Iowa school workers exposed to Asbestos

• A school district in northeast Iowa allowed some of its employees and other workers to be inside an asbestos-contaminated building despite a warning from state regulators to leave the premises.
• The North Linn Community School District was fined after the expansive renovation of its middle and high school complex near Coggon in 2022.
• The Iowa Occupational Safety and Health Administration fined the district $70,000, and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources recently fined the district $6,000.
• The contamination resulted from a multimillion-dollar renovation of the buildings that included the addition of air conditioning.
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Families suing after airport deaths

• The families of two of the three men who died as a result of the hangar collapse near the Boise Airport are suing the facility.
• OSHA’s investigation could take up to six months, but attorneys are meeting with the agency to help understand what happened after the hangar that was under construction collapsed.
• The Boise Fire Department said that it appears the collapse of the building also caused a crane to fall, but they are still investigating the cause.
• Nine more people are injured in the accident.
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Construction workers’ deaths still a concern in New York

• Despite a decrease in construction worker deaths across the state in 2022, more construction workers died on the job in New York City than in the previous year, according to a recent report from the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health.
• A drop in inspections reportedly led to many of the deaths.
• In 2022, the most recent year with data available, 24 construction workers died in New York City, compared with 20 construction-related fatalities in 2021.
• Across the state, 50 construction workers died on the job in 2022, down from 61 deaths a year earlier, NYCOSH reported using data from the city Department of Buildings and the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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Safety incidents at mines prompt more action

• Federal regulators uncovered serious safety failures at Twin State Mining Inc.’s Mine No. 39 in McDowell County, West Virginia.
• These failures were directly linked to the tragic drowning death of Christopher Finley, a miner at the site.
• The Mine Safety and Health Administration investigation revealed that Twin State Mining had neglected to follow its approved ventilation plan, which would have prevented the accumulation of water that ultimately led to the incident.
• The report highlighted the operator’s failure to conduct sufficient weekly examinations.
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