Firms must ensure the safety of short-term workers
- NIOSH released a new set of safety and health best practices to assist employers that hire temporary workers that is divided into three sections.
- The first is evaluation and contracting where employers and staffing firms should evaluate all facets of safety and health-related to each organization and the jobs workers are being hired to perform.
- The second is providing adequate training for all temporary workers before they start new assignments or start new jobs or tasks on existing assignments.
- The final guideline is to keep up with record keeping with work-related injuries or illnesses, and firms must report fatalities to OSHA within eight hours and serious injuries and illnesses within 24 hours.
Fed issues warning about delaying safety inspections
- The FDA reminded employers that delaying, denying, limiting, or refusing a drug or device inspection without a reasonable justification could result in penalties.
- The FDA investigator is required to have OSHA training before entering a particular area of the facility.
- An example of an unreasonable delay is when an FDA investigator is not allowed access to an area of the facility until later, although the area is operational.
- Organizations subject to FDA inspections should establish and maintain an FDA Inspection Procedure and ensure that the appropriate individuals are trained.
Workplace safety hazards at Wisconsin malthouse
- A Wisconsin company that supplies malt barley to major craft breweries, home breweries, and other production firms in the Midwest has again been found exposing employees to dangerous workplace hazards by federal safety inspectors.
- OSHA proposed penalties of $174,351 to Briess Industries after inspectors identified two repeated and 14 serious safety and health violations.
- Investigators were responding to a complaint of unsafe working conditions at the company’s Manitowoc malthouse in August 2022.
- Inspectors found workers crafting the malt exposed to machines, respiratory protection, confined space and other hazards.
OSHA probing oil riggers’ death
- OSHA is investigating the death of a Badger Consulting worker last week at an oil rig in North Dakota owned by Devon Energy and Nabors.
- The worker was likely walking on top of a mud tank and fell through a hole where he was later found dead.
- Fellow workers drained the pit and tried to rescue the deceased but he died at the scene.
- Devon Energy resumed operations while OSHA investigates.