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In a June 16 viewpoint article in JAMA, David Michaels, former assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health, wrote the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) should take steps to better protect workers in future pandemics, including issuing a federal pandemic preparedness standard. Michaels, who served under President Barack Obama, was OSHA’s longest-serving […]
An active shooter can show up at any workplace, but some industries and workplaces like healt care and social assistance have higher risks for violence. A former employee shows up at the workplace and shoots five workers, killing four, before driving to another former employer’s place of business to kill three others. A patient in […]
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced June 28 that an administrative law judge (ALJ) with the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission ruled that Shawn D. Purvis is personally responsible for $1,572,340 in OSHA fines. Purvis, who does business as Purvis Home Improvement Co. Inc., willfully exposed roofing workers to fall hazards at […]
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced June 20 it cited JBS Green Bay Inc. with four repeat, four serious, and two other-than-serious violations after a worker at a Wisconsin meat processing plant suffered crushing injuries to his right index and middle fingers while removing a shackle from a cow moving down a trolley […]
State Farm, the largest homeowners insurance company in California, recently announced it would stop “accepting new applications including all business and personal lines property and casualty insurance, effective May 27, 2023.” The company said the decision was made “due to historic increases in construction costs outpacing inflation, rapidly growing catastrophe exposure, and a challenging reinsurance […]
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced June 16 that snack food maker Hostess Brands faces $298,010 in proposed fines following a worker’s amputation injury. The 29-year-old worker suffered an amputation of a fingertip while reassembling a pump at a Hostess facility in Chicago—an injury Hostess could have prevented by shutting down and locking […]
An Illinois pizza manufacturer is facing $2,812,658 in Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) penalties and has been placed in the agency’s severe violator enforcement program (SVEP) after a 29-year-old sanitation worker died while cleaning a conveyor. A temporary worker employed by XCEL Staffing Solutions LLC in Waukegan was using compressed air to clean a […]
In May, WildEarth Guardians filed suit against the EPA in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico. The purpose of the suit is to compel the EPA to revise Houston-based Targas Resources Corp’s operating permits in the Permian Basin. On November 16, 2022, in response to Guardians’ petitions to the EPA, the […]
The EPA has ordered chemical company Chemours to take corrective measures to address pollution from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in stormwater and effluent discharges from the Washington Works facility near Parkersburg, West Virginia. The order on consent also directs Chemours to characterize the extent of PFAS contamination from discharges. This action marks the first […]
Since the EPA announced its Phase 3 proposed greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions standards for heavy-duty vehicles, there has been significant political and industry pushback. “Part of EPA’s proposal is to electrify 25% of new long-haul trucks by 2032, as well as 35% of new short-haul regional tractors and 50% of vocational vehicles,” says Overdrive Online. […]