GREELEY, Colo. — A 54-year-old worker was fatally injured when his hair and arm caught in an unguarded conveyor system. His employer, JBS USA LLC, failed to protect workers from moving machine parts by properly guarding or de-energizing the equipment, an inspection in June 2014 by the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration found. The agency cited the meat packing plant for one repeated and one serious violation.

BAYTOWN, Texas — Employees who perform maintenance work on a metal cutting machine must be trained to safely de-energize the machinery and conduct periodic audits of those procedures, according to the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration. An OSHA inspection on June 10, 2014, of the JSW Steel (USA) Inc. Baytown facility found the company violated 12 safety requirements. Proposed penalties total $126,000.

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — Vallencourt Construction Co. Inc. knowingly endangered employees at a residential construction site by allowing them to work in an unprotected excavation on Las Calinas Boulevard in St. Augustine. Following a June 2014 inspection, the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited Vallencourt for two willful and five serious safety violations. Proposed penalties total $169,000.

SEATTLE — Computer Sciences Corp. improperly laid off two employees for raising nuclear safety concerns about the Hanford nuclear facility, in violation of federal whistleblower laws. The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has ordered the company to pay $186,000 in wages to the two employees.

BELVIDERE, Ill. — A 21-year-old machine operator was fatally crushed at Ventra Belvidere LLC while reaching into a machine to align parts made for Chrysler vehicles. Following an investigation into the incident on June 10, 2014, the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited the Belvidere facility for one willful and four serious safety violations for exposing workers to dangerous machinery and other hazards.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Labor today announced that $100 million in grants are available to expand registered apprenticeship programs in high-skilled, high-growth industries like healthcare, biotechnology, information technology and advanced manufacturing. Registered Apprenticeships have long been known as one of the best training models for skilled trades ("earn while you learn"), yet the model remains underutilized in the United States.

FOSTORIA, Ohio — All-Set Roofing and Construction Inc. allowed three employees to work 15 feet up on a roof to install shingles without fall protection at a residence in Fostoria. The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited the Bowling Green company for one willful and one repeat violation, with proposed penalties of $44,660.

LEWISBURG, Ohio — A 44-year-old machine operator suffered severe injuries when a part of his face was caught in a power press he operated at Parker Hannifin Corp.'s Lewisburg, Ohio, plant. An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued one repeat citation and two serious safety violations for exposing the worker to machinery operating parts with inadequate safeguards. Proposed penalties total $52,500.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Labor today announced the award of $1,189,280 to the State of Oregon to enhance the state's short-time compensation program, a layoff prevention program, also known as "work sharing."

PHILADELPHIA — Thousands of workers employed by contractors engaged in na

WAKEFIELD, Neb. — Violations of the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration confined spaces safety regulations led to the death of a worker on June 19, 2014, at Michael Foods Inc. in Wakefield. The 23-year-old Latino worker was found unresponsive in a tanker truck at the company's Big Red Farms facility. He was conducting sampling of the tank, which contained egg products and nitrogen.

MORTON GROVE, Ill. — Two workers installing a water main at Golf Road and Sayre Avenue in Morton Grove were exposed to cave-in hazards that can bury a person in mere minutes. An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration found A. Lamp Concrete Contractors Inc. responsible for one willful violation because it failed to protect workers from cave-ins during trenching operations. The proposed penalty totals $69,300.

BOISE, Idaho — Chapala Mexican Restaurant, a Boise-area restaurant chain, will pay $230,000 in back wages and liquidated damages to 51 employees after a U.S. Department of Labor investigation found overtime violations at its Boise, Nampa, Garden City and McCall locations.

CHERRY HILL, N.J. — A federal judge has found the fiduciaries of a defunct national multi-employer benefit plan based in Cherry Hill, are liable for approximately $4.7 million in assets that were improperly diverted. James Doyle and Cynthia Holloway, fiduciaries to the Professional Industrial Trade Workers Union Health and Welfare Fund, must make restitution to the plan, with interest, for violating the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

WASHINGTON — U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez issued the following statement about the November 2014 Employment Situation report released today:

ARLINGTON, Va. — On Dec. 6, the U.S. Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration marks National Miners Day, designated by Congress to honor the contributions and sacrifices of miners, both past and present. The date commemorates the worst industrial mine accident in American history when 362 miners perished in an explosion at the No. 6 and No. 8 mines in Monongah, West Virginia, on this date in 1907.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division found that Liverpool employer General Interior Systems Inc., and its president, Jeffrey T. Mento, violated the federal Fair Labor Standards Act by misclassifying more than 300 employees working as drywall installers as independent contractors and failed to pay them overtime. The department obtained a judgment in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York that required payment of $380,000 in back wages to the affected employees.

TARRYTOWN, N.Y. — Workers constructing a precast concrete building at 33 Ashburton Ave. in Yonkers faced potentially deadly or disabling falls, electrocution and other hazards, which led the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration to cite four New York contractors for safety and health violations.

MOUNDS, Ill. — A U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigation found that Environmental Remediation and Recovery Inc. did not have equipment or trained personnel to rescue a 27-year-old worker promptly who collapsed and later died while cleaning a rail car. OSHA has cited seven willful and 14 serious safety violations, many involving permit-required confined space safety regulations.