Former OSHA Chief Links Safety, Operational Excellence

• Writing in the MIT Sloan Management Review, former OSHA official David Michaels said that businesses that have fully embraced worker safety produce a higher-quality product.
• Michaels served as U.S. Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA from 2009 to January 2017.
• “In my decades of safety work in government and the private sector, I have seen very clearly that worker safety and operational excellence are inseparable, a conclusion that is supported by academic research,” Michaels wrote.
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Washington State Firm Faces Fines for Unremedied Silica Dust Exposure

• The Washington State Department of Labor & Industries issued citations and fined A+ Marble & Granite LLC $330,000 last month after inspectors found the company failed to adequately address safety problems it had been cited for in April 2022.
• The agency said that during its three site visits in February and March 2024, the firm’s owner was uncooperative, forcing inspectors to get a warrant from Skagit County Superior Court allowing them to enter the business to conduct sampling of silica levels.
• When an employer fails to fix an issue from a previous citation, they can be cited and fined for their “failure to abate,” according to the state agency.
• The company is appealing despite the owner admitting to inspectors that no changes had been made to correct the violations found in the 2022 inspection.
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Minnesota’s Essentia Faces Multiple State Safety Violations

• One of Minnesota’s largest healthcare operators, Essentia, faces $27,300 in fines and six state safety violations related to a lack of safety equipment, exposure to contaminated sharps, improper training, and chemical hazard prevention.
• Essentia says the violations have been resolved.
• The Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry’s Occupational Safety and Health Division issued the citations on July 30, based on inspections made on April 11.
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Kentucky Sets 3-Day Free Training Event 

• Kentucky’s KYSAFE is offering three days of occupational safety and health training at Ashland Community and Technical College, Sept. 24-26.
• The six sessions are free and several offer continuing education units for participants.
• Among the topics covered are safety practices for handling bloodborne pathogens, powered industrial trucks, and hazard communications.
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