LAS VEGAS – In their ongoing efforts to protect the safety and health of construction workers, the U.S. Department of Labor and the Consulate General of Mexico in Las Vegas today signed an alliance to provide hazard prevention training to Mexican nationals working in Nevada, and help them understand U.S. laws governing workers’ rights and employers’ responsibilities.

DENVER – A federal administrative law judge has upheld citations and penalties against a Denver roofing contractor for ignoring federal requirements to protect workers and subcontractors repeatedly from the risk of workplace falls – the leading cause of injury and death in the construction industry.

TINTON FALLS, NJ – A federal workplace safety and health investigation found numerous violations at a Tinton Falls transitional housing facility where 11 employees and 28 residents tested positive for the coronavirus by late March.

MARIETTA, GA – A federal safety and health investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration concluded that a Marietta manufacturer allowed a forklift operator to work on elevated storage racks without fall protection, resulting in the employee’s death.

KANSAS CITY, MO – While the hazards most often associated with workplace deaths in the U.S. construction industry – falling, being struck-by or crushed by equipment or other objects, or suffering electrocution are well-known – a recent study finds that another potential killer is taking lives at an alarming rate.

BOSTON – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration urges response crews and residents to recognize the hazards created by flooding, power loss, structural damage, fallen trees and storm debris in areas affected by Tropical Storm Henri.

LUBBOCK, TX ‒ The City of Lubbock recently presented the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Damage Prevention Council of Texas’ northwest chapter with a proclamation in recognition of National Safe Digging Day on Aug. 11.  

BOSTON – On Feb. 24, 2021, at a sewer repair worksite on High Street in downtown Boston, Jordy Alexander Castaneda Romero, 27, and Juan Carlos Figueroa Gutierrez, 33, died after a dump truck struck and pushed them into a nine-foot deep trench.

PUEBLO, CO – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has again cited a Pueblo home manufacturing company for exposing employees to defective scaffolding and ladders, and failing to train workers on scaffolding safety.

NEW HAVEN, CT – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Dimeo Construction Co., the Connecticut Department of Labor’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health and the New Haven Building Trades signed a partnership agreement to promote worker safety and health on the 101 College St. and 100 College St. Pedestrian Bridge construction projects in New Haven.

RAPID CITY, SD ‒ Four days before Christmas in 2020, an excavation company’s owner was fixing an underground sewer line in Rapid City when the trench around him collapsed; his life ended under thousands of pounds of dirt.

DENVER – A worker at a Denver milk packaging plant operated by Safeway Inc. lost four fingers while operating a molding machine that lacked required safeguards.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigated the Feb. 12 incident and cited the U.S. supermarket chain for two willful and five serious violations and one other than serious violation for:

PIERSON STATION,  IL – A central Illinois grain-handling cooperative exposed workers to serious engulfment hazards when soybeans collapsed inside a Pierson Station bin and engulfed an employee up to their waist.

WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Department of Labor encourages the nation’s employers to commit to workplace safety and health and join its Occupational Safety and Health Administration in observing Safe + Sound Week, Aug. 9-15, 2021.

A nationwide event that recognizes the successes of workplace safety and health programs, Safe + Sound Week also offers information and ideas on how to keep America’s workers safe.

LAKEWOOD, NJ – A Central New Jersey medical facility and temporary staffing agency failed to ensure the safety and health of nurses giving flu shots and testing potentially infectious patients for the coronavirus earlier this year, a U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigation has found.

TAVARES, FL – In the early afternoon of March 2, 2021, a 44-year-old electrical technician at an Orlando work site climbed down into a trench to splice electrical wires to power streetlights. Not long after, the worker made contact with live wires and suffered fatal electrocution, a death the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigators deemed avoidable had the employer taken required safety measures.  

DALLAS ‒ Un trabajador que limpiaba el interior de un remolque tanque en Pasadena en diciembre de 2019 fue víctima de vapores peligrosos, al igual que el compañero que intentó rescatarlo. Meses más tarde, en agosto de 2020, dos limpiadores que entraron en una cisterna de gas natural de un vagón de ferrocarril en Hugo, Oklahoma, también fueron víctimas de los vapores.

CHICAGO ‒ An Ohio worker tasked with cleaning a chemical tanker trailer collapsed upon entering the tank. Answering the employee’s call for help, a nearby truck driver entered the tank. Both workers succumbed to fatal toxic fumes.

DALLAS ‒ A worker cleaning the inside of a tank trailer in Pasadena in December 2019 fell victim to hazardous vapors, as did a co-worker who attempted rescue. Months later, in August 2020, two cleaning workers entered a natural gas tanker on a railcar in Hugo, Oklahoma and fell victim to its vapors. Four lives were lost in the tank cleaning industry in less than a year – and part of a troubling trend of preventable workplace deaths in the region.

GREENVILLE, GA – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has again cited a Greenville recycling company, where a 44-year-old welder employed by a contractor in the facility suffered fatal injuries in 2019 amid safety violations.