Fire brigades to potentially get more protections

• OSHS plans to issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to modernize the agency’s “Fire Brigades” standard because the protections for industrial and private firefighters have become outdated.
• Currently, OSHA regulations protect emergency responders’ safety and health in a patchwork of decades-old, hazard-specific standards.
• The proposal will include major changes in protective clothing and equipment and significant improvements in safety and health practices that the industry generally accepts as standard procedures.
• The proposed rule requires employers to obtain baseline medical screening for all emergency responders and ensure continued medical surveillance for responders when they are exposed to the byproducts of fires and explosions more than 15 times annually.
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Scaffolding workers injured in Florida

• OSHA opened an investigation after three people were injured after they plunged 15 feet to the ground when the scaffolding they were on collapsed at a Fort Lauderdale construction site.
• Two of the victims were rushed for treatment to Broward Health, where they were listed in serious condition.
• A third victim was being treated for a non-life-threatening injury.
• First responders initially arrived at the scene where they found all of the injured workers on the ground
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Pepsi bottler faces penalties

• OSHA reached a settlement agreement with Pepsi Guam Bottling after an inspection found the company exposed employees to amputation and other serious injuries.
• The settlement required Pepsi Guam Bottling to pay $132,591 in penalties, abate the safety failures, and implement a comprehensive safety and health program to protect workers moving forward.
• An independent federal agency eventually decides contested citations or penalties OSHA issues to employers after workplace inspections.
• The settlement follows an OSHA inspection that determined the employer exposed workers to amputation and other serious injuries by leaving the machines’ guard doors open and permitting a safety proximity switch to be deactivated.
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Railway denied funds after amputation

• The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has denied compensation to Joseph B. Mattingly, a worker who suffered a leg amputation after a fall at a railroad construction site.
• The compensation was sought under the Federal Employers Liability Act (FELA), a federal law designed to protect and provide compensation for railroad workers injured on the job.
• Mattingly’s claim was grounded on the belief that his employer, R.J. Corman Railroad Services LLC, was part of a railroad operation company, which made him eligible for FELA benefits.
• However, a three-judge panel from the Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati unanimously determined that Mattingly’s employer did not qualify as a railway.
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