Health Care Provider Facing Fines

• A New York Health Care Company is facing thousands in fines after a murder.
• A nurse, Joyce Grayson, was working in a halfway house when she was attacked and killed by one of the residents. The killer is charged with murder.
• Elaria Caring is cited by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration for exposing its workers t0 known hazards, in connection with the nature of this work.
• Elaria is hit with one Willful and Serious violation and one less than Serious citation, for failing to provide workplace injury and illness records to OSHA. The company says it plans to contest the citation “vigorously.”
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Lawmakers Target Amazon

• Massachusetts lawmakers are working on a bill to expand work protections targeting the use of quotas, a practice used by Amazon.
• Law makers say employers, such as Amazon, have increased quotas to such a degree, that workers suffer injuries trying to meet them.
• The union backed Warehouse Worker Protection Act, provides numerous protections for workers, including establishing an office of Fairness and Transparency Office within the Department of Labor, and requires that employees receive a written description of their production quotas.
• Amazon is pushing back, saying that it does not use quotas. Company policy simply says that it makes sure employees are actually working when logged into their workstations.
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Apps to Blame for High Injury Rate

• App based food delivery workers face a high rate of injuries and assaults, a study shows.
• The study conducted by City University of New York, found that workers who depend on food delivery as part of or all of their income, were 61% more likely to report being injured. 36% were assaulted.
• Researchers say the app algorithms encourage workers to take more risks to deliver quickly.
• App-based delivery companies say the study is flawed, but researchers point out that companies, such as Door Dash that employ “gig” workers don’t have to report injuries to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
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South Carolina Shipyard Cited

• A South Carolina shipyard is facing almost $200,000 in fines after a worker fell to his death. The worker, who was killed in November, is just the latest in the number of deaths at Detyens Shipyard.
• According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, five workers died at Detyens between 2019 and 2023.
• Failure to erect guard rails, among other things, led to the latest fatality. The employee was doing repairs on a Navy ship, when he fell. OSHA has hit Detyens with a willful citation.
• OSHA says other violations in the past include not wearing hardhats and failure to provide lighting.
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NIOSH Lends a Hand After Deadly Incident

• The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health is providing its expertise after a deadly incident involving first responders.
• The recommendations come on the heels of a 2020 highway incident that left two firefighters and one police officer dead. One of the firefighters recently died from his injuries.
• NIOSH offered eight recommendations for firefighters, including putting together pre-incident plans,  regarding deployment at highway and roadway incidents.
• NIOSH says these plans include setting up a temporary traffic control zone and maintaining scene safety in emergency zones.
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Woman Killed in Deadly Explosion

• One woman was killed and four people were injured in an explosion at Superior Signal Company, LLC.
• Signal manufactures smoke generators for leak detection.
• The woman killed was an employee of the company. Two of the four people were flown to the hospital. A firefighter was also treated for injuries and released.
• The cause of the explosion is not immediately known.
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