Workplace Safety Still A Challenge

May 3, 2023

Workers getting injured at an alarming rate

  • While the passage of the OSH Act in 1970 has vastly improved workplace safety, too many people are still sickened, injured, and killed on the job.
  • Tragedies are not unavoidable accidents, but rather entirely predictable and preventable.
  • New developments like climate change and gun proliferation exacerbate already-existing risks, creating more danger for workers nationwide.
  • The U.S. needs a new commitment to workplace safety: to stronger laws, more enforcement funding, and to worker empowerment generally, according to Terri Gerstein, director of the State and Local Enforcement Project at Harvard.
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OSHA proposal would expand requirements

  • OSHA submitted its latest injury and illness recordkeeping proposal to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.
  • The proposed changes to the injury and illness recordkeeping rules hark back to the agency’s more onerous 2016 rule, according to the Ogletree Deakins law firm.
  • The proposal seeks to expand the number of employers that would be required to submit data by lowering the threshold number from 250 employees to 100 employees (albeit with a caveat).
  • The proposed rule also expands the list of covered “high-hazard” industries.
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Worker dies after falling off high school roof

  • A contractor fell from a roof of a classroom building while conducting work at Morehead High School in Rockingham County, North Carolina.
  • The district said neither students nor staff were involved in the accident.
  • One contractor employee descended “uncontrollably” from the roof, landing on the surface below and sustaining fatal injuries.
  • The N.C. Department of Labor said the Occupational Safety and Health Division was notified about this accident yesterday and that a compliance officer has opened an inspection.
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OAHA: Amazon failed to provide adequate medical treatment

  • An ongoing investigation by OSHA found Amazon failed to provide adequate medical treatment for traumatic and chronic injuries at a fulfillment center in Castleton, New York.
  • OSHA determined that the company failed to ensure injured employees received proper medical care.
  • At least six employees with head injuries and four with back injuries did not receive timely, necessary medical care. Injured workers were returned to their jobs and, in many cases, their injuries became worse as a result.
  • OSHA has proposed $15,625 in penalties, an amount set by federal statute.
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