Workers Memorial Day honors fallen employees

• On April 28, 1970, the nation first observed Workers Memorial Day at a time when an estimated 38 people died on the job in the U.S. each day.
• More than a half-century later, this annual tribute endures as do the determined efforts of OSHA and Health Administration and Mine Safety and Health Administration to help protect the lives of our nation’s workers.
• Today, work-related injuries claim the lives of approximately 14 people each day in the U.S., that’s one life lost every 101 minutes. There were 5,190 such deaths in 2021.
• Workers Memorial Day pays tribute to these people, and families, friends, coworkers, and others will gather on Friday, April 28 at events across the nation to honor people who died at work.
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National Firefighter Registry launched

• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, through NIOSH, unveiled the National Firefighter Registry for Cancer online enrollment system for firefighters across the nation.
• The NFR for cancer is the largest effort undertaken by the nation to support and advance the understanding of cancer in the fire service.
• All U.S. firefighters, with or without cancer, are encouraged to join the NFR for Cancer.
• Those who can register include active and retired firefighters; career, paid-on-call, and volunteer firefighters; structural firefighters; wildland firefighters; instructors and fire investigators; and others.
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Fall hazard awareness for public power utilities

• The 10th Annual National Safety Stand-Down will take place from May 1 through May 5.
• According to OSHA, about 37% of all deaths in the workplace occurred due to employees falling.
• Employers across the nation will participate in this event to raise fall hazard awareness in an effort to prevent fall fatalities and injuries.
• OSHA requires employers to provide fall protection to keep employees safe and prevent falls.
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Florida Dollar General faces $401K  in fines

• Federal workplace safety inspectors have found Dollar General Corp., one of the nation’s largest discount retailers, exposing its employees and others to unsafe conditions again, this time in Winter Garden, Florida.
• In October 2022, inspectors with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration found employees facing fire and entrapment hazards as shelving, rolling containers and merchandise blocked exit routes.
• OSHA also discovered merchandise blocking walkways and items stacked in an unstable manner, exposing workers to trip and struck-by hazards.
• The agency cited the company with one willful violation and two repeat violations. Dollar General faces $401,812 in newly proposed penalties.
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