Illinois OSHA, Firefighters Develop Operating Guide

• Illinois OSHA and several state firefighting organizations have developed sample standard operating guideline aimed at enhancing fire-ground safety protocols for firefighters engaged in interior firefighting.
• Though adoption of the guideline isn’t compulsory, it is designed as a template for departments that currently lack specific measures in incident command, accountability, and mayday policies.
• The three-page document is designed to be adaptable, enabling departments to adopt it as is, with modifications, or use it as a benchmark for their existing policies.
  READ MORE

Pa. Roofing Firm Hit With Six-Figure Fines, Enforcement Program

• Federal OSHA has cited 3 Guys Home Improvement, a Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania roofing contractor, for exposing workers to serious safety hazards during operations at a Lackawanna County worksite.
• The company now faces $467,000 in proposed penalties and has been added to OSHA’s Severe Violators Enforcement Program.
• The probe, initiated in September 2024 following an imminent danger complaint, uncovered numerous violations.
• OSHA cited the company for two willful violations and 10 serious violations involving unsafe practices such as improper labeling of flammable containers, working near energized power circuits, and the misuse of ladders.
• Due to these findings and a history of violations, 3 Guys Home Improvement Inc. has been designated as a severe violator, a classification applied to employers demonstrating repeated disregard for worker safety.
  READ MORE

Probe Finds Union Pacific Worker Killed Didn’t Follow Safety Rules

• The Union Pacific employee killed in an April 2024, maintenance-of-way accident in McNeil, Arkansas, failed to comply with safety procedures, and inadequate safety oversight by the rail carriers and contractor B&P Enterprises.
• The National Transportation Safety Board’s final report, issued on Monday, determined that throughout the day of the accident, workers had moved in and out of the excavator’s work zone without communicating those moves by direct communication with the excavator operator, by radio, or through hand signals.
• The fatality led to a Federal Railroad Administration bulletin regarding working around on-track equipment.
  READ MORE

Trailiant Report Finds Generational Gap in Workplace Safety

• Employee perceptions of workplace safety are changing, with experiences differing based on industry and work environment, according to Traliant’s “2025 State of Workplace Harassment Report.”
• A significant generational divide is appearing, as Gen-Z employees hold distinct views and higher expectations regarding workplace violence and harassment, Elissa Rossi wrote in a Forbes Council post.
• The data also found a disconnect between what workplace safety training involves and the scenarios that employees actually experience.
  READ MORE