Fed-OSHA issues $122K fine in amputation incident

A Florida metals company faces a $122,000 Fed-OSHA fine for a violation classified as willful, after a 21-year-old worker lost a hand in an accident in February. According to the agency, the employer took protective guards off a sheet metal cutting machine because the guards caused imperfections to newly manufactured roofing panels. Miami Herald

Employee dug out after ditch collapse in Massachusetts

A 32-year-old Westfield, Massachusetts woman was injured Tuesday when the ditch she was working in collapsed, burying her chest-deep in dirt, as she and a work crew was installing a sewer line. Fed-OSHA is expected to investigate. Daily Hampshire Gazette

Family reacts to investigation of manufacturing employee’s death

A 22-year-old employee at a Mobile, Alabama area manufacturing plant died in January after he was pulled into a pulley apparatus while on a crane. The employee was repairing a 50-ton hoist while guiding a heavy steel cable onto a hoist drum at the time of the incident. Fed-OSHA fined the employer $90,000 after finding it failed to ensure employees were out of the way of the structure of the crane or its path while it was in operation, and other serious and other alleged violations. WKRG

Federal COVID inspections rise in the South, decline in other areas

Fed-OSHA inspections targeting workplace COVID-19 hazards have increased in many southern states in recent months, while declining in the Northeast and Midwest, reversing a pattern from earlier in the pandemic. For example, inspections in Texas rose 171 percent from May through mid-July this year, compared to 2020. Bloomberg Law

Illinois group speaks out about fatal workplace incident

A Joliet, Illinois-based warehouse employees advocacy group this week condemned the recent death of an employee at a local warehouse that produces pizza crust and topped pizzas for a national food producer. The group says Fed-OSHA logs show 51 serious injuries at the facility since 2016. Patch