Fed-OSHA fines four New Hampshire companies for COVID-19 health protocols
Four New Hampshire companies have been fined from around $8,000 to nearly $16,000 by Fed-OSHA for allegedly violating federal COVID-19 health protocols. One employer, a manufacturer of nitrile gloves, was cited in March for allegedly failing to take required steps following a September outbreak where 43 employees tested positive. New Hampshire Bulletin
CDC reports 75% of children and adolescents have already had Covid-19
Half of the U.S. population has been infected with Covid-19, including 75% of children and adolescents, CDC officials have announced. From December 2021 to February 2022, during the Omicron wave in the U.S., overall seroprevalence increased from 33.5% to 57.7%, reported Kristie Clarke, MD, of the CDC’s COVID-19 Emergency Response Team. Over this same time period, seroprevalence increased from 45.6% to 74.2% among adolescents ages 12 to 17, and from 44.2% to 75.2% among children ages 11 and younger. Sharyl Attkisson/MedPage
Child killed in ‘unimaginable tragedy’ on family farm in Connecticut
A 4-year-old girl was killed last weekend after becoming entangled under a tractor on a family farm near Watertown, Connecticut. The exact circumstances remain under investigation, according to police, but the state Department of Children and Families and Fed-OSHA have been notified. CT Insider
New York City transit employee struck by subway train
A 64-year-old MTA signal helper was injured after he was struck by a subway train in Brooklyn early Monday, according to the transit agency, causing a broken arm and fractured ribs. The incident follows another signal helper being hit by a subway train in Greenwich Village in January, causing him to lose a foot and suffer a shattered leg. AMNY
North Carolina city honored again for safety
The city of Salisbury has received the North Carolina Department of Labor Certificate of Safety Achievement Third Consecutive Year Gold award. To qualify, the city achieved no fatalities during the calendar year at the site or location and an incidence rate at least 50 percent below the average for its industry group. WBTV
Employees who died in warehouse collapse took shelter in wrong bathroom: Fed-OSHA
According to Fed-OSHA, Amazon employees and independent contractors at the company’s warehouse in Edwardsville, Illinois did not know the location of the facility’s severe weather shelter, nor did they recall ever participating in severe weather drills, prior to a tornado last December that resulted in six deaths at the plant. When managers began directing employees to find shelter just before the tornado touched down, some mistakenly went to a bathroom on the southern side of the building, unaware the designated storm shelter was on the northern side, and all of the people who died were in that southern bathroom, according to the agency. Fed-OSHA investigators say Amazon’s severe weather emergency procedures met minimal safety guidelines for storm sheltering, however. KSDK