OSHA proposes fines for firm that didn’t provide respirators

• OSHA cited a steel fabrication business after finding the company willfully exposed workers to safety and health hazards at its Millville, New Jersey, operations.
• OSHA issued citations – four willful and seven serious violations – against Kenric Steel LLC and proposed $348,683 in penalties.
• The violations involved Kenric Steel’s failure to medically evaluate new employees required to wear respirators; conduct annual inspections of overhead cranes; and ensure proper use of welding screens, among other violations.
• Kenric Steel is a family-owned and operated steel fabrication business specializing in the furnishing and installation of structural and miscellaneous steel, as well as custom fabrication and installation of manufactured safety and fall protection products.
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‘Hazard huddle’ challenge from OSHA

• OSHA has launched a challenge aimed at boosting worker participation in implementing hazard controls and job hazard analyses.
• As part of the annual Safe+Sound campaign promoted by OSHA, NIOSH, the National Safety Council and other safety organizations, the Hazard Huddle Challenge encourages managers to have discussions with workers about workplace safety hazards.
• Assemble workers with “varied experience levels and roles,” OSHA says, to ensure an expanded range of expertise.
• OSHA calls on managers to listen and take notes during these meetings to determine where to conduct job hazard analysis.
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OSHA proposes penalties for Massachusetts firm with repeated violations

• A Massachusetts contractor with a history of fall-related safety violations is facing thousands of dollars in fines after exposing workers to potentially fatal falls.
• Brothers Construction Services Inc. which also operates as Brothers Construction and Roofing and Brothers Roofing is facing $306,229 in fines after an OSHA investigation, the U.S. Department of Labor said.
• OSHA opened an investigation into a Framingham-based construction company at a Lexington Avenue worksite on Aug. 17, 2023, after “a complaint that workers on the roof of a residential property were not using fall protection,” the U.S. Department of Labor said.
• OSHA cited Brothers Construction Services Inc. for eight willful, repeat, serious, and other-than-serious violations that resulted in $306,229 in fines.
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Illinois food manufacturers face a high number of OSHA fines

• Workers in fresh food manufacturing plants have been getting injured at a high rate in Illinois.
• The problem is so serious that federal OSHA created a special program to monitor the industry and work to reduce injuries and deaths.
• From 2016 through 2020, these workers suffered 20 broken bones and 126 amputations, according to OSHA.
• OSHA records reveal Rana Meal Solutions had 29 workplace safety violations dating back to 2012, and was fined more than $500,000. Like many companies, they appealed the violations, which were reduced to 26.
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