WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor announced that its Occupational Safety and Health Administration has certified the completion of all structural and developmental aspects of Maine’s State Plan for protecting the safety and health of state and local government workers.

Incident:          Fatal trench collapse in Vernon, Connecticut

Date:                July 22, 2022

DALLAS – After a nutrition specialist employed at a Dallas childcare facility raised concerns about rodents, spiders and other insects in its cafeteria, kitchen and other areas, their employer acted far from charitably and terminated the worker in August 2021.

After an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration

OREGON, OH ‒ A federal investigation into two workers’ fatal burns at an Oregon, Ohio, refinery’s crude unit has found its operator, BP Products North America Inc. violated the U.S. Department of Labor’s process safety procedures for highly hazardous materials and failed to adequately train the workers.

EL PASO, TX – Federal investigators found an oil and gas company employee suffered fatal exposure to hydrogen sulfide while working near a sump pit in September 2022.

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

The National Safety Council-Nebraska Chapter.

                What:             Alliance

ATLANTA – While it portrays its store chain as “America’s neighborhood general store,” Dollar General Corp. and Dolgencorp LLC – one of the nation’s largest discount retailers – continues to expose workers to unsafe conditions, this time at four Florida and Georgia stores. 

ORLANDO, FL – It’s likely that the decisions Juan Felipe Gomez Toro made one day in February 2022 turned out to be more costly to his Lake Mary roofing contracting company than he might have imagined.

ROSELAND, NE – A 34-year-old worker’s attempt to clean out a Roseland grain silo, in preparation for fall harvest, turned tragic on Sept. 12, 2022, when corn engulfed and asphyxiated him.

PANAMA CITY, FL – Federal workplace safety inspectors examining how thousands of pounds of shifting cargo fatally crushed a 28-year-old worker in a ship’s cargo hold in Panama City found his employer failed to follow required safety standards, including allowing unsafe operation of cargo cranes and not providing training.

CUSSETA, AL – The independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission has affirmed citations issued by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration to a global auto parts supplier after the 2016 death of a 20-year-old machine operator at an Alabama manufacturing facility.  

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

                      Operating Engineers, Local 150’s Apprenticeship and Skill Improvement Program

CINCINNATI – Alerted by the concerns of the West Chester Township Fire Department in Ohio, workplace safety inspectors with the U.S. Department of Labor discovered exit routes, doors and fire extinguishers blocked at a Dollar General store on Princeton Glendale Road in Cincinnati, the same kinds of dangers that have contributed to more than $15 million in proposed federal penalties for the discount retail chain since 2017.

ATLANTA – Professionals from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration are participating in the 2023 Atlanta Construction Ready Career Expo – geared toward students  from Georgia’s middle, high and tech schools – to highlight the importance of on-the-job safety to the industry’s next generation of workers.

CLEVELAND – A 51-year-old painting contractor at a residential apartment complex in Cleveland stepped onto a third-floor balcony and it tilted suddenly, causing him to fall 21 feet onto the concrete below. As he lay injured, the balcony slid off its wall mount and landed on top of the painter. He died from his injuries.

WESTBURY, NY – Federal workplace safety inspectors have cited a thermometer manufacturer for overexposing their employees to mercury at its West Babylon facility.

PLOVER, WI ‒ At a Plover, Wisconsin, Del Monte Foods cannery, a 20-year-old seasonal worker suffered a partial amputation of their finger after attempting to unjam an unguarded palletizer machine, a federal workplace safety investigation found.

LAFAYETTE, GA – A 21-year-old line operator at a LaFayette, Georgia, insulation manufacturer suffered severe head trauma after being caught in a machine’s roller. A U.S. Department of Labor investigation determined that the employer willfully ignored federal workplace safety standards.

Participants:      U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational

                                  Safety and Health Administration

                                  American Society of Safety Professionals, East Texas Chapter