OSHA Investigating Death in Shaft

Man dies after falling down elevator

  • A 48-year-old Philadelphia man died after falling 20 feet down an elevator at approximately 10:30 a.m., according to multiple media reports.
  • The man, who was working within the elevator shaft, suffered head injuries and was declared dead at the scene.
  • His identity has not been revealed publicly.
  • Fed-OSHA is actively involved in determining the circumstances surrounding the fatality.
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Robotics climbing in the workplace

  • The warehouse robotics market is projected to reach at least $14 billion over the next six years, according to according to Mark Messina, CEO of an automation solutions firm.
  • Labor unions in conjunction with Fed-OSHA are monitoring a range of safety issues connected with various types of recently introduced industrial machines, including Autonomous Mobile Robots, Automated Guided Vehicles and Autonomous Forklifts.
  • While robots are designed for safety and repetition, their use can lead to accidents.
  • Operators need to consider the impact of blind corners, intersections with human drivers, poor flooring and low ceilings, among other things.
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Wisconsin roofing company fines $180,000

  • Overhead Solutions LLC, a roofing contractor in Wisconsin, is facing a fine of more than $180,000 after fed-OSHA found it repeatedly failed to protect workers from deadly fall hazards in Appleton and Menasha.
  • An Overhead Solutions manager attended an on-site training discussion on fall hazards, according to OSHA. Afterward, federal workplace safety inspectors saw the company’s employees working on the roof of a Menasha apartment complex, about 30 feet above the ground without adequate fall protection.
  • Inspectors also found employees exposed to deadly fall hazards as they unloaded a pallet raised to the roof by a mechanical lift.
  • In Appleton, OSHA inspectors found a lack of fall protection, learned the company had no documented accident prevention plan and noted the site’s project manager did not correct fall protection hazards in plain view.
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Amazon gets ‘low fine’ for worker’s death

  • Amazon was fined $7,000 by OSHA, the maximum penalty in the state, even though Indiana regulators found that the warehouse could have done more to fix or manage hazards that were causing or likely to cause death.
  • A study in April that used OSHA’s data found that the rate of worker injuries at Amazon was 70% higher than those at similar warehouses, and the rate of serious injuries was double that of other warehouses.
  • Fed-OSHA has previously found that several Amazon warehouses failed to report worker injuries in the past.
  • However, workplace injury rates have reduced by nearly 15% from 2019 to 2021, according to Amazon.
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