National retailer wants to improve the safety record

• The CEO of Dollar General has plans to turn around the company’s performance, amid safety concerns, slow sales slow, and a sagging stock price
• Dollar General has more than $21 million in fines from the fed-OSHA for having blocked fire exits, dangerous levels of clutter, and other safety issues.
• Shareholders have voted for a resolution that called for an independent, third-party audit into worker safety, a move that the company opposed.
• “We have some hard work yet ahead of us, but we know what to do,” CEO Todd Vasos told shareholders.
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Arizona safety director re-signs

• Mark Norton has re-signed as the director of the Arizona Division of Occupational Safety and Health (ADOSH). He is the second director to step down in the past year.
• Phil Murphy, an ADOSH assistant director, will serve as interim until a replacement is found.
• There have been complaints that ADOSH gives small companies reductions on their fines, even in cases where workers die. Such fine adjustments are allowed under fed-OSHA) policies.
• Families whose loved ones have died in workplace accidents have pushed for changes and accused ADOSH of weak enforcement of safety standards.
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Workplace injury, illness rate at historic low in N.C.

• The nonfatal workplace injury and illness rate for North Carolina’s private industry remains at a historic low for 2022 with a rate of 2.2 cases per 100 full-time workers, according to new figures released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, an agency of the U.S. Department of Labor.
• This is significantly lower than the national rate of 2.7.
• The data are estimates from the Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII) and account for growth and contraction in total hours worked in the industry.
• The 2022 rate for North Carolina’s local government and state government sectors did not significantly change between 2021 and 2022.
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Timeline for OSHA standard moved

• OSHA’s standard on lockout/tagout has been moved to the proposed rule stage in the Department of Labor’s Fall 2023 regulatory agenda. This standard covers the servicing and maintenance of machines and equipment in which the unexpected energization or start-up of the machines or equipment, or release of stored energy could cause injury to employees.
• That’s the agency’s lone change to the agenda, which is issued by the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs twice a year.
• The agenda provides the status of and projected dates for all potential regulations listed in three stages: pre-rule, proposed rule and final rule.
• The revised rule, listed as a “long-term” action on the spring agenda, is expected to address computer-based controls of hazardous energy.
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