Contractors to report injury issues on the web
- OSHA proposed a rule to restore and expand requirements for high-hazard employers with at least 100 employees to submit their injury and illness forms electronically to the agency.
- This proposal will greatly impact the construction industry which deals with 150,000 job-related injuries each year.
- The agency previously required employers to submit electronic reports with less detailed information.
- In 2016, OSHA also required construction firms and employers in other hazardous industries with at least 250 employees to submit their OSHA Form 300 and OSHA Form 301 to the agency electronically.
Health care firms, OSHA and COVID
- Health care companies have additional obligations compared to other industries.
- OSHA has proposed a Permanent Healthcare COVID-19 Regulation that requires healthcare employers to have a COVID-19 workplace safety plan.
- These firms must have a COVID safety coordinator who is knowledgeable in infection control principles and practices and then apply them to the workplace
- They must also discuss a workplace hazard assessment and how to obtain the vaccine status of employees.
Two Oregon firms face OSHA fines
- A pair of contractors in Oregon face $144,000 in fines from OSHA for reportedly putting their workers at risk of injury or death on worksites.
- The citations, which don’t allege any injuries occurred, were issued to Iron Head Roofing LLC of Corvallis and JMJ Construction LLC of Canby.
- The contractors violated the state safety requirements because workers are exposed to falling six feet or more.
- “Fall protection saves lives,” said Renee Stapleton, acting administrator for Oregon OSHA in a statement.
More money allotted to the investigation of movie-set deaths
- The New Mexico Board of Finance awarded the First Judicial District Attorney’s Office more than $317,000 to prosecute people connected to the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
- Hutchins was killed on the set of the Alec Baldwin film Rust.
- The money is only about half of what the DA estimates it will need to bring charges against up to four people, who have not been identified.
- The DA’s Office had requested $635,000 to cover the cost of prosecuting the case.