Calls for tougher ventilation rules
- Building standards do not include ventilation and filtration targets strong enough to protect against respiratory disease infections like COVID-19.
- These were the findings of the Lancet COVID-19 Commission’s Task Force on Safe Work, Safe School, and Safe Travel; the group includes a former head of OSHA.
- The group said that adopting new noninfectious air delivery rate targets that would both improve health and help protect against infectious diseases.
- Existing indoor air standards like those developed by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers contain bare minimum targets for ventilation and air filtration.
- An annual survey in Minnesota had an estimated 3.4 OSHA-recordable, nonfatal, workplace injuries and illnesses per 100 full-time-equivalent workers, a decrease from the estimated rate of 3.5 cases per 100 FTE workers in 2020.
- The survey estimates Minnesota had 73,800 workers with OSHA-recordable, nonfatal, workplace injuries and illnesses in 2021, compared to 76,700 estimated cases for 2020.
- The state’s workplace injury and illness rate were higher than the 2021 nationwide rate.
- There were an estimated 3,250,700 nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses reported in private and public-sector workplaces across the county, which equates to a rate of 2.9 cases per 100 FTE workers.
Preventing trench collapses
- OSHA released tips on how to prevent deaths from trench collapses
- The agency recommended slope or bench trench walls by cutting back the trench wall at an angle inclined away from the excavation.
- OSHA said to shore trench walls by installing aluminum hydraulic or other types of supports to prevent soil movement.
- The agency also recommended shielding trench walls by using trench boxes or other types of supports to prevent soil cave-ins.
Marina fined after the explosion
- Coeymans Landing Marina in New York was fined $50,000 following an explosion that injured a worker.
- OSHA records show a total of four violations filed against the facility in July, six months after the blast.
- The explosion sent a towering column of black smoke into the air that could be seen for miles.
- The case remains open because the company has not paid the penalty associated with the citations, according to the federal agency.