SYRACUSE, NY – On Nov. 29, 2021, a supervisor at McDowell and Walker Inc. – a manufacturer and supplier of grains, feeds and other agricultural products – told an untrained employee to enter a grain bin to clear a feed buildup that clogged a silo entry point at the company’s Afton facility.

ATHENS, GA – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has signed a strategic partnership with McCarthy Building Companies to promote worker safety and health during the construction of a poultry science lab at the University of Georgia in Athens.

ST. LOUIS – To reduce dangers faced by construction industry workers, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Associated General Contractors of Missouri renewed their partnership agreement to train and protect the state’s construction industry workers.

CHICAGO – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited two more Dollar General stores for endangering the safety of their employees, continuing the company’s long history of workplace safety violations nationwide.

Date of action:

May 31, 2022

Type of action:

Stipulated settlement

Names of defendants:

Lakewood Resource and Referral Center Inc., operating as the Center for Education, Medicine and Dentistry in Lakewood, NJ

ORANGE CITY, FL – An Orlando framing contractor’s failure to comply with building code requirements and a roof truss manufacturer’s engineering specification caused the roof trusses to collapse and fatally injure a 67-year-old worker at an Orange City building site on Nov. 8, 2021.

Date of action:                       May 10, 2022

Type of action:                       Stipulated Settlement Agreement

Participant:   Wieland Metal Services LLC. Warwick, Rhode Island.

GREELEY, CO – Four JBS Foods USA subsidiaries and affiliates have agreed to assemble a team of company and third-party experts to develop and implement an infectious disease preparedness plan for seven of its meat processing facilities to protect its workers.  

CAMBRIDGE, OH – As a production manager attempted to clear plastic parts stuck in a thermoforming machine, he became trapped when the machine’s conveyor cycled automatically and was fatally crushed at a Cambridge plastics plant.

PARK RIDGE, IL – A Roselle contractor’s history of violating federal safety standards and ignoring safety citations and penalties – and a willingness to expose its workers to serious injuries or worse – continues, as federal inspectors found during their Nov. 8, 2021, investigation at a Park Ridge residential construction site.   

ATHENS, AL – A federal workplace safety investigation found an employer’s failure to follow federal safety standards contributed to a 45-year-old worker suffering fatal injuries after a forklift struck her as she walked across an Athens lumber shipping yard on Nov. 15, 2021.

BRECKENRIDGE, CO – One worker suffered fatal injuries and two co-workers barely escaped similar fates when they were rescued from a trench that collapsed as they installed sewer pipes in a Breckenridge neighborhood on Nov. 16, 2021.

SIOUX FALLS, SD - After severe weather, such as the windstorm that roared across South Dakota on May 12, workers and others involved in storm cleanup may face hazards related to falls, downed power lines and sharp debris as they conduct recovery and cleanup operations.

Employers and workers should also be aware of heat illness and hazards from equipment used during response/recovery operations, such as chain saws.

CAMBRIA, WI – A federal grand jury has indicted the operator and six management officials of a Cambria corn mill – where a May 31, 2017, explosion killed five workers and injured 15 others – on nine criminal counts, including two counts related to willful violations of federal workplace safety standards for grain handling.

MOUNT VERNON, IL – In two separate incidents on consecutive days in November 2021, three workers at a southern Illinois tire plant suffered severe injuries in incidents associated with a mixer containing a combustible dust and a flammable gas, guarding moving equipment and the failure to implement and enforce procedures to control the unintentional energization of equipment during servicing.

BOSTON – As temperatures rise in New England, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration reminds employers and workers not to ignore the dangers of working in hot weather – indoors and out – and remember that “Water. Rest. Shade.” can be the difference between ending the workday safely or suffering serious injuries or worse.

SIOUX FALLS, SD – Twice in seven days, federal workplace safety inspectors found a Sioux Falls contractor put workers at risk of being buried under thousands of pounds of soil while they worked in unprotected trenches at two locations in Tea and Salem.

DALLAS – As temperatures rise in Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration reminds employers and workers not to ignore the dangers of working in hot weather – indoors and out – and remember “Water. Rest. Shade.” can be the difference between ending the workday safely or suffering serious injuries or worse.

DENVER – Following a 90-day outreach period, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s Regional Emphasis Program for Noise Induced Hearing Loss will move into the enforcement phase beginning May 17, 2022. The emphasis program targets manufacturing industries with high rates of occupational hearing loss in Colorado, Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota.