The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has announced in a notice of proposed rulemaking published in today’s Federal Register its plans to require improved worker protection from tripping, slipping and falling hazards on walking and working surfaces.
The U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) recently announced that it will change dramatically how it regulates employers’ compliance with certain federal laws. Within the next year, it will issue regulations requiring employers to take affirmative steps to ensure compliance with federal wage-and-hour, safety, and anti-discrimination laws.
An investigation finds the feds have warned hundreds of local companies about high workplace injury rates — some companies where workers are hurt at 10 times the national average — and you might be surprised to learn which industry got the most letters warning of possible inspections.
While some reports are clueless regarding the risks to workers – a USA Today article by Elizabeth Weise quotes a Tulane University toxicologist who says, “Oil spills are ecological events, not human health events” – others are quite clear about the potential hazards.
Over the weekend, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar threatened BP with a government take-over of cleanup operations in the gulf: “If we find they’re not doing what they’re supposed to be doing, we’ll push them out of the way appropriately.” That’s not what the commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, Admiral Thad W. Allen, said.
Just over a month ago I wrote urging criminal prosecution of Massey Energy executives for the deaths of coal miners at the Upper Big Branch Mine. Since then more evidence of criminal wrongdoing has been shown and federal prosecutors and the FBI are investigating the corporation and its executives. In addition, citizen pressure urging prosecution is growing and financial problems for the corporation are showing.
Airline passengers who get frustrated and kick a wall, throw a suitcase or make a pithy comment to a screener could find themselves in a little-known Homeland Security database. The Transportation Security Administration says it is keeping records of people who make its screeners feel threatened as part of an effort to prevent workplace violence.
The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the release Monday morning of acid fumes at the Dannon Co. yogurt plant in Fort Worth, Texas, officials confirmed Tuesday.
A 60-year-old Sequoyah County man is dead after officials say he was sucked into a machine at the U.S. Lime plant in Marble City, Ark. The Sheriff says the man was making repairs to a rolling vacuum machine when it became activated and pulled the man inside the machine.
A Louisville, Ky., solid waste management employee who struck and killed another employee last week has a history of reprimands and disciplinary action in her personnel file, including a monthlong demotion in 2007 because of accidents.
