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After workers at a Commerce, Georgia, electric vehicle battery manufacturing facility suffered potentially permanent respiratory damage in a lithium battery fire, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) cited SK Battery America Inc. a second time in less than a year and seeks $77,200 in new penalties, the agency announced April 8. Following the fire, […]
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) continues to carry out inspections and issue citations to employers that expose workers to hazardous conditions. We’ve summarized some of the key enforcement cases from the past few months for a look at where OSHA is focusing its efforts. ‘Severe violator’ cited again for machine hazards An Alabama […]
The Austin, Texas-based subsidiary of one of the nation’s largest producers of manufactured and modular homes faces $272,479 in Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) fines for more than two dozen serious violations, the agency announced April 3. The agency cited Palm Harbor Homes, a subsidiary of Cavco Industries, Inc., with 25 serious and two […]
Back to Basics is a weekly feature that highlights important but possibly overlooked information that any EHS professional should know. This week, we examine OSHA’s requirements for personal protective equipment. When engineering controls, administrative controls, and work practices aren’t enough to protect your employees from exposures to a safety or health hazard, you have to provide […]
On April 1, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) amended its regulations for employee representatives during agency workplace inspections (89 Fed. Reg. 22558). The April 1 amendments make two changes to workplace walkaround regulations: OSHA’s revised regulations take effect May 31. OSHA compliance safety and health officers (CSHO) still have discretion over whether to […]
A senior vice president and two managers at PrimeLending, a national mortgage lender, were ordered to pay $35,000 in emotional damages and legal fees to two company whistleblowers, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced March 27. OSHA investigators found that the nationwide lender violated whistleblower provisions of the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA) by […]
HBD Thermoid Inc., an Ohio industrial hose manufacturer, faces $321,489 in new Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) penalties, the agency announced March 26. Following OSHA’s eighth investigation into HBD Thermoid since 2013, the agency cited the employer with 14 new violations at its Bellefontaine, Ohio, manufacturing facility—one willful, 11 serious, and two other-than-serious. Safety […]
Back to Basics is a weekly feature that highlights important but possibly overlooked information that any EHS professional should know. This week, we examine workplace fire preparedness. Have you considered what might happen if a fire broke out in your facility? On March 25, 1911, 146 garment workers were killed in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory […]
Aunt Kitty’s Food Inc., a Vineland, New Jersey, subsidiary of Hanover Foods Corp., is facing $463,224 in Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) fines for one willful, two repeat, and four serious violations, the agency announced March 12. Aunt Kitty’s Food allowed workers to service and clean equipment without having procedures in place to stop […]
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) continues to work on six economically significant rulemakings, including developing a workplace violence prevention rule, according to a March 14 Department of Labor (DOL) Federal Register notice (89 Fed. Reg. 18744). An earlier DOL notice omitted a listing of the department’s regulatory flexibility items on its semiannual regulatory […]