New York thermometer maker faces $195,988 in penalties

• Federal workplace safety inspectors have cited a thermometer manufacturer for overexposing their employees to mercury at its West Babylon, New York, facility.
• OSHA determined Kessler Thermometer Corp. overexposed employees to airborne elemental mercury while they worked to distill and purify elemental mercury, fill thermometers, blow glass, and during calibration and engraving of thermometers.
• Agency inspectors found the company willfully exposed and severely sickened workers by allowing the airborne concentration of the toxic metal to exceed the 8-hour, time-weighted average based on biological exposure indices.
• OSHA inspectors identified 18 serious violations, one willful violation, and two other-than-serious violations by Kessler Thermometer Corp. and proposed $195,988 in penalties.
  Read more

Company opposes new safety law in West Virginia

• Allegheny Wood Products in West Virginia has been cited for eight “serious” violations and six “other than serious” violations by OSHA since 2014.
• Now, the firm is opposed to a bill in the West Virginia legislature that would limit corporate payouts in lawsuits brought by injured employees through workers’ compensation laws known as “deliberate intent.”
• Employees entitled to workers’ compensation are barred from suing their employer if they are injured on the job.
• However, deliberate intent allows injured workers to sue their employer if they were knowingly exposed to unsafe conditions.
  Read more 

Wisconsin cannery fined after amputation

• A 20-year-old seasonal worker suffered a partial amputation of their finger after attempting to unjam an unguarded palletizer machine at a Del Monte Foods cannery in Plover, Wisconsin.
• OSHA determined the cannery’s lack of machine guarding and safety procedures exposed employees to machine hazards. In 2019, the agency cited the company for similar violations at another Wisconsin facility in Markesan.
• Investigators learned workers routinely used their hands to redirect pallets stuck in the palletizer’s dispenser.
• OSHA issued a citation to Del Monte Foods Inc. for two repeated and six serious safety violations of machine safety and fall protection standards. The company faces proposed penalties of $222,779.
  Read more

Nevada lawmakers want more heat protection for workers

• Nevada Lawmakers proposed a bill that would create permanent standards to protect outdoor and indoor workers from heat-related illnesses and injuries.
• The Nevada Occupational Safety & Health Administration already adopted a federal program meant to advise Nevada businesses on how to protect workers from heat illness and injuries last summer.
• Under the program, Nevada OSHA can initiate inspections for more than 70 high-risk industries when the National Weather Service issues a heat warning for the area.
• The latest bill would ensure employees working in extreme heat are given shade, water, education, and training to help prevent heat stress and illnesses related to poor air quality.
  Read more