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

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.  

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Federal investigators have cited a Jefferson City roofing contractor after a 47-year-old laborer collapsed on Aug. 17, 2016, and later died after being hospitalized with a core body temperature above 107 degrees.

MORAINE, Ohio – Workers began making multiple complaints of unsafe working conditions at the Fuyao Glass America Inc. facility in Moraine not long after it opened in October 2015, leading to eight separate federal inspections and $226,937 in proposed penalties for the automotive glass supplier to plant brands such as Audi, Cadillac, Land Rover, Volvo and Volkswagen.

In the week ending November 5, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 254,000, a decrease of 11,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 265,000. The 4-week moving average was 259,750, an increase of 1,750 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 250 from 257,750 to 258,000.

Employer name: Santec Inc.
1420 East Linden Ave.
Linden, New Jersey

Citations issued: On Nov. 4, 2016, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued the company citations for 11 serious and one other-than-serious violation.

Employer name: Ravago Americas LLC

Investigation site: 1900 Summit Blvd., #900
Orlando, Florida 32810

WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez issued the following statement about the October 2016 Employment Situation report released today:

“The American economy continued its solid recovery from the worst economic crisis of our lifetimes in October, with the addition of 161,000 jobs. All told, American businesses have added 15.5 million jobs since February 2010, and we are in the longest streak of overall job growth on record. Additionally, the unemployment rate ticked down slightly to 4.9 percent.

Washington – Employers, unions, community colleges, and others are hosting hundreds of open houses and other events to commemorate the second annual National Apprenticeship Week, Nov. 14-20, 2016. The department’s call to action is to register 600 events to double last year’s number.

WASHINGTON – The Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans, also known as the ERISA Advisory Council, will meet at U.S. Department of Labor headquarters Nov. 9-10, 2016, to finalize their recommendations and to receive an update from the Employee Benefits Security Administration.

The council has scheduled the EBSA update tentatively for the afternoon of Nov. 10.