Fed-OSHA fines Rhode Island concrete company after employee’s death
A Rhode Island concrete company has been cited and fined more than $43,000 after a Fed-OSHA investigation into the death of a 33-year-old man who suffered fatal head injuries after the drum of the cement truck he was working on began turning and he became trapped. The agency found, among other alleged violations, the company did not establish a lockout/tagout program to prevent the cement truck drum from operating while the truck was being worked on, and failed to train employees on those procedures. WPRI (Providence)
Construction worker injured in fall at Ohio fast food restaurant site
Fed-OSHA is investigating how a 19-year-old construction worker fell about 12 feet through the ceiling at a fast food restaurant renovation project in Springfield, Ohio on March 9. WHIO
Workplace-related fatality reported at North Carolina ag plant
A person died after an incident at a Southport, North Carolina agricultural plant earlier this month in an unspecified incident. OSHNC confirmed last week it received a report March 10 of a workplace-related fatality. WECT
Massachusetts waste energy plant cited for serious violations
Employees of a Pittsfield, Massachusetts wast energy plant were potentially exposed to numerous dangerous chemicals, including arsenic, cadmium and lead from smoke, according to Fed-OSHA, which has handed down more than $26,000 in penalties for a variety of allegedly serious violations. WWLP
Hoosier healthcare employees saw spike in workplace injury, illness in 2020
In a trend not unique to Indiana, data shows Hoosier State healthcare employees saw a noticeable jump in workplace injuries and illness in 2020, likely due to the exposure doctors and nurses had to COVID-19 in the first year of the pandemic. Overall, only about 3 in every 100 full-time workers had an on-the-job injury or illness in Indiana, continuing a years-long decline; but about 7 out of 100 healthcare employees had a work-related incident, a 50 percent increase from the year before. WBAA
Employee killed in forklift truck accident at Pennsylvania worksite
A 61-year-old man died in the hospital between two forklifts at a distribution center in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania earlier this week. Fed-OSHA is investigating. WFMZ
Developing a playbook on powered haulage safety
Between 2003 and 2018, 15 percent of fatalities at U.S. mines were caused by hazards related to working near or operating mobile and powered haulage equipment at mines employing six or more miners. In the same period, 1,543 nonfatal injuries occurred involving surface mobile equipment at mines employing more than six miners. The Mine Safety & Health Administration last September announced a proposed rule requiring that mine operators employing six or more mine workers develop, implement and update a written safety program for surface mobile and powered haulage equipment. Pit & Quarry