Silica Exposure Leads to $1M in Penalties

Chicago countertop maker Florenza Marble & Granite faces $1 million in penalties after OSHA inspectors found its workers were exposed to silica levels up to six times greater than permissible limits.
OSHA cited Florenza for 32 safety and health violations.
Investigators also discovered that two workers compensation insurance carriers refused to insure the company in 2022 and 2024 for not providing air sampling or proving it protected its six employees.
Earlier this year, inspectors became aware that a 31-year-old employee of a Chicago countertop manufacturer needed a double lung transplant after suffering accelerated silicosis, an incurable lung disease.
That employee’s 59-year-old father and co-worker is also awaiting a silicosis-related lung transplant. Another employee has been treated for unresolved work-related lung disease for more than three years.
The Labor Department’s Aug. 26 announcement said that the two workers suffering from silicosis have limited English proficiency and received no information from Florenza Marble about silica exposure danger or training to protect their safety and health.
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A report issued by lawn care company Lawn Love ranking the 2024 Safest States for Outdoor Workers found that Washington state is best protecting outdoor workers while Arkansas does the worst.
The study compared all 50 states and the District of Columbia based on 26 total metrics, including legislation protecting workers from extreme weather conditions; whistleblower retaliation rights; and, the number of work-related injuries and fatalities.
Among the findings, the report revealed that Michigan (ranked 6th) scores near the top with the highest workers compensation payout, about 77% of the worker’s weekly wage. Ohio (ranked 38th) businesses have the most willful or repeated fines, 533, worth $40,000 or more each — totaling over $50.6 million.
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Luxury retail industry employers need to be aware that OSHA’s new Worker Walkaround Representative Designation Process gives union organizers and worker advocacy groups potential access to previously restricted areas of luxury retail stores, according to law firm Morgan Lewis & Bockius.
Writing in an Aug. 23 firm blog post, the authors highlighted that the new rule allows compliance officers to bring third-party representatives for workplace inspections, even at nonunionized sites and manufacturing facilities.
They cautioned that these visits can occur when customers are in the store during operating hours.
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