Roofing Company Fined for Numerous Violations

• A Missouri roofing company is facing thousands of dollars in fines from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
• The company faces serious and serious and willful citations for failing to protect workers from elevated fall hazards, among other things.
• 13 Construction and Pro Services LLC., also permitted unsafe ladder usage by its workers and didn’t require the use of protective face and eye equipment.
• The citations are the result of investigations conducted in December.
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Heed the Wet Bulb

• Employers should move away using the heat index as a gauge for dangerous working conditions, say university experts.
• A farm worker died and a company was fined thousands when the heat index, or so-called “feels like” standard, greatly underestimated the outdoor heat danger.
• Employers should use the wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT), which factors in risks such as temperature, humidity, wind speed, solar radiation to determine whether it it safe to work outside, say heat policy experts at Duke.
• The Occupational Safety and Health Administration recommends the method but doesn’t mandate it.
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Quash That Bad Bill

• Lawmakers must prevent a so-called worker protection bill from becoming law, says the director of a prominent small government policy center.
• The Warehouse Workers’ Protection Act aims to overturn decades of precedent on ergonomics set by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, he says.
• He says the bill specifically targets quotas as one size fits all, but ignores the fact that companies set their own metrics.
• The recently introduced bill is in response to work place practices by distribution centers such as Amazon.
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What First Responders See Haunts Them

• First responders are at high risk for stress associated with traumatic events, according to a report by the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institute for Occupational Safety an Health.
• Texas, and other states, are heeding the call to get first responders access to mental health services, as needed.
• Firefighters say that the shifts they have can lead to sleep deprivation, aggravating a potentially traumatic situation.
• Thirty percent of first responders get PTSD and depression, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration. Read More

 

Thruway Worker Killed

• A New York Thruway worker was killed and another was injured when a tractor trailer struck them.
• The workers were hit when they were setting up a work zone on Interstate 90.
• Drugs and alcohol do not appear to be a factor.
• No charges have been filed.
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Worker Protection Tech Value Surges

• A globally used worker protection system is on target to be worth $38 million by 2032.
• Closed system transfer devices (CSTD) change the way hazardous drugs are being transferred, preventing exposure to health care workers.
• Regulatory bodies, including the Occupational Safety and Health Administration have issued stringent guidelines for safe handling.
• The rising prevalence of chronic diseases is also driving the value.
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