Nashville Mulls Construction Safety Compliance Board

• Nashville’s Metro Council has introduced legislation that creates a compliance board for all local government construction contracts, with a remit to inspect and investigate complaints.
• The bill cited two specific times where worker safety has led to a fatality.
• Tennessee had the highest number of fatalities in the private construction industry, with 43, in 2022, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data showed. That more than doubled from the previous year’s 21 fatalities.
• The legislation has passed its first reading and it is on the council’s June 18 meeting agenda for a final vote.
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Silica Mining Rule Takes ‘Less-than-Practical’ Approach, Says Ogletree Deakins

• The Mine Safety & Health Administration’s (MSHA) final rule on silica takes a less-than-practical approach to compliance by prohibiting rotation of miners as an acceptable control and by limiting the reliance on respiratory protection, according to national labor, employment and safety law firm Ogletree Deakins. 
• The MSHA published its long-anticipated final rule on respirable crystalline silica for coal mines and metal/nonmetal mines in April.
• In a June 12 op-ed for Pit & Quarry, the firm’s Zach Byers wrote that the final rule adds unexpected requirements for reporting to MSHA and the National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health (NIOSH).
• “It is almost certain that the new rule, when fully implemented, will be a focus of aggressive enforcement,” Byers wrote.
• It is slated to come into effect in April 2026.
• By MSHA’s estimation, the rule will help avoid an estimated total of 1,067 deaths and 3,746 lifetime avoided cases of silica-related illnesses, it said in April.
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Texas Crane Firm Cited for Firing Driver Who Worked 19 Hours

• A Texas crane and rigging services provider violated federal law by firing a company truck driver for refusing to exceed federal safe driving limits.
• A judge last month upheld an OSHA that found Crane Masters Inc. fired the employee illegally for exercising their protected rights under the federal Whistleblower Protection Program.
• An investigation determined that after working 19 hours in June 2020, the driver told Crane Masters it would be unsafe for them to operate a commercial vehicle, arguing they had not gotten the legally required amount of time off before returning to work. The Houston company responded by terminating the driver.
• The Houston company was ordered to pay the former truck driver $14,945 in back pay, interest and compensatory damages.
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