Labor Department Inspector General Opens Audit of OSHA’s Workplace Violence Response
- In a Nov. 4 memorandum to Assistant Secretary David L. Keeling, the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General said it is initiating an audit to determine how effectively OSHA has addressed workplace violence.
- Acting Assistant Inspector General for Audit Sean Gilkerson said the OIG plans to begin work immediately after an entrance conference with the agency.
- The memo asks OSHA to notify appropriate officials and directs questions to Audit Director Stephen Sovich. No findings or recommendations were released with the start notice.
Seattle Battery Maker Cited Repeatedly for Serious Lead Safety Violations, Investigation Finds
- A news investigation found that Dyno Battery, a Seattle lead-acid battery manufacturer, has been cited repeatedly by the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) for serious workplace safety violations involving lead, including problems that state inspectors say went uncorrected after earlier warnings. The violations date back at least 26 years, and since 2020 alone the company has been cited for nearly 50 violations, 31 of them serious. The company is still operating.
- In March, L&I issued the company more than $224,000 in penalties, including several failures to abate hazards cited in a July 2025 inspection. The violations involved lead exposure monitoring, engineering controls, lunchroom ventilation and employee training and qualified the company for L&I’s Severe Violator Enforcement Program.
- The July 2025 inspection found at least one employee exposed to airborne lead more than four times the permissible limit, lead dust in the lunchroom and front office, and missed blood lead monitoring for at least three employees above the action level. L&I also confirmed two workers have approved illness claims involving symptoms and elevated blood lead levels, one dating to 1993 and one to 2007.
- L&I has conducted nine inspections in six years, with another underway, and has previously stopped part of the operation until violations were corrected. It says it cannot permanently close a business for repeat violations and must lift closure orders once a specific hazard is fixed.
Retailer Fined £600K After Employee Killed During Roadside Tire Repair
- K. retailer Halfords Group Plc. was fined 600,000 British pounds ($804,000) and ordered to pay a £200 victim surcharge and £24,203 in costs by a Magistrates’ Court after one of its employees was killed during a roadside repair, the BBC reported.
- Niall Fawcett, 21, died in August 2024 on an M56 slip road near Bowdon, Cheshire, when the vehicle he was working on slipped from a hydraulic lifting tool and landed on him, causing fatal head injuries.
- A Health and Safety Executive investigation found Halfords failed to properly assess the risks of replacing a blown-out tire on a low-profile truck and failed to give employees suitable work instructions, including when a truck should be recovered rather than repaired at the roadside.
- Fawcett had obtained his license to work on commercial tires at the roadside less than four months before his death and had not been monitored or supervised to ensure he was working safely, HSE said. Halfords said it co-operated with the investigation and has strengthened training and risk assessments.
Worker Dies After Tractor-Trailer Rolls onto Him While Making Repairs
- A 54-year-old man died on Nov. 4 after a tractor-trailer rolled on top of him at an industrial site in Scarborough, Toronto.
- Police responded just before noon to reports of a person injured by construction equipment and later said the man had been making repairs on a tractor-trailer. Paramedics reported no other injuries.
- Ontario’s Ministry of Labor said it had been notified and assigned an inspector. Because the investigation is ongoing, the ministry released no further details.