ARLINGTON, Va. – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration has successfully obtained a permanent injunction against Sullivan Granite Co. LLC and its owner, Conrad J. Smith, ordering him to correct all safety hazards at Brown’s Meadow Quarry in Sullivan, Maine, and prohibiting him from refusing agency inspectors entry to conduct safety inspections.

Employer name: Windy City Doc Holding LLC, doing business as Metro Diner

Investigation site: 1534 North 3^rd St.
Jacksonville, Florida 32250

In the week ending November 12, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 235,000, a decrease of 19,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 254,000. This is the lowest level for initial claims since November 24, 1973 when it was 233,000. The 4-week moving average was 253,500, a decrease of 6,500 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 250 from 259,750 to 260,000.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced the award of more than $111 million in America’s Promise grants to 23 regional workforce partnerships in 28 states to connect more than 21,000 Americans to education and in-demand jobs.

OTTUMWA, Iowa – Southeastern Iowa’s Ottumwa Job Corps Center is now the nation’s first to offer a registered apprenticeship program from the U.S. Department of Labor.

Given by the department’s Office of Apprenticeship, the designation enables the center’s certified nursing assistant students to obtain a nationally recognized advanced certification accepted at any hospital, nursing home or care center in Iowa and transferable to any state in the nation.

Employer: Good Shepherd Home Inc., a residential care facility doing business as Good Shepherd Home, with locations in Shoreline, Washington

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PROVIDENCE, R. I. – A Wolcott, Connecticut, contractor repeatedly exposed its employees to falls of 18 feet while performing roofing work in Middletown, an inspection by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has found.

Employer name: Flacks Painting & Waterproofing Inc.

Inspection site: 1461 S. Ocean Blvd.
Lauderdale-By-The-Sea, Florida 33062

Citations issued:Citations were issued to the employer on Nov. 15, 2016.

DENVER– An U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigation found a Denver company violated federal law when it terminated an employee for insubordination after the worker reported safety concerns about a product being manufactured by the company.

PIONEER, Ohio – Once again, federal safety inspectors have found one of the nation’s largest discount retailers putting workers and customers alike in danger by allowing  emergency exit routes to be blocked.

Employer name: A&W Roofing LLC
8071 Parkman Mespo Road
Middlefield, Ohio

Inspection site: 156 La Belle Street, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Citations issued: On Nov. 4, 2016, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued citations for three willful and two serious safety violations.

State: Florida

Type of award: National Dislocated Worker Grant

Amount approved/awarded: $500,012

Funding awarded to: Florida Department of Economic Opportunity

Number of workers served: Approximately 25

WASHINGTON – As Hurricane Matthew traveled along the southeastern U.S. coast from Oct. 7-9,2016, it killed more than 30 people, damaged hundreds of roads and bridges, destroyed farmlands and left many public areas unsafe. Thousands of people found themselves homeless, in desperate need of humanitarian assistance.

ALBANY, N.Y. – A wood chipper and an Upstate New York employer’s failure to provide safety training combined to make a 23-year-old worker’s first day on the job his tragic last, an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has found.

Employer name: Magna Seating doing business as Excelsior Springs Seating System
Excelsior Springs, Missouri

Citations issued: Nov. 10, 2016

ARLINGTON, Va. – On Dec. 7, 1992, an explosion that rocked the South Mountain #3 coal mine in Norton, Virginia killed eight miners, and led investigators to find that failing to ventilate the mine properly, conduct pre-shift and weekly examinations, and apply proper amounts of rock dust contributed to the explosion.

CAMBRIDGE, Ohio – For the second time in two years, federal safety inspectors have found Shelly & Sands Inc. – a large regional highway construction company – exposing its workers to the serious and sometimes fatal risk of falls by allowing them to climb over guardrails of an aerial lift onto a highway overpass.

CINCINNATI, Ohio – Just five weeks after a 28-year-old maintenance worker lost part of his right arm in an improperly guarded bread wrapping machine at the Cincinnati-based Klosterman Baking Co., federal safety inspectors investigating the injury found another worker exposed to the same hazard.

WEST POINT, Neb. – Working to clear crusted corn from the sides of a grain bin, a 52-year-old maintenance employee found himself engulfed in hundreds of pounds of grain, just minutes after the wall of corn collapsed and buried him. Rescued by emergency crews, he died of his injuries two days later.

OAKDALE, Minn. – A Minnesota company that provided cable equipment recovery services to leading cable providers such as Comcast, Time Warner and Charter Communications, will pay $350,000 to drivers and market contractors misclassified as independent contractors to resolve a U.S. Department of Labor lawsuit.