OSHA fines 2 employers more than $196K

Employers' names: The investigation was conducted at Sterling Seating Inc.'s furniture manufacturing plant at 9 Porete Avenue in North Arlington, New Jersey. On Target Staffing LLC, a staffing company that provided laborers for Sterling, is located at 258 Clifton Avenue in Newark, New Jersey.

Employer name: Valley International Cold Storage LLC

Location: Harlingen, Texas

TAMPA, Fla. — After the horrific murder of a Florida health care worker in 2012, an administrative law judge affirmed in June that her employer failed to protect her from workplace violence.

ISLAND LAKE, Ill. — A 32-year-old machinist suffered serious injuries to his left arm caused when his hand was caught and he was pulled into a machine on which his employer had bypassed safety devices designed to prevent such injuries. The worker has endured several surgeries and rehabilitation to repair his broken bones.

NEW YORK — Corizon Health Inc., which provides medical, dental and mental-health services to inmates at correctional facilities nationwide, including the Rikers Island facility in New York City, will implement changes to reduce workplace violence hazards for employees at its locations.

MONROE, Ga. — A Georgia storage system manufacturer could have prevented debilitating injuries to two of its workers — each of whom suffered the loss of a finger in separate workplace incidents — if the employer followed safety standards and provided the proper protection on equipment.

Employer name: Cleveland Die & Manufacturing Company

Investigation site: 20303 1st Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio

Employer name: Midwest Manufacturing and Distributing Inc., doing business as Midwest Metal Forming

Investigation site: 6025 N. Keystone Chicago, Illinois

WASHINGTON — Targeting some of the most common causes of workplace injury and illness in the healthcare industry, the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced the agency is expanding its use of enforcement resources in hospitals and nursing homes to focus on: musculoskeletal disorders related to patient or resident handling; bloodborne pathogens; workplace violence; tuberculosis and slips, trips and falls.

Date of action: June 23, 2015

Type of action: Hearing

Names of defendants: Guillermo Perez and Elma Maldonado, president and vice president of GP Roofing & Construction, LLC, based in Palm Coast, Florida.

BALTIMORE — With sweltering temperatures impacting the greater Baltimore area today, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration is reminding employers to protect their workers from heat illness.

PHILADELPHIA — With sweltering temperatures impacting the greater Philadelphia today, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration is reminding employers to protect their workers from heat illness.

WASHINGTON — With sweltering temperatures impacting the DC metro area today, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration is reminding employers to protect their workers from heat illness.

PHILADELPHIA — With sweltering temperatures impacting northern Delaware today, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration is reminding employers to protect their workers from heat illness.

HARBESON, Del. — Workers cutting chicken fat, bone and cartilage eight hours a day at a Delaware poultry plant are suffering musculoskeletal injuries caused by their jobs, an inspection by the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration found.

Employer name: Gehring Construction & Ready Mix Concrete Inc., Columbus, Nebraska

Investigation site: 3304 North Shore Drive Schuyler, Nebraska

Employer name: Alin Machining Company Inc., doing business as Power Plant ServicesInvestigation site: 3131 W. Soffel Ave. Melrose Park, Illinois

Date investigation initiated and what prompted inspection: On March 4, the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration's Chicago North Area Office initiated an inspection after Alin Machining Company reported that a worker had suffered a severe finger laceration while operating a lathe.

SEATTLE — North America's second-largest freight railroad, Burlington Northern Santa Fe LLC, must reinstate a train conductor and pay the man $536,063 in back pay, damages and attorney's fees after a federal investigation found the rail operator retaliated against its employee after reporting a knee injury.

OKLAHOMA CITY — An open-flame heater on the floor of a rig likely sparked the fire that killed three natural gas drillers and seriously injured two others in a December 2014 drilling rig fire in Coalgate, the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has concluded.

In June 2013, OSHA cited the company for allowing the use of an open-flame heater.

Employer Name and Location: Frame carpentry contractor Express Construction 3 Corp. is located at 64 Wright Street, 2nd Floor, in Newark, New Jersey. The investigation was conducted at The Mews at Liberty Village, a residential construction project in Coopersburg, Pennsylvania.