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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. Corn milling company fined $1.8 million OSHA entered into […]
Nebraska Beef Ltd. of Omaha, Nebraska, faces $274,569 in Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) penalties following the agency’s investigation into an amputation injury, OSHA announced January 5. The agency cited Nebraska Beef with two willful and 11 serious safety and health violations. OSHA investigators determined that a worker’s fingertip got caught in a forklift attachment […]
Pepsi Guam Bottling agreed to pay $132,591 in Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) penalties to settle safety and health citations for exposing employees to amputation and other serious injuries, the agency announced January 3. Last year, OSHA cited Pepsi Guam Bottling with one willful, one repeat, and six serious violations of machine safety procedures after […]
In a final investigation report into a fatal well blowout, the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) called on the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to include onshore well drilling and well servicing operations in the agency’s process safety management (PSM) standard or develop a separate federal standard to address such operations. […]
Two Rhode Island companies, under separate, recently proposed settlements with the EPA, have been ordered to pay combined fines of approximately $280,000 due to alleged violations of reporting requirements for their uses of anhydrous ammonia and metals. The companies alleged violations stem from compliance with the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) and the […]
On December 21, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) released text of a proposed rule it plans to publish in January 2024 covering the health and safety of emergency response workers. The proposal would update the agency’s 43-year-old fire brigades rule. It would also update the existing fire brigades standard and expand safety and […]
Charm Builders Ltd., an Ohio-based contractor, agreed to pay $730,000 in Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) penalties to settle a dozen citations stemming from a March 2022 investigation into fall protection violations, the agency announced December 28. On September 29, 2022, OSHA cited Millersburg, Ohio-based Charm Builders for six egregious-willful, five repeat, and one […]
A Florence, Wisconsin, sawmill faces $1.4 million in Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) penalties following a 16-year-old worker’s fatal injuries, the agency announced December 19. OSHA cited Florence Hardwoods LLC for eight willful, six repeat, 29 serious, and four other-than-serious safety and health violations. The agency categorized five of the willful violations as egregious, […]
While the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has six economically significant rulemakings in the pre-rule or proposed-rule stages, the agency appeared to shy away from major rulemaking after the U.S. Supreme Court issued a stay in 2022 of the agency’s COVID-19 “vaccinate-or-test” emergency temporary standard (ETS). This year, OSHA’s regulatory activity has been overshadowed […]
Cambria, Wisconsin, corn milling company Didion Milling Inc. agreed to pay $1.8 million in Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) penalties related to a May 31, 2017, dust explosion that killed five workers and injured more than a dozen others, OSHA announced December 14. In a related criminal case, company Vice President of Operations Derrick […]