Note to our valued subscribers: OSHA Today will be taking its annual holiday break starting Thursday, December 22. We will resume daily netletter publication Wednesday, January 4, 2022. We wish all of our subscribers Season’s Greetings and a Happy New Year.
Soil fungi cause more risk
- Workers in construction, landscaping, agriculture, and other outdoor industries risk infections caused by soil fungi that historically had been found only in certain regions of the country.
- Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis revealed that w, the CDC last revised its maps of disease-causing fungi in 1969. Since then, the fungi have spread to more areas.
- Infection can occur when workers breathe in spores found in the soil.
- Infection types include histoplasmosis coccidioidomycosis and blastomycosis.
Contractor failed to test oxygen level
- Federal investigators determined that an Arkansas construction contractor failed to test oxygen levels in the confined space before two workers entered a sewer 20 feet below ground and died because of a lack of oxygen.
- OSHA found that an employee of Belt Construction Inc. climbed into a newly installed sewer manhole to conduct testing when they lost consciousness.
- Trying to rescue the worker, a second employee followed into the manhole and lost consciousness. Both workers later succumbed to their injuries.
- OSHA cited the company for six serious and two willful violations and proposed $287,150 in penalties.
OSHA protects another whistleblower
- A federal investigation has found a Denver-based information technology services provider retaliated against an employee who raised concerns about the company’s failure to pay trust fund taxes to the IRS.
- OSHA concluded that 303 Technologies Inc. violated the Taxpayer First Act, and ordered the company to reinstate the employee and pay more than $81,000 in back wages, plus 24.5 percent stock ownership.
- The company and the former employee may file objections or request a hearing with the department’s Office of Administrative Law Judges within 30 days of receiving the agency’s order.
- OSHA enforces the whistleblower provisions of the Taxpayer First Act and more than 20 other statutes protecting employees who report violations.
How to prevent workplace shootings
- Workplace safety training should address active shooters, regardless of whether they are co-workers, managers, or someone outside of the company.
- An employee who is public-facing encounters different risks than your typical office worker.
- Employers should incorporate workplace violence/active shooter procedures into their emergency action/preparedness plan and train employees.
- Workers should know where to escape in an emergency and where meet-up points may be located.