OSHA watch
Region 3 renews several regional and local emphasis programs
Region 3, which includes the District of Columbia, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia, has renewed a series of regional and local emphasis programs, which focus on fall hazards in the construction industry. The other renewed REPs include:
- Oil and gas service industry
- Demolition activities and gut rehabilitation
- Tree trimming and clearing operations
- Logging in West Virginia
- Programmed maritime inspections
An LEP for health hazards in metal fabrication (except structural metal fabrication) was also renewed by the Pittsburgh area office.
Seven-year lookback report
The new seven-year lookback report summarizes employer-reported inpatient hospitalizations, amputations, and eye losses from 2015 to 2021 in states covered by the federal agency. It analyzes the injuries by industry, geography, and injury type. Foundation, Structure, and Building Exterior Contractors top the list for severe injury reports. Rounding out the top five are Building Equipment Contractors, Support Activities for Mining, Nonresidential Building Construction, and General Medical and Surgical Hospitals.
Hazard alert on guy wires and power lines
Spurred by several deaths in which a guy wire being worked on contacted an energized high-voltage power line, a hazard alert on effective grounding and proper and improper positioning of insulation on guy wires has been issued.
State Plans
MIOSHA
Agency instructions issued
Targeting Industries Under Emphases 1.1 and 1.2 of the Strategic Plan - includes an updated list of high-hazard industries.
Employers must comply with revised federal recordkeeping rule
Effective January 1, 2024, the new rule requires establishments with 100 or more employees in certain high-hazard industries to submit the following by March 2, 2024:
- MIOSHA Form 300 (Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses)
- MIOSHA Form 301 (Injury and Illness Incident Report)
- MIOSHA Form 300A (Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses)
The rule also maintains the requirements worksites with 20 to 249 employees in certain high-risk industries and for large employers in non-hazardous industries with at least 250 employees to submit the Form 300A.
MNOSHA
Grant program available to help employers in covered industries meet new ergonomics requirements
The landmark ergonomics statute, Minnesota Statutes 182.677, becomes effective Jan. 1, 2024 and focuses on healthcare facilities, meatpacking and poultry processing sites, and warehousing distribution centers. To help employers in the covered industries invest in ergonomic improvements, an ergonomics safety grant program has been established.
National Emphasis Program on Warehousing and Distribution Centers adopted
Under this three-year program, compliance officers will focus on those employers with 250 or more employees at a single warehouse distribution center or 1,000 or more employees at one or more warehouse distribution centers per Senate File 3035, Article 19. For more information.
Rise in workplace violence incidents
Estimates from the Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII) show that, among cases involving one or more days away from work, injuries caused by violence from people and animals reached 1,520 cases in 2020, 29 percent higher than the average of the previous five years' estimates. The highest concentrations of incidents are in health care, education, and service industries.
Expanded translating options
- The website now provides Google Translate, allowing visitors to choose the language for the website text.
- Translated materials.
- Language Line, a free language translation phone service for limited English speakers. Find the contact number, call and a DLI employees will get in touch with an interpreter in the needed language.
Workplace injury and illness rates rise slightly in 2022
According to the annual Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses, there were 85,400 workers with OSHA-recordable nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses in 2022, compared to 73,800 estimated cases for 2021. There were 19,100 illnesses in 2022; 16,400 were respiratory conditions, including COVID-19 cases. In 2021, there were 13,500 illnesses. Learn more.
Recent fines and awards
Florida
- After several employees sustained serious injuries in a gas explosion, High Springs-based Air Liquide Advanced Materials Inc. was cited for willfully exposing workers to fire and explosion hazards by requiring them to use equipment that was unsafe around flammable chemicals and vapors. The company was also cited for 12 serious violations and faces a total of $201,573 in proposed penalties.
- Three Jacksonville contractors were cited for exposing workers to potentially deadly cave-in hazards at a Middleburg worksite. Proposed penalties are $65,182 for KBT Contracting Corp. and $33,261 each for Aquino Construction and Darmick.
- Jacksonville residential roofing contractor, Brayden Roofing, faces $72,683 in penalties for failing to provide fall protection and ensure ladder rails extended above the roof's upper landing surface. This is the fourth time in two years the company has been cited.
Georgia
- After a 34-year-old steel worker's fatal fall at a Hyundai electric car plant in Ellabell, a Louisiana contractor, Eastern Constructors Inc., was placed in the Severe Violator Enforcement Program (SVEP). The contractor was cited for one willful and one serious violation and faces proposed penalties of $160,724, an amount set by federal statute.
Illinois
- Bartlett-based Rana Meal Solutions LLC, a nationwide provider of ready-made pasta, sauces, and meals, was cited for the third time in five years related to machine guarding and control of hazardous energy. The company was cited for two repeat and eight serious violations and assessed $272,792 in proposed penalties.
- The IDOL Division of Occupational Safety and Health issued a report on the death of a sanitation worker who was crushed by a garbage truck during trash pickup services in Springfield. The report is intended to be used as an educational resource for municipal sanitation departments and their employees. The employer was previously cited for violations.
Massachusetts
- Newburyport-based PolyCarbon Industries Inc. and parent company SEQENS SAS, a pharmaceutical and chemical manufacturer, were cited for eight serious violations, two repeat violations, and one other-than-serious violation and $298,254 in proposed penalties. A worker was killed when a pressure vessel exploded.
New York
- Huntington-based Elite Roofing Services Inc. was cited for six willful violations and one serious violation related to fall protection after an employee fell to his death through a roof opening to concrete flooring 20 feet below. Proposed penalties are $522,527.
Wisconsin
- Maplewood-based 3M Co. was cited for two willful safety violations and $312,518 in penalties when a worker died after becoming caught in a machine's rotating rollers. The company had completed a corporate-wide review and determined powered rollers were hazards in need of safety improvements.
- Marinette-based Waupaca Foundry Inc. was cited for two repeat and six serious violations and proposed $234,385 in penalties related to energy control and machine guarding. Two employees suffered finger amputation injuries 11 days apart.
- Suamico-based Overhead Solutions LLC, a roofing contractor, was cited for four repeat violations and one serious violation of federal fall protection standards and proposed $180,469 in penalties.