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.

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.

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.

PENSACOLA, FL – Unaware of the danger, a 59-year-old roofer working atop a Milton airport hangar on Oct. 25, 2022, stepped onto a skylight and its sudden collapse caused the worker to fall 25 feet to the concrete floor below. The injured roofer died four days later.

FORT WALTON BEACH, FL – For the sixth time since 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor has found a Fort Walton Beach framing contractor endangering employees by not following federal safety standards for fall and eye protection and other hazards.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Doug Parker hosted workers, advocates and worker organization leaders today for a discussion on the agency’s new authority to issue certifications in support of applications for U nonimmigrant status and T nonimmigrant status visas. The agency also launched a new U and T Visa Certifications webpage.

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

Material Handling Institute’s Ergonomics Assist Systems and Equipment Council

What:             Alliance agreement

Participants:      U.S. Department of Labor’s occupational safety and Health Administration

TAMPA, FL – Federal workplace safety inspectors have found that an Ocala framing contractor’s history of defying required safety standards continues with their employees’ safety and lives at risk.

APPLETON, WI – Federal workplace safety inspectors have found that Security-Luebke Roofing Inc. – one of Fox Valley’s largest roofing general contractors – allowed a roofing subcontractor to expose workers to potentially deadly falls at an Appleton worksite, just two months after the general contractor discussed the importance of safe work practices with the U.S. Department of Labor.

MANDAN, ND ‒ Twice in 2022, the owner of a Mandan excavation company sat behind the controls of an excavator, supervising employees below as they installed municipal water lines in trenches as deep as 10 feet without protection against deadly collapses, federal workplace safety inspectors found. In 2022, trench collapses killed 39 workers, as thousands of pounds of soil and rocks crush or smother people in seconds.

WASHINGTON ‒ Once inside a grain storage bin, a worker can find themselves engulfed or trapped by flowing grain in just seconds. In 2021, 38 percent of reported grain engulfments turned deadly because required safeguards were not followed.

Concerted efforts by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration, state workplace safety officials and industry stakeholders helped to reduce the rate of fatal engulfments by 17 percent from 2020 to 2021.

AUSTIN, TX – When an employee of a luxury auto dealership in Austin learned a co-worker had tested positive for COVID-19 in December 2020, they alerted the company’s management and requested they notify other employees immediately of their exposure risk.

After the dealership failed to act, the employee emailed all company employees about the potential hazards. Less than an hour later, the car dealer terminated the employee.

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

                        Grain and Feed Association of Illinois

FORT CAMPBELL, KY – A federal workplace safety inspection of a lawn service contractors’ operations at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, has found the company ignored safety requirements to save time, including removing safety guards on industrial lawnmowers.

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

                                  Colorado Health Care Association

NEW CASTLE, PA – A federal investigation into why a 17-year-old worker – who fell 24 feet from the roof of a New Castle, Pennsylvania, home improvement store in October 2022 – was doing work that violated child labor laws led to a wider review into how the roofing contractor failed to pay 30 employees their full wages and exposed other workers to dangerous fall hazards.

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