Union unsuccessfully petition for sterner coronavirus rules
- The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that it cannot force the federal government to permanently enact a proposed rule to protect health care workers against COVID-19 after a group of unions filed a petition.
- OSHA enacted a temporary version of an emergency temporary standard that required healthcare employers to conduct assessments and have written plans to stop the spread of the coronavirus, among other measures.
- The agency has since pulled back on enforcement, withdrawing the non-recordkeeping portions of this standard in December, as it continued to work on a permanent rule.
- National Nurses United, the AFL-CIO and other unions filed an emergency petition, asking the appeals court to order OSHA to issue a permanent rule.
OSHA focuses on the mental health of construction workers
- Construction workers often face some of their industry’s most serious dangers, but recent studies suggest another occupational concern is lurking silently at U.S. worksites — worker suicides.
- The CDC reports that the suicide rate for men in construction and extraction was five times greater than the rate of all other work-related fatalities in the industry in 2018.
- These workers are four times more likely to end their own lives than people in the general population.
- OSHA has joined a task force of construction industry partners, unions and educators to raise awareness of the work stresses seen as the causes of depression and the thoughts and acts of suicide among construction workers.
Auto parts company cited for 10 federal violations
- A Clayton, Ohio, company was cited for exposing workers to fires and failing to train them on initial stage fire identification and the use of fire extinguishers.
- The investigation was opened after federal safety investigators received a referral from a local fire department that responded to 13 fires at the auto parts manufacturer in a two-year period.
- OSHA cited Woodbridge Englewood Inc. for one willful and nine serious safety violations and proposed penalties of $271,403.
- OSHA found the polyethylene material Hematite heats to create molten plastic for automotive parts catches fire in the ovens.
Older workers have a smaller share of total work-related deaths
- Workers age 65 and older saw 676 work-related fatal injuries for w in 2020, accounting for 14.2 percent of the total work deaths that occurred during the year.
- This is the lowest share for the age group since 2016.
- The agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting industry had 171 deaths among workers age 65 and older in 2020, down 9.5 percent from 2019.
- In the transportation and warehousing industry, workplace deaths among workers age 65 and older fell 29.8 percent, from 141 death in 2019 to 99 deaths in 2020.