BP faces $156,250 in fines
- An OSHA investigation into two workers’ fatal burns at an Oregon, Ohio, refinery’s crude unit has found its operator, BP Products North America Inc. violated the U.S. Department of Labor’s process safety procedures.
- As the workers attempted to correct rising liquid levels in the fuel gas mix drum, a flammable vapor cloud formed, ignited and then triggered an explosion in September 2022, causing the deadly burns.
- Inspectors with the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration identified the training deficiencies and failure by BP Products North America to meet OSHA’s process safety management procedures.
- OSHA proposed $156,250 in penalties, an amount set by federal statutes, and cited the company for 10 serious violations, and one other-than-serious violation of process safety management procedures.
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Church to pay fine
- A Dallas church must pay more than $30,000 after firing an employee who reported unsanitary conditions, including insects and rodents in the church’s food-service areas and near children’s sleeping cots.
- The Occupational Safety and Health Administration ordered New Mount Zion Baptist Church to reinstate the unnamed employee and pay him more than $11,000 in back pay.
- The church will also owe the employee more than $20,000 in additional damages.
- The employee was hired by the church as a nutrition specialist on May 5, 2021, and shortly after, he began noticing spiders and insects in the childcare kitchen area.
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First-degree manslaughter charges in trench fatality
- A construction company owner and an employee were charged with manslaughter Friday in connection with a trench collapse in Connecticut last year that killed a 56-year-old worker.
- Vernon police said they arrested Dennis Botticello, 67, owner of Manchester-based Botticello Inc., and equipment operator Glen Locke, 65.
- Both were charged with first-degree manslaughter and reckless endangerment charges and were detained on $50,000 bail pending court hearings.
- No trench collapse protective systems were being used on July 22 when a section of the 8-feet deep (2.4 meters deep) trench collapsed onto Botticello Inc. worker Dennis Slater, who died from his injuries.
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Amazon Can’t Delay Warehouse Safety Upgrade
- A federal judge ruled that Washington’s state Department of Labor and Industries did not violate Amazon’s right of due process when it required it to implement safety upgrades.
- The improvements were required while the company appeals the state’s citations for unsafe working conditions at its warehouses.
- Amazon filed suit in federal court claiming its constitutional right to due process was violated because it was expected to implement safety upgrades while it appeals the citation.
- A U.S. District Judge found that the speed of the upgrade is warranted because Amazon’s workers are toiling under conditions the state has found to be unsafe.
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