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Nebraska Railcar Cleaning Services cited for more than 30 violations after tragedy

OMAHA, Neb. – Moments before a blast ripped through a railcar on April 14, 2015, a check of the air quality inside indicated a serious risk of an explosion. Despite the warning, Nebraska Railcar Cleaning Services sent two employees, aged 41 and 45, into the railcar to work without monitoring the air continuously for explosive hazards as required, nor providing the employees with emergency retrieval equipment or properly fitted respirators.

OSHA determines Piramal Glass USA did not provide fire-retardant clothing

PARK HILLS, Mo. — A 34-year-old machine operator suffered third-degree burns on his legs and hands when molten glass bottles fell on the production floor and ignited oil residue that had leaked from the machines. The man had not been provided fire-retardant protective clothing, and the fire spread to his pant leg. He has been unable to return to work since the injury.

Employer name: Linden Lumber LLC

Inspection site: 23741 U.S. Highway 43, Linden, Alabama 36748

Citations issued: Citations were issued on Oct. 13, 2015.

OMAHA, Neb. — Moments before a blast ripped through a railcar on April 14, 2015, a check of the air quality inside indicated a serious risk of an explosion. Despite the warning, Nebraska Railcar Cleaning Services sent two employees, aged 41 and 45, into the railcar to work without monitoring the air continuously for explosive hazards as required, nor providing the employees with emergency retrieval equipment or properly fitted respirators.

Employer name: Flowers of the Sun Inc., doing business as Ilene's Sunflower, and Ilene Lieberman

Investigation site: 366 President St., Brooklyn, N.Y. 11231

WASHINGTON — Hospira Inc., a government contractor, discriminated against women in violation of Executive Order 11246 when it denied jobs to 145 female applicants for pharmacy attendant positions at its McPherson, Kansas, facility, the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs found.

Participants: U.S. Department of Labor's Deputy Secretary Christopher P. Lu; G7 ministers of Employment, Labor, Social Affairs, International Cooperation and Development

Department establishes wage methodology, including improved housing standards

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Labor announced a Final Rule today on the employment of foreign workers in jobs related to the herding of livestock on the range, including the herding of sheep and goats. The regulation, the H-2A Herder Final Rule, implements a methodology to address wage stagnation and prevent adverse effects on U.S. workers.

Date of Action: Oct. 8, 2015

Name(s) of Defendant(s): Lisa A. Ferrari, DMD; Clifton Casey and Lisa A. Ferrari, DMD, LLC

Allegations: Based on an investigation conducted by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration, the Secretary of Labor filed a complaint on Jan. 14, 2015, alleging the following:

Date of Action: Sept. 16, 2015

Type of Action: Fair Labor Standards Lawsuit

Names of Defendants: Marketing Solutions Group Inc., d/b/a Wise Debt Relief; d/b/a GoWize; d/b/a Consumers Legal Center and Michael S. Gross

Allegations: An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division found Marketing Solutions Group Inc. and its owner, Michael Gross violated the FLSA's overtime and minimum wage provisions.

Employers: Hope Medical Transportation

Sites: 2231 S. 48th Street, Suite 104, Tempe, Arizona, 85282

Investigation findings: Wage and Hour investigators established that Hope Medical Transportation, a non-emergency medical transportation company, did not pay overtime to workers paid on a salary basis when they worked more than 40 hours in a workweek. The employer failed to keep an accurate record of hours worked, and misclassified most of its drivers as independent contractors until January 2014.

NEW YORK — Carlos Moncayo, a 22-year-old laborer from Queens, was trying to make a living as he worked on the construction of a Restoration Hardware store at 19 Ninth Ave. in Manhattan on April 6, 2015. Instead, his life ended that day when the 14-foot-deep trench in which he was working collapsed and buried him beneath tons of soil and debris.

Employer name: Bancroft Bags Inc. in West Monroe, Louisiana

Citations issued: Oct. 7, 2015

PORTLAND, OREGON — After spending days fighting fires, clearing brush and performing arduous physical tasks, U.S. Forest Service employees should return to a safe home base after work. Yet repeated inspections of national forests throughout Oregon during the last 10 years have found the opposite, with the Forest Service cited by federal inspectors for widespread safety violations nine out of every 10 visits.

INDIANAPOLIS — The U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs has found that Fastenal Company, North America's leading distributor of fastening products and a federal government contractor, discriminated against 171 job applicants who sought general warehouse positions at two of its distribution facilities in Indianapolis and Atlanta.

Employer names: Arthur Funk & Sons Inc., a commercial and institutional building construction contractor located at 1405 Birch Road, Lebanon, Pennsylvania, and Weaver Construction and Roofing Inc., a roofing contractor located at 4873 Division Highway, East Earl, Pennsylvania.

The inspected worksite was located at 844 Tuck Street, Lebanon, Pennsylvania, where construction of a new cancer center for Good Samaritan Hospital is underway. Funk was the general contractor and Weaver was a subcontractor to Funk.

Employer name: Mark Mashuda Excavating Inc., 113 Lakeland Drive, Mars, Pennsylvania. The inspection site was the Peachmont Farms Development, Evans City, Pennyslvania, where workers were installing a sewer line.

Citations issued: On September 29, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued two willful one serious safety citations.