New Orleans DA critical of OSHA

• A New Orleans Parish District Attorney has subpoenaed an OSHA investigation file for Hard Rock Hotel.
• OSHA is reportedly refusing to cooperate with a grand jury probe of the deadly 2019 collapse until it resolves a long-delayed civil dispute with the building’s lead engineer, who is part of the criminal investigation.
• The DA said the federal agency’s refusal to produce the records as ordered by a judge hampers the criminal negligence case his prosecutors are presenting to the grand jury.
• The lack of cooperation from OSHA is jeopardizing the prosecutors’ case to the grand jury, the DA alleges.
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Research center under scrutiny

• Workers at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s top research center in Beltsville, Maryland, complained to federal regulators about hazards in the site’s ventilation system.
• The complaints were filed four months after an initial federal complaint raising other workplace safety concerns.
• In May, the staff alleged mismanagement and unsafe work conditions including poor lab ventilation, broken fire alarms, and wild temperature swings.
• The new complaint to OSHA alleged that the facility’s chillers, which are part of temperature regulation systems, have not received maintenance in more than three years.
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Plant where worker died had previous complaint

• Four months before a man was killed while working on a machine at an Evansville, Indiana, plant, another employee reported the company to the state and accused them of creating an unsafe work environment.
• The worker filed a complaint with the Indiana Occupational Safety and Health Administration against Silgan Closures America in May.
• The employee, who asked to remain anonymous out of job security concerns, said the company continued to use a forklift even though it sprayed hydraulic fluid each time it lifted a “very heavy metal coil.”
• At one point it failed and caused a coil to crash to the floor and put workers in danger.
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Milling company pleads guilty after explosion

• Didion Milling Inc. pleaded guilty to criminal charges in federal court in Madison, Wisconsin.
• As part of a plea agreement, the company has agreed to pay a total of $1 million in criminal fines and $10.25 million in restitution to victims of a May 31, 2017, catastrophic explosion at its Cambria, Wisconsin, corn mill facility.
• Five Didion Milling employees were killed in that explosion and others were injured.
• Didion Milling pleaded guilty to counts six and seven of the indictment, charging it with falsifying records related to its Occupational Safety and Health Act and Clean Air Act obligations to conceal violations from government agencies.
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