Explosion prompts to request OSHA support

• The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board requested that OSHA include onshore well drilling and well servicing operations in the agency’s process safety management standard or develop a separate federal standard to address such operations.
• A well blowout in Burleson County, Texas, injured three workers who suffered fatal burn injuries from a flash fire that erupted when hydrocarbons from the well ignited.
• Board investigators found that the lack of effective control practices contributed to the incident.
• There are minimal regulations covering onshore oil and gas drilling and servicing operations, despite previous attempts to promulgate special rules for the industry, according to regulators.
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Wisconsin roofer faces fines

• OSHA fined an Appleton, Wisconsin, contractor $281,485 for performing residential roof work without required fall protection equipment.
• Inspectors observed three workers employed by Bacilio Rios – who operates as Chilos Construction — near the peak of an Appleton home and another employee operating a leaf blower on its roof with no form of fall protection on July 7, 2023, despite the risks of injuries.
• OSHA cited Bacilio Rios for four repeat violations and assessed $281,485 in proposed penalties.
• The violations included the company’s failure to provide fall protection equipment or train employees how to use it, improper use of ladders, and failure to train workers on hazards related to falls and ladders.
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Nebraska faces fines after amputation injury

• An OSHA investigation into how an employee suffered a serious hand injury at an Omaha beef processing plant identified more than a dozen willful and serious violations related to the company’s failures to protect its workers from numerous safety and health hazards.
• Investigators determined a worker helping a forklift operator position materials at Nebraska Beef Ltd. had their fingertips caught in the forklift attachment. This injury resulted in a medically necessitated amputation three weeks later.
• While investigating the employer-reported injury, OSHA found the company failed to develop and employ lockout/tagout procedures for hydraulic dock plates and enclosures.
• OSHA cited the company for two willful and 11 serious violations and assessed Nebraska Beef Ltd. with $274,569 in proposed penalties.
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Over one-third of fines in Washington reduced

• An analysis found that more than a third of health and safety penalties in Washington are later lowered.
• About 34% of fines issued from safety and health inspections conducted between 2017 and 2021 were reduced during an appeals process, voiding more than $15 million in safety fines, according to data from OSHA.
• Washington has the lowest fatality rates in the nation in several categories the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks, including manufacturing; transportation and utilities; and agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting.
• The report found that in 2022, Washington had the ninth-lowest overall worker fatality rate among the 50 states.
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