The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently announced that it's filing a lawsuit against an employer for 13 separate incidents in which employees were given oneto three-day suspensions for reporting injuries that occurred on the job. The lawsuit alleges that the company violated the whistleblower provisions of the...
The U.S. Department of Labor's (DOL) Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has announced a request for information (RFI) seeking public comment on potential revisions to its Process Safety Management (PSM) standard and related standards as well as other policy options to prevent major chemical accidents.
The RFI was made in...
A report issued on December 11, 2013, by the Democratic members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee contains the results of a year-long investigation conducted by the majority staff of the committee. The report, titled "Acting Responsibly? Federal Contractors Frequently Put Workers' Lives and Livelihoods at Risk,"...
Adams Thermal Systems of Canton recently agreed to pay $1.33 million to resolve citations from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and avoid criminal penalties following the death of an employee in 2011. The facts in the following article come from the OSHA website and the documents filed in court by the government and signed...
In a press release dated April 30, 2013, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) reported citations for 14 serious safety violations against Halekulani Corp., the owner and operator of Halekulani Hotel on Waikiki Beach, following a routine inspection. According to Galen Lemke, director of OSHA's Honolulu area office, "The hotel...
Even as the economy improves, many employers are cautious about adding employees and continue to rely on contingent workers to meet their demand for labor. This presents an increased risk of injuries to new, part- time, and temporary employees.
Tragic examples
In one case, an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) investigation...
The scene is familiar. An employee takes shortcuts—either because his safety gear is uncomfortable or because it's easier to run a machine without the safety guard. When the worker is injured, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) wants to cite you because he wasn't following the rules. One defense to an OSHA citation is to...
As noted by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), "Falls are a persistent hazard found in all occupational settings. A fall can occur during the simple [act] of walking or climbing a ladder to change a light fixture or as a result of a complex series of events affecting an ironworker 80 feet above the ground."...
The New Jersey Appellate Division dismissed a lawsuit filed by an electrician against a general contractor on the grounds that the contractor wasn't responsible for training the electrician, who worked for a subcontractor.
Facts
In 2008, Novo Nordisk hired Structure Tone, a general contracting company, to renovate five floors of its office...
Early in an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) inspection, an OSHA compliance officer likely will ask you to produce a number of required documents. The first probably will be the injury and illness logs, which should be current and readily available. Next, you may be asked to provide copies of written programs that are...
