Wisconsin officials sentenced for an explosion

• U.S. District Court Judge James D. Peterson of the Western District of Wisconsin sentenced several officials of Didion Milling Inc. for their involvement in a deadly explosion that killed five workers at a corn mill in Cambria, Wisconsin.
• The sentencing, which took place over two days, includes prison time for a corporate vice president and former food safety, environmental, and operations managers, following an investigation into the company’s practices.
• The incident occurred when a fire sparked by milling equipment led to combustible dust explosions, resulting in the deaths of five employees and serious injuries to others, alongside significant structural damage to the mill.
• The convicted Didion officials include Vice President of Operations Derrick Clark, sentenced to two years in prison for his role in falsifying documents related to dust cleaning practices and obstructing an OSHA investigation.
  Read more

OSHA releases new guidance manual

• OSHA released a new process safety management enforcement manual.
• In addition to canceling and replacing the prior instruction, the manual removes an appendix that sets out a checklist for auditing a workplace’s compliance with the PSM standard.
• The manual notes that OSHA’s National Emphasis Program for the PSM standard sets out procedures for inspecting facilities with highly hazardous chemicals in amounts at or greater than the threshold quantities listed in the PSM Standard.
• The manual also incorporates existing OSHA PSM enforcement policies in a question-and-response format, largely taken from agency letters interpreting the standard.
  Read more 

Utah family donates funds while OSHA investigates fatality

• The family of a 28-year-old worker killed after falling from a roof in Gurnee, Utah, are donating money to charity in his honor.
• An autopsy performed earlier showed that Braulio Lozano, 28, of Chicago, died as a result of blunt force injuries, according to Lake County Coroner Jennifer Banek.
• The incident remains under investigation by the Gurnee Police Department and OSHA.
• The man was working as part of a crew installing solar panels on the roof of a two-story home.
  Read more

Alabama sawmill fined after fatal injury

• An OSHA investigation into an August 2023 fatal incident at a Phenix City, Alabama, sawmill revealed, for the second time in three years, that the employer could have prevented a tragedy by following required safety rules.
• The agency found that a 67-year-old sawmill supervisor at MDLG Inc., operating as Phenix Lumber Co., had climbed on top of an auger to access a difficult-to-reach area to unclog a woodchipper.
• Because of multiple failures by the employer to protect him, the machine started while the employee was on top of the auger. The 20-year employee was caught in the machinery and fatally injured.
• OSHA cited Phenix Lumber Co., its owners John Menza Dudley Jr. and Leslie Elizabeth Dudley, with 22 willful violations, one repeat violation, and five serious violations, totaling $2,471,683 in proposed penalties.
  Read more