OSHA watch
2022 injury data published
2022 injury and illness data, based on reports by more than 300,000 establishments, has been made public. The Injury Tracking Application data is part of the electronic recordkeeping requirements for certain employers who were required to submit Form 300A information by March 2, 2023.
Proposed budget increase of 17 percent
The proposed fiscal year 2024 budget would increase funding by $106.4 million, or 17%, to $738.7 million. The proposal includes increases of 16.3 percent for federal enforcement (up roughly $40 million), 30 percent for federal compliance assistance ($23.3 million), and 26.3 percent for safety and health standards ($11.1 million). The administration wants to add 432 full-time equivalent employees (FTE), including 250 "to rebuild and strengthen OSHA's enforcement program." The 250 new enforcement FTEs would include 142 OSHA inspectors. A divided Congress will have the final say.
10th annual stand-down to prevent falls in construction
May 1st - 5th
Employers are encouraged to hold a stand-down by taking a break to focus on "Fall Hazards" and reinforcing the importance of "Fall Prevention." See Suggestions to Prepare for a Successful Stand-Down. There also is a webpage for upcoming events that are free and open to the public.
New resources
- Hearing loss prevention
A new series of videos was developed to help workers understand the impact of occupational hearing loss and how to prevent it.
- Preventing grain hazards
A new video reminds workers and employers about five required rules of grain bin safety.
- Preventing heat illness
Prevent heat illness at work brochure is now available in 13 languages.
- Mold Quick Card
Now available in Portuguese.
- On Site Consultation Program
Brochure now available in Spanish.
Rise in child labor violations
Since 2018 there has been an "alarming increase" in federal child labor violations, including allowing minors to operate equipment or undertake work that puts them in danger of becoming injured. 688 minors were employed in hazardous occupations during investigations in fiscal year 2022, the highest annual count since FY 2011. For more information.
Virtual meeting on proposed heat injury and illness prevention rulemaking
The National Advisory Committee on Occupational Safety and Health's work group on heat injury and illness prevention is set to meet virtually on April 27 at 2 pm ET. The meeting is expected to cover proposed recommendations on potential elements of OSHA's heat injury and illness prevention rulemaking. The meeting is open to the public, but "participation will be in listen-only mode." Anyone interested in attending must register via the NACOSH webpage.
MSHA reports on inspections of 25 mines with poor compliance history
The Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) released the findings of monthly impact inspections at 25 mines that warrant increased scrutiny in January and February 2023. Inspections were conducted in Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Wisconsin, and West Virginia and led to the issuance of 374 violations. Of these, 113 were significant and substantial (S&S) and 13 were unwarrantable failure. An S&S violation is likely to result in a serious injury or illness; violations designated as unwarrantable failure include aggravated conduct that constitutes more than ordinary negligence.
State Plans -
Cal/OSHA - FAQs on COVID-19 updated
The FAQ revisions and updates on March 13 include:
- Updated COVID-19 Prevention Addressed in the Injury and Illness Prevention Program Q&A number 1 answer
- Updated Face Coverings and Personal Protective Equipment Q&A numbers 3 & 5
- Updated Addressing COVID-19 Cases in the Workplace Q&A numbers 1, 2, 4, 5 & 6
- Updated Testing Q&A numbers 1 & 9
- Updated Outbreaks Q&A numbers 1, 2 & 8
- Updated Employer-Provided Housing Q&A numbers 3
- Updated CDPH Isolation and Quarantine Q&A 1 and Table
Notably, in light of the CDPH revised definition of "infectious period," employers can allow COVID-19 cases to return to work after Day 5 without a negative test as long as they are symptom-free (or any symptoms are mild and improving) and they are fever-free for 24 hours.
MIOSHA - Agency Instructions Issued, Standard update
- Commercial Diving Operations
- General Industry Part 23, Hydraulic Power Presses
General Industry Standard Part 23- Hydraulic Power Presses was amended to be comparable with federal OSHA standard 1910.217(d)(3), "Mechanical Power Presses." MIOSHA's R408.12363(3) formerly stated "employee," and was changed to "employer" to be in line with federal OSHA. Effective Date: March 27, 2023.
SCOSHA - Judge throws out suit over fines, new suit filed
In early March a federal judge dismissed South Carolina's lawsuit seeking to prevent federal OSHA from forcing the state to increase maximum fines for workplace safety violations to align with federal rates. The judge determined the court did not have jurisdiction. On March 14, the agency filed a new lawsuit asserting that the OSHA regulation requiring state plans to have civil penalty maximums identical to or greater than federal penalties is inconsistent with federal law.
South Carolina's fines are about 50 percent lower than federal OSHA.
Recent fines and awards
California
- Cal/OSHA issued 18 citations, including six citations for willful-serious violations, to Parter Medical Products, Inc. in Carson for failing to protect its employees from overexposure to ethylene oxide, a toxic chemical. The penalties total $838,800. Citations include violations for the employer's failure to have an effective safety plan to evaluate and develop controls for hazards, failure to develop a respiratory protection plan as required, failure to monitor employee exposure, and failure to notify workers of exposure over the permissible limit for ethylene oxide.
- A Roseville-based lawn service company, PRIDE Industries, was cited for allowing employees to operate industrial lawnmowers without proper safety features during work at a U.S. Army base in Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Proposed penalties are $198,667.
Connecticut
- A contractor and an equipment operator are both facing first-degree reckless endangerment charges in Vernon, following a fatal trench collapse that resulted in willful violations with proposed penalties of $375,021.
Florida
- Porter Roofing Contractors Inc. was cited for four serious violations with $53,797 in proposed penalties after a 59-year-old roofer working atop a Milton airport hangar stepped onto a skylight and its sudden collapse caused the worker to fall 25 feet to the concrete floor below and die four days later. The company failed to provide fall protection, failed to regularly inspect job sites, materials, and equipment, and failed to report a work-related employee hospitalization.
- Domingos 54 Construction Inc., an Ocala framing contractor, with a long history of violations, now faces three willful violations and one repeat violation and proposed penalties totaling $464,079. Inspectors observed Domingos 54 employees without fall safety gear while working atop a 15-foot-high residential roof in Tampa. In addition to the lack of fall protection equipment, the company was cited for failing to properly train its workers.
- A marine cargo contractor was cited after a worker was crushed to death by 2 tons of cargo in Panama City. Mobile, Alabama-based Premier Bulk Stevedoring LLC received one repeat violation and two serious violations after inspectors determined that the company's crane operator had an obstructed view of a signalman guiding the movement of a load of paper weighing thousands of pounds. The company faces $43,750 in proposed penalties.
- A Lake Mary roofing contractor, JGN Services LLC, was cited for three serious violations and proposed penalties of $8,702 after a 15-year-old worker fell 20 feet from the top of a two-story home and suffered severe head and spinal injuries. It also was assessed a $55,841 civil penalty under the Child Labor Enhanced Penalty Program for child labor violations and required to pay $106,600 in back wages and liquidated damages after investigators determined it misclassified some workers as independent contractors and failed to pay proper overtime rates.
- When two Dollar General stores in Ocala were inspected many of the same violations found at other locations were identified - merchandise obstructing exit routes, merchandise blocking fire extinguishers, and an automatic sliding door disabled and locked. The company was cited for five repeat violations and faces proposed penalties of $710,974.
Georgia
- A 21-year-old line operator at a LaFayette insulation manufacturer, Bonded Logic Inc., suffered severe head trauma after being caught in a machine's roller. The company faces proposed penalties of $423,432 for two willful, two repeat, and 10 serious violations related to lockout/tagout, control of hazardous energy, machine guarding, failure to certify forklift operators, and confined space violations.
- A Dollar General store in Columbus exposed workers to fire and entrapment hazards by locking an emergency exit door and had boxes and merchandise stored in an unsafe manner. Citations were issued for two repeat violations with $221,001 in proposed penalties.
Nebraska
- A grain-handling company, CHS Inc., operating as Agri-Service Center Roseland, faces $531,000 in penalties after a 34-year-old worker fatally suffocated when corn engulfed and asphyxiated him. Inspectors found that the personal protective equipment was not adequate for protection from engulfment hazards and issued 16 violations, two willful and 14 serious. These included allowing workers to enter bins with grain build-up, failing to develop procedures for entering permit-required confined spaces, to ensure emergency services were available, to recognize and evaluate hazards and train workers, and to implement machine safety procedures to prevent grain bin equipment from running while workers were inside bins. The company was placed in the Severe Violator Enforcement Program.
New York
- A West Babylon company, Kessler Thermometer Corp., was cited for overexposing and severely sickening their employees by allowing the airborne concentration of mercury to exceed the 8-hour, time-weighted average based on biological exposure indices. Inspectors identified 18 serious violations, one willful violation, and two other-than-serious violations and proposed $195,988 in penalties.
- The operator of a Sunset Park construction company, WSC Group Inc., has been convicted at trial of criminally negligent homicide, tax fraud, and other charges, and a foreperson at the site was convicted of criminal mischief in connection with an excavation wall collapse that killed a construction worker.
- Walmart lost its challenge to a $10,684 penalty for not having secure storage at its warehouse in Johnstown. The company had argued the standard did not apply to the pallets used in its racking system.
Pennsylvania
- JVS Roofing of Jonesboro, Georgia, hired a 17-year-old to perform roofing work at a New Castle home improvement store and the young employee fell 24 feet and sustained minor injuries. The investigation led to a wider review of how the roofing contractor failed to pay 30 employees their full wages, exposed other workers to dangerous fall hazards, and child labor violations. The company paid nearly $100,000 in back wages and civil penalties. It also faces $16,500 in proposed penalties for failing to provide employees with fall protection and not providing related training.
Tennessee
- A McDonald's franchise in Morristown, Faris Enterprises of TN LLC, faces penalties for child labor violations after a 15-year-old employee suffered hot oil burns when using a deep fryer. While conducting a wage and hour investigation, investigators discovered the teenager was allowed to cook fries using a hot-oil deep fryer without an automatic basket used to lower and raise contents.
Wisconsin
- Security-Luebke Roofing Inc., one of Fox Valley's largest roofing general contractors, has been cited for allowing a roofing subcontractor to expose workers to potentially deadly falls at an Appleton worksite. The company was cited for failing to conduct a comprehensive site audit and make sure its subcontractor's employees used required fall protection. It faces $140,633 in proposed penalties for one willful violation. In addition, JJ Roofing was cited for not training its workers on fall protection equipment and faces $28,126 in proposed penalties.
- A 20-year-old seasonal worker suffered a partial finger amputation after attempting to unjam an unguarded palletizer machine at a Plover Del Monte Foods cannery. Citations were issued to Del Monte Foods Inc. for two repeated and six serious safety violations. In addition to the machine guarding and hazardous energy control procedure deficiencies, investigators found a lack of handrails and anti-slip coatings exposed cannery workers to fall hazards on ladderways and stairs. The company faces proposed penalties of $222,779.