OSHA proposes penalties for Aunt Kitty’s Food

• OSHA proposed a fine of almost $465,000 for a local firm that makes soups, sauces, and canned foods.
• The penalty against Aunt Kitty’s Food Inc. is the third local action by OSHA, which said it settled litigation with Regal Industrial Corp. over safety violations at its Millville plant.
• Regal is to pay a penalty of $299,000 for 17 violations after the manufacturer initially was accused of 21 violations and faced a $575,000 fine in October 2022, according to OSHA.
• And OSHA last month proposed a fine of almost $350,000 for alleged hazards at Kenric Steel LLC of Millville.It claims workplace investigations found multiple safety violations at each company.
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Small business guidance from OSHA

• OSHA unveiled strategies for small business compliance and growth.
• The first step towards a small business’s apparent success is to understand the compliance guide about OSHA as every employer must always provide a workplace free from recognized dangerous elements that could result in death or serious injury.
• In addition, several regulations covering the requirements for handling hazardous chemicals and other construction safety guidelines are adopted based on the type of business.
• The first costs include purchasing safety equipment, employee training programs, and any necessary adjustments to the current operational procedures to ensure compliance with safety requirements.
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OSHA proposes new standard for emergency response

• OSHA’s proposed Emergency Response Standard is expected to have a significant impact on emergency service organizations and workplace emergency response employers or workplace emergency response teams.
• The proposal would apply to firefighting, emergency medical services, and technical search and rescue.
• The standard’s lack of specific definitions, action levels, and exposure limits makes its compliance expectations less than clear for covered employers.
• The proposed standard’s framework may impose additional compliance, implementation, and operational challenges on ESOs and WEREs/WERTs while impacting their ability to recruit and retain personnel for key roles.
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More bans on asbestos

• The Biden administration has banned using the most common type of asbestos.
• The EPA rule is part of President Joe Biden’s Cancer Moonshot initiative, a whole-of-government effort aiming to end cancer.
• Asbestos exposure causes lung cancer, mesothelioma, ovarian cancer, and laryngeal cancer and is tied to 40,000 deaths in the U.S. every year, according to the agency.
• More stringent federal regulations didn’t place until the 1970s, when EPA and the OSHA were formed and started implementing limits on air and dust containing the fibers, largely around asbestos mines. Asbestos mining in the U.S. ended in 2002.
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