GREENWOOD, MS – Had federal workplace safety regulations been followed at a LeFlore County soybean farm, a South African teenager employed by its operator would have returned home and not suffocated inside a grain bin in October 2022.

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

Ringland-Johnson Construction Company

Mid-America Carpenters Regional Council

PRESCOTT, AZ – Federal safety inspectors found that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs endangered maintenance workers at its healthcare facility in Prescott by allowing them to work on steam lines without ensuring they followed required safety procedures.

WASHINGTON – At Dollar General stores near Houston and Green Bay, federal workplace safety inspectors found exit routes and walkways blocked — unsafe conditions that make safe and quick emergency evacuation difficult or impossible — that have become common discoveries for years at stores operated by one of the nation’s largest discount retailers.

Participants: U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration and WeCount!

What:             Safety alliance agreement

MAPLESVILLE, AL – Federal workplace safety inspectors examining how a 36-year-old worker suffered fatal electrocution in a Maplesville paper mill found his employer willfully violating safety standards, including disregarding hazardous energy control procedures that protect employees performing maintenance on machinery.

ATLANTA – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration will join construction organizations in Georgia to promote worker safety and encourage industry employers to hold safety stand-downs at roadwork sites and in traffic work zones during National Work Zone Awareness Week, April 17 to 21.

Participant:   Tiverton Power

Tiverton, Rhode Island

Description:   Tiverton Power employs about 20 workers at this site, a natural gas power plant generating electricity for the New England power grid.   

Participant:   Dighton Power

Dighton, Massachusetts

Description:   Dighton Power employs about 15 workers at this site, a natural gas power plant generating electricity for the New England power grid.  

CHICAGO ‒ Thirty-nine people died doing trench or excavation work in the U.S. in 2022 – four in Illinois and two others in Ohio. In fact, the number of worker fatalities more than doubled since 2021, continuing a troubling trend cited by the Bureau of Labor Statistics that found 166 workers died in trench cave-ins from 2011-2018, an average of 21 each year.

JERSEY SHORE, PA – A U.S. Department of Labor investigation has again found Dollar General exposing workers to dangerous safety hazards – including blocked emergency exit routes and electrical panels – this time during a November 2022 inspection at a Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania, store.

BOLLINGER COUNTY, MO - Workers and others engaged in recovery and cleanup operations after at least one tornado struck the Village of Glenallen in Bollinger County in the early hours of April 5, 2023, may face hazards related to falls, downed power lines and sharp debris.

Participant:    Guarantee Electrical Contracting LLC

                              1390 Wheeling St.

                              Denver, CO 80239

CINCINNATI ‒ While working the overnight sanitation shift at an Ohio food processing plant, a 29-year-old temporary worker – on the job just nine months – suffered critical injuries after falling into an industrial blender he was cleaning and became caught in the rotating paddle augers. The worker’s injuries led to a leg amputation.

Participant:   L.L. Bean Manufacturing Brunswick

Brunswick, Maine

Description:   L.L. Bean Manufacturing Brunswick employs about 200 workers at the Brunswick facility where they manufacture and assemble boots, dog beds and perform custom embroidery.

HOUSTON – A federal workplace safety investigation into a Houston wind turbine parts manufacturing facility – operated by Proinlosa Energy Corp. – determined the employer failed to address safety violations found in a previous inspection from April 2022.

Participant:   Wheelabrator Bridgeport

Bridgeport, Connecticut

Description:  Wheelabrator employs about 70 workers at the Bridgeport site. The site is a waste-to-energy facility generating electricity for the New England power grid.

PORTSMOUTH, OH ‒ For the third time in five months, federal safety inspectors responded to a Portsmouth hardwood flooring mill to investigate reports of unsafe machinery. Two of those inspections involved worker’s injuries, the latest on Oct. 5, 2022, when a worker’s fingertip was partially amputated because it was caught in an unguarded belt and pulley.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has published 2022 injury and illness data based on reports by more than 300,000 establishments. The Injury Tracking Application data is part of OSHA’s electronic recordkeeping requirements for certain employers who were required to submit OSHA Form 300A information from Jan. 2 to March 2, 2023.

ATLANTA - After severe weather swept through much of the Southeast on March 24 and spawned at least 27 tornadoes across Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and Tennessee, workers involved in cleanup activities face dangers during recovery operations.