OSHA plans to increase enforcement with more staff
Senior Labor Dept. officials outlined the OSHA enforcement priorities at an American Bar Association conference regarding occupational safety.
OSHA seeks to increase enforcement activities based in part on its recent hiring.
With more personnel, OSHA is hoping to increase the number of inspections it conducts regarding its enforcement priorities as opposed to responding to accidents or complaints.
While there is currently no specific heat regulation, OSHA indicated it would aggressively inspect workplaces, particularly those in construction and other outdoor employment, for this issue.Read more
Judge overturns OSHA ruling at hospital
A federal administrative law judge overruled an OSHA citation alleging an Alaska hospital failed to provide proper COVID-19 protection to its staff.
Judge Christopher Helms of the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission said that when the Anchorage hospital was inspected in November 2020, the hospital wasn’t required by federal agencies to provide all its staff with N-95 respirators.
The decision to provide staff members under certain circumstances with face masks not certified as respirators were legal.
About 162 workers were ill from Covid-19 infections at the site operated by the Native American Tribal Health Consortium.Read more
Georgia contractor violated child labor, safety laws
A 17-year-old worker fell 24 feet from the roof of a New Castle, Pennsylvania, home improvement store while doing work violated child labor laws.
The incident led to a wider review of how the roofing contractor failed to pay 30 employees their full wages and exposed other workers to dangerous fall hazards.
The U.S. Department of Labor found JVS Roofing of Jonesboro, Georgia, hired the teenager for roofing work, an occupation defined as hazardous for young workers by the Fair Labor Standards Act. The young worker sustained minor injuries after the fall.
The division recovered $92,640 in back wages for the affected workers, and the department received the employer’s payment of a $6,399 civil money penalty assessed for the child labor violation.Read more
OSHA establishes an alliance with Power Generation VPP Workgroup
OSHA Region VIII and the Power Generation VPP Workgroup have established an alliance to increase safety for power industry workers.
Among the two-year alliance’s goals is the development of a Qualified Electrical Worker Training Program to develop best practices for protecting the safety and well-being of employees working near high voltage.
The Power Generation VPP Workgroup’s goal is to promote workplace safety excellence and OSHA’s Voluntary Protection Program participation within the power generation industry by sharing ideas, networking, and solving site and industry-wide safety and health concerns.
OSHA’s Alliance Program works with groups committed to improving worker safety and health to prevent workplace fatalities, injuries, and illnesses.Read more
