Construction industry focuses on mental health

• There needs to be more safety standards in the construction in addition to OSHA compliance, according to John Moore, Regional Safety Director for McCarthy Building Companies Inc.
• Mental well-being needs to be at the forefront for these workers that often are placed in hazardous situations.
• This includes creating an environment that empowers someone to call for an all-stop when they notice a potential hazard, or to actively speak up about a concern they have during a meeting.
• Making a connection and shift in communication can be the start of creating a stronger safety culture.
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Iowa company fined $95,000 after explosion

• C6-Zero, a manufacturing firm based in Marengo, Iowa, agreed to pay Iowa OSHA $95,000 as part of an informal settlement after an explosion that hurt a dozen employees last year.
• The company faces more than a dozen safety violations, including failure to have an emergency action plan and non-working fire sprinklers.
• C6-Zero also faces thousands of dollars in fines from the EPA over the clean-up of toxic materials from the site.
• On Dec. 8, 2022, an unknown mechanical failure ignited flammable air vapor at C6-Zero’s facility in Marengo, causing an explosion and fire that took Eastern Iowa firefighters 18 hours to extinguish and led to evacuations of nearby homes.
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Penitentiary union sounds alarm over fentanyl usage

• A labor union representing federal employees at U.S. Penitentiary, Thomson in Illinois claims the Bureau of Prisons failed to keep employees safe from alleged fentanyl exposure.
• OSHA received a complaint that an inmate had tested positive for the highly addictive synthetic opioid, according to a letter obtained by Federal Times.
• The complaint further alleges that prison staff failed to notify employees of the exposure, thereby violating OSHA’s reporting requirements for hazardous substances.
• This is the second time local union leaders are calling the agency out for failing to protect the roughly 500 employees who work there and the more than 900 individuals housed at the high-security federal prison.
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Company fined after excavator dies

• Indiana OSHA has issued a serious violation and a proposed $6,300 fine for Atlas Excavating in West Lafayette, following the December 2022 of a construction worker.
• An excavator operator bumped the controls and tried to correct them, causing a concrete box to strike one employee and crush another employee against the trench wall, read the IOSHA safety order.
• Scott Stinson, who was working for Atlas Excavating in West Lafayette, died as a result of his injuries.
• IOSHA also issued a proposed penalty of $6,300 in the safety order, which was issued on May 11.
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