Roofing firm facing $600,000 in penalties

• A New York roofing company has stopped fighting over $600,000 in fines after inspectors found workers were vulnerable to falls at a Bergen County construction site, according to OSHA.
• ALJ Home Improvement of Nanuet, New York, ended its litigation challenging the fines, OSHA said in a statement.
• The decision came a week before a planned trial was heard before the department’s Office of the Solicitor in New York.
• OSHA had issued $687,536 in penalties and citations after finding in 2022 that the company failed to provide employees with steep-slope roofing protection at a home construction site on Warren Avenue in Ho-Ho-Kus.
  Read more

Federal regs fall short with ethylene oxide risk

• The EPA’s new regulation on sterilization plants doesn’t address the dangers of ethylene oxide exposure in offsite warehouses, an environmental group alleged.
• The EPA’s recent rule excludes offsite warehouses from regulation, where workers face significant exposure to the carcinogenic chemical ethylene oxide used in medical equipment sterilization.
• An investigation by Grist and Atlanta News First into a Georgia warehouse highlighted the ongoing risk to employees, prompting an OSHA investigation despite previous inaction.
• Legal and regulatory challenges limit workers’ recourse and the EPA’s oversight ability, leaving many workers unknowingly at risk.
  Read more

Healthcare workers urge Congress for better protections

• Leaders from several healthcare groups, including the Emergency Nurses Association, the American College of Emergency Physicians, and the American Nurses Association, met with congressional staffers to draw more attention on workplace violence.
• The Emergency Nurses Association surveyed its members this year and found more than half (56%) said they had been physically assaulted, verbally harassed or threatened with violence within the past 30 days.
• Healthcare advocates have been pressing Congress to approve legislation that would impose tougher penalties for those who assault healthcare workers, similar to protections for airline employees. P
• The groups are also pushing for a separate bill that would empower OSHA to require the healthcare and social service sectors to implement workplace violence prevention plans.
  Read more

Major bridge collapse in Baltimore

• Maryland Gov. Wes Moore declared a state of emergency and a search-and-rescue operation is underway after Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed overnight because of a ship strike.
• The ship lost power a few minutes before striking the bridge.
• Preliminary investigation shows this was not intentional
• Maryland Transportation Secretary Paul Wiedefeld confirmed there was a work crew on the bridge at the time of the collapse.
  Read more