Township Drive #8866                                                                                                                                                                Northumberland, PA 17857

Employer name: PGA Inc.

Inspection site: 185 South Street, Freeland, Pennsylvania 18224

SCOTTSDALE, AZ – The U.S. Department of Labor has ordered a Scottsdale, Arizona-based ammunition manufacturer to pay compensatory damages, back wages and associated costs to an employee forced from its board of directors after reporting potentially illegal stock transactions.

GREENSBORO, NC – An employee working as a mechanic at the U.S. Postal Service’s distribution center in Greensboro suffered a life-changing injury on Sept. 27, 2021. The worker’s arm was amputated after contacting a machine that had a safety guard removed.