Employer name: Rohm-Haas Electronics Material, LLC, doing business as Dow Chemical Co.
60 Willow St., North Andover, Massachusetts a manufacturer of specialty chemicals.

What prompted OSHA’s inspection: On Jan. 7, 2016, an explosion occurred as plant employees were engaged in the trimethyl aluminum cylinder reclamation process. The process involves purging the cylinders of residual amounts of trimethyl aluminum, a substance that can ignite spontaneously in air. Four employees were injured as a result of the explosion.

FREDONIA, N.D. – An investigation into a 36-year-old worker’s injuries at a North Dakota grain facility found multiple violations of federal safety standards for grain handling and confined space entry, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

WICHITA, Kan. – Federal safety inspectors have again found blocked exits and other hazards at stores operated by national discount retailer, Dollar General – this time in Wichita and Clay Center.

Employer name: Tyson Fresh Meats Inc.
Tyson Fresh Meats Inc. a division doing business as Tyson Hides and Tannery
Holcomb, Kansas

Citations issued: July 29, 2016

Investigation findings: The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s Wichita Area Office cited Tyson Fresh Meats Inc. and Tyson Hides and Tannery for a total of two repeated, five serious, and one other than serious safety and health violations.

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 Aug. 23-25, 2016 to hear testimony from invited witnesses and receive an update from the Employee Benefits Security Administration. The council has scheduled the EBSA update tentatively for the morning of Aug. 25.

ELKHORN, Neb. ‒ Rich Tiller might have changed his company’s name, but the Nebraska construction company owner has not changed his callous attitude toward his employees’ safety and well-being.

WATERTOWN, S.D. ‒ Federal investigators found a 24-year-old roofing worker, who fell more than 33 feet to his death lacked an adequate fall protection system and his employer failed to train him to work safely at heights.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration determined the man, who was installing roofing materials, was outside of a warning line placed on the roof when he fell off the roof of the Watertown Community Center.

BOSTON – A Lunenburg construction company and a Framingham company it used to avoid its legal responsibilities as an employer have been ordered to pay a total of $2,359,685 in back wages and liquidated damages to 478 employees and take other corrective actions to prevent future violations of federal labor law. Under a consent judgment they will also pay $262,900 in civil money penalties due to the willful nature of their violations.

Employer name: Meyer Steel Drum Inc.
2000 S. Kilbourn Ave.
Chicago, Illinois

Citations issued: July 27, 2016

WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez today announced membership changes to the national Advisory Committee on Apprenticeship. The changes include the appointment of seven new members, the reappointment of 23 current members and the appointment of a new chairperson.

Employer name: Nucor-Yamato Steel Inc.

Inspection Site: 5929 E. State Highway 18, Blytheville, Arkansas 72315

Citations issued: July 29, 2016

Employer name: B C Main Construction Inc., doing business as MAIN

Inspection Site: 22500 SR 7 North, Dover, Arkansas 72837

Citations issued: July 29, 2016

Employer name: La Espiga de Oro Inc.

Location: 1202 W 15th St., Houston, Texas 77008

Citations issued: Aug. 1, 2016

Employer name: Swifty Athens LLC, doing business as Swifty Car Wash LLC

Inspection site: 2434 W. Broad St., Athens, Georgia 30606

Citations issued: The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued citations to Swifty Car Wash on July 30 for 10 serious and one other-than-serious safety violations.

Employer name: Anthony Smith, doing business as Center Stage

Inspection site: 3901 Michael Blvd., Mobile, Alabama 36609           

Citations issued: Citations were issued to the employer on July 29.

Employer name: The Spoon Group, doing business as “Prop N Spoon”

Inspection site: 970 New Brunswick Ave., Bldg. 1, Rahway, New Jersey 

Employer name: Switchback Timber Inc., P.O. Box 977, Bradley, West Virginia 

Inspection site: Dorothy Tract, RR 3, Dorothy, West Virginia            

ADDISON, Ill. ‒ Four months after federal safety investigators cited his employer for failing to provide workers with fall protection at a United Parcel Service facility in Addison, a 42-year-old employee of Material Handling Systems/MHS Technical Services, fell 22 feet to his death at the same site.

LOS ANGELES – In a victory for employee whistleblowers, the U.S. Department of Labor has secured a decision from the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in a case against a trustee and attorney for the Cement Masons Southern California Trust Funds.

ROCKMART, Ga. – In the agricultural industry, excessive dust is a fuel that can cause serious and sometimes deadly explosions and fires – as was the case at a Georgia chicken feed mill where an explosion killed a 25-year-old man and injured five others in February 2016, federal workplace safety inspectors have found.