April 6, 2016

OSHA cites Montana company for exposing workers to respiratory hazards

Employer name: U.S. Minerals

Inspection site: 800 Main St., Anaconda, Montana

Citations issued: 16 serious violations

Investigation findings: The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued 16 serious violations to U.S. Minerals for failing to do the following:

April 6, 2016

OSHA fines Little Rock contractor $41K for endangering brick workers on scaffolds at Hot Springs worksite

Employer name: ABC Equipment Inc., doing business as C. B. Masonry Inc.

Inspection Site: 4129 Central Ave., Hot Springs, Arkansas

Citations issued: April 5, 2016

April 5, 2016

OSHA finds workers at Ohio lawn and garden machine manufacturer exposed to excessive noise, lacked hearing protection; other hazards

Employer name: MTD Consumer Group

Inspection site: 979 South Conwell Ave., Willard, Ohio

Citations issued: March 23, 2016

Investigation findings: The U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s Toledo Area Office cited MTD Consumer Group for one willful, one serious and one other-than-serious violation.

April 5, 2016

Trench collapse, injuries to Schenectady contractor’s employee at Albany County job site ‘needless and avoidable’: OSHA

Employer name: Plank Construction Co. Inc., a construction general contractor in Schenectady, NewYork

Inspection site: Wards Lane, Dutch Village, Menands, New York

Investigation findings: Plank Construction Co. Inc. employees were installing a storm sewer system as part of the construction of new buildings at Dutch Village. On Oct. 3, 2015, the 8-foot deep trench in which they were working collapsed onto one of the employees. He was extricated and hospitalized.

April 4, 2016

OSHA cites Athens contractor after fall through skylight kills worker

ATHENS, Ga. – The life of a 39-year-old HVAC installer who fell through a roof skylight ended suddenly because his employer failed to put proper workplace protections in place, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has found.

April 4, 2016

OSHA cites Montana sugar beet grower’s cooperative again for safety failures

Employer name: The Western Sugar Cooperative, a sugar beets grower’s cooperative in Denver

Inspection site: 3020 State Ave., Billings, Montana

Citations issued: Five serious and four repeat.

March 31, 2016

OSHA cites Russell Stover Candies after ammonia release shuts plant

IOLA, Kan. ‒ As alarms sounded, hundreds of workers evacuated a candy manufacturing plant when an air-conditioning unit pipe failed and released about 22 pounds of anhydrous ammonia into the air throughout the Iola facility. No workers were injured in the incident which closed the plant for more than two hours.

March 31, 2016

Purina feed mill workers exposed to falls, grain dust and machine hazards

Employer name: Land O Lakes Purina Feed LLC, doing business as Purina Animal Nutrition
414 E. 18th St., Wichita, Kansas

Citations issued: March 31, 2016

Investigation findings: The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s Wichita Area Office cited Land O Lakes Purina Feed LLC for three serious, one repeat serious, and one repeat other than serious violations. The citations are the result of an October 2015 OSHA investigation.

March 31, 2016

Iowa postal facility exposes workers to mold, electrical hazards from unrepaired water leak

Employer name: U.S. Postal Service, 116 Oak St., Moorhead, Iowa

Citations issued: March 24, 2016

Investigation findings: The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s Des Moines Area Office cited the postal facility for one repeated and four serious safety violations.

March 30, 2016

OSHA fines nation’s largest chicken producer $122K for failures in dangerous ammonia release at Waco plant

WACO, Texas – Federal inspectors found that the nation’s largest chicken producer failed to use proper safety procedures that allowed a release of 79 pounds of anhydrous ammonia and endangered workers at its Waco facility on Sept. 28, 2015. Anhydrous ammonia is a dangerous chemical that can be fatal when inhaled and cause serious burns to the skin.

March 29, 2016

Pennsylvania contractor cited by OSHA for ignoring trench dangers as excavation collapse kills 21-year-old worker in Butler County

BEAVER, Pa. – Twenty-one-year-old Jacob Casher was still a “new guy” employed by a Beaver-based plumbing company when he left home for work in September 2015. He probably never imagined that, as he worked to install a sewer line 11-feet underground in Butler, it was to be the last day of his life.

March 29, 2016

Workplace amputation prompts OSHA investigation that uncovers 16 safety hazards at Jacksonville wire manufacturer

Employer name: Eastern Wire Products Inc.

Investigation site: 5301 West Fifth St., Jacksonville, Florida 32254

March 29, 2016

OSHA levies $117K in fines for Houston nursery after worker injury

Employer name: Quality Christmas Tree Ltd., doing business as Houston Garden Center

Location: 1700 West Loop North, Houston, Texas 77008

Citations issued: March 28, 2016

March 29, 2016

OSHA says food Rob Salamida Co. employee’s serious injuries due to fumes in 3,000-gallon vinegar tank ‘should never have happened’

SYRCAUSE, N.Y. – Even vinegar can be hazardous under certain circumstances.

An employee at the Rob Salamida Co. food manufacturing plant in Johnson City was instructed to enter and clean the insides of a 3,000-gallon tank containing vinegar on Sept. 28, 2015. Once inside, he was overcome by acetic acid vapors created by the vinegar in the tank. He was rescued but was hospitalized for five days. 

March 29, 2016

US Labor Department settlement: Anheuser-Busch of New Jersey agrees to enhance safety for workers at its Jersey City, Bronx distributorships

Date of action: Jan. 11, 2016

Type of action: Stipulated Settlement

Names of defendants: Anheuser-Busch Sales of New Jersey LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch Inbev SA/NV.

March 28, 2016

OSHA finds contractor exposed workers to danger of trench cave-in for four days at Meadville, Pennsylvania construction site

Employers name: Landfried Paving Inc., 172 Crestview Drive, Greenville, Pennsylvania

Inspection site: 200 Mulberry St., Meadville, Pennsylvania  

Citations issued: On March 22, 2016, the  U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued citations for one willful violation and two serious violations. 

March 28, 2016

Wisconsin wood pellet manufacturer continues to ignore federal workplace safety warnings about amputation, fire dangers

NIAGARA, Wis. – For the sixth time since 2011, federal inspectors found a Wisconsin wood pallet manufacturer failed to comply with safety and health standards – putting its employees in jeopardy of suffering amputation, burns and other life-threatening injuries.

March 28, 2016

Settlement with US Labor Department commits developer to enhance safeguards for employees renovating Harlem Valley Psychiatric Center

NEW YORK – The U.S. Department of Labor has reached a settlement agreement with Dover Greens LLC, formerly known as Olivet Management LLC, which commits the real estate development and management company to provide and maintain enhanced safeguards for workers renovating the former Harlem Valley Psychiatric Center in Dover Plains. 

March 28, 2016

Wood décor, floral supplier failed to prevent workers from exposure to hazardous chemicals at Glidden, Wisconsin company

GLIDDEN, Wis. ‒ A Wisconsin wood décor and floral supplier exposed workers to toxic levels of chemicals in adhesives and paints because, federal inspectors determined, the workplace lacked adequate engineering controls needed to reduce harmful vapors.

On March 24, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited Winter Woods Inc. for 10 serious safety violations based on the findings of its Oct. 15, 2015, investigation.