Discount retailer exposed workers to hazards again
- A Dollar General in West Lafayette, Ohio, is facing $395,717 in fines after OSHA investigators found five repeated safety violations.
- The location exposed workers and others to the dangers of blocked emergency exits and electrical panels, and boxes of merchandise stacked at unsafe heights.
- Since 2017, OSHA has fined Dollar General Corp. and Dolgencorp LLC, more than $15 million for numerous willful, repeat, and serious workplace safety violations nationwide.
- OSHA has at least 100 federal safety inspections currently open at stores owned and operated by the Goodlettsville, Tennessee, company.
Is cannabis dust a hazardous substance?
- Trulieve, a Florida-based cannabis producer and retailer, reached a settlement with OSHA after an employee in Holyoke, Massachusetts, died from an apparent asthma attack.
- The employee was filling pre-rolled joints when she complained she couldn’t breathe and suffered an asthma attack and later died at the hospital.
- Under the agreement with OSHA, Trulieve will produce a study to determine whether ground cannabis dust is required to be classified as a hazardous chemical in the occupational setting.
- Work on the study must be completed by May 29.
What to expect from OSHA in 2023
- OSHA’s mission continues to be enforcing safety and health regulations and providing compliance assistance through targeted outreach, education, and training.
- The agency also emphasizes increased awareness on the part of both employers and employees of the importance of a safety and health culture.
- “With the Biden administration in charge, we’re likely to continue to see strong enforcement efforts and more new rules,” Robert Nichols, partner at the national law firm Bracewell LLP, said.
- From the time OSHA conducts an inspection, it only has six months to make a determination.
More construction firms seek OSHA training
- More construction companies are asking for OSHA safety training after a spike in fatalities.
- Fed-OSHA inspected construction workplaces more than any other industry in 2022, according to a regional administrator.
- Patricio Lopez, a trainer with OSAH, said demand was in response to the tragic scaffolding collapse in Charlotte, which killed three workers when they fell from a height of 70 feet.
- The focus is mainly on preventing falls since many of the crews work 30 feet in the air or higher while wielding and fastening heavy material.