Tips & Updates about OSHA & Hazwoper Training Courses | Safety Tips

OSHA has recently cited the Tyson Foods’ Jefferson branch with 10 safety violations for failing to comply with the general industry workplace safety regulations. The company faces fines worth $45,000 after OSHA investigated its worksite in October last year. OSHA firmly believes that employers are responsible for identifying the hazards that exist at the worksite and making sure that their workers are not exposed to these risks, as this could result in injuries or even death. The company was initially cited with 9 serious violations after the OSHA inspectors noticed the deficiencies in the company’s process safety management program, the lack of fall protection, deficiencies in the respiratory protection program and lack of adequate hazardous energy lockout/tagout program. What’s more, the company also failed to maintain the powered industrial trucks. In addition, the company also received 1 serious violation for failing to conduct a proper personal protection equipment hazard assessme...

The Warner Robins Air Logistics Center has recently received a few more OSHA citations that deal with violations in workplace safety. 27 citations were reportedly given out to the center on Monday and another 20 are expected to be given in the next few days. The center’s commander, Maj. Gen. McMahon, has taken full responsibility for creating a safe working environment. According to him, his job is all about creating a safe working environment for the employees to be able to work properly. The center received 13 citations last May. The citations had to do with the employees being potentially exposed to excessive levels of lead, cadmium and chromium in a building, where nearly 200 workers were present. The latest citations on the other hand came because the OSHA inspectors continued to inspect the center and its maintenance processes at a number of different locations right through to January this year. The citations that were received on Monday fell into 3 basic categories: exposure to...

The United States, Occupational Safety and Health Administration has recently penalized an Elizabeth, N.J.-based freight carrier, for committing 17 serious, other-than-serious and repeat safety violations. The company in question is none other than the, New England Motor Freight Inc. The OSHA inspectors had found several instances where forklifts were not being operated appropriately. This in turn resulted in serious injuries and collisions. Furthermore, many employees failed to wear their seat belts, while they were operating on the forklifts. Moreover, none of the workers ever received any form of safety training. As a result, the organization is being penalized with a hefty fine of $76,000. Generally, serious citations are issued by OSHA when there is a substantial probability that serious physical harm or death could result from a hazard. More so, the employer either knew about the hazard or should have known about its presence. OSHA's area director for Rhode Island, Patrick Gr...

Federal inspectors could take up to 6 months to complete an investigation that's related to the collapse of New Cannan's historic Maples Inn. Robert Kowalski, the director of OSHA's Bridgeport area office said that, "We are in fact-finding mode," he went on to say that, "Once we have all the information ... if there are citations warranted, they will be issued. But it's too early in the investigation process." Currently, the OSHA inspectors have found that high winds were primarily responsible for toppling this historic Inn that dates back to 1876. The Maples Inn is located on the Oenoke Ridge Road. The owners of the Inn, Tom Kennedy and Andy Glazer, said that they would continue to build luxury apartments on the site. Unfortunately, they will have to start from scratch. When the accidental mishap occurred, work had been underway for 6 months. Nearly 6 workers were on the site at the time but luckily no one was injured. However, the town's chief ...

A jury in Rochester, recently convicted Mr. Keith Gordon-Smith and his asbestos abatement company, Gordon-Smith Contracting, Inc. (GSCI) for committing eight violations of the Clean Air Act. The jury found Gordon-Smith guilty for they had made certain false statements to an OSHA inspector who had received complaints from GSCI employees. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspector had visited the site, three times in 2007 and on each and every occasion Gordon-Smith lied. The Assistant Attorney General for the Natural and Environment Resources Division, Ignacia S. Moreno, said that, “Gordon-Smith knowingly exposed workers and public areas to the toxic air pollutant asbestos,” he further stated that the verdict should send a strong message to those in the asbestos abatement industry”. Furthermore, Special Agent-in-Charge for EPA Office of Criminal Enforcement, William V. Lometti, said that exposure to asbestos can be fatal and the government will not tolerate illegal activ...

The Federal Labor Department, recently announced that it has found serious problems with Cal/OSHA, especially with the regulatory agency's appeal board. Overall, they have ordered Cal/OSHA to improve workplace safety. On Tuesday, the United States, Labor Department in California, issued a critical report on the enforcement of workplace safety. It has ordered the state to fix this wide array of problems, which even includes, the poor training of safety inspectors and delays in responding to complaints. These Federal officials, went on to say that, the inspectors of the state Division of Occupational Safety and Health, did not always review the company's history statewide, before deciding whether to cite it for repeat violations. They even found out that the division's appeals process "falls short." The deputy assistant secretary of Labor, Jordan Barab, has acknowledged the problems that were found with the California program. He even said that they were, "rela...

Over the years, Ava Miller along with hundreds of others, have lost several loved ones to workplace fatalities, in the past 4 decades. Their emotional voids have yet to be filled. Yes! Nearly 316 workers have died, whereas 343 were left seriously injured. They carry their scars, in the form of lost limbs or disfigurements. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration have conducted 15,000 inspections, since 1972. Its important to note that, these inspections highlighted nearly 14,844 safety violations. The steel industry is very often fraught with danger. Unfortunately, the industry didn’t seem to do much about prioritizing safety, for according to OSHA inspectors, it recorded the highest number of serious safety violations in the region. The state and federal OSHA inspections have highlighted nearly 1,303 serious safety violations that have specifically occurred in the steel mill and blast furnace category, over the past 37 years. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration...

The ammonia leak sent 130 people who were living in the vicinity to hospitals. Unfortunately, they were not warned for at least 45 minutes after it was detected. Thus, this very delay has increased the risk to their safety. In turn, these safety violations have alerted the OSHA investigators. Federal regulators have already started investigating the devastating effects of this time lag. However, the emergency and company officials said that they acted as quickly as they could. Present below are a list of statements given by the local residents. These statements just highlight the very fact that the response action was just not initiated fast enough: Mr. Charles Adams said that,“The alarms finally went off, but there were a lot of people who were hurt before they did.” Mr. John Ponder commented that,“There should have been an alarm that went off two minutes after that leak happened. Two minutes is too long.” This leak has come under OSHA's radar. For instance, Mr. Kurt Petermeyer, t...

Its hard to believe, but the Connell family of Somersworth, stood less than 30 feet from Dawn Brancheau, who was the whale trainer of SeaWorld, when she was killed just a few months ago. On Tuesday, Suzanne Connell informed the WESH 2 News that she was very pleased with OSHA's penalties and citations against SeaWorld. Connell went on to say that she wanted to know that what happened to Dawn would never happen to another trainer. Furthermore, the family claims that the reaction of the SeaWorld employees was chaotic and unprofessional. They went on to say that they were very disappointed, since neither the Orange County Sheriff's Office nor SeaWorld wanted to have anything to do with their witness statements. However, the OSHA inspectors did take notice. At one point an OSHA investigator even warned, Mrs. Suzanne Connell that she and her husband may have to testify, if the matter was taken to court. It is also important to note that the husband of the SeaWorld Orlando trainer ha...

Recently, Guam Based general contractor BME & Sons has come under OSHA’s radar, for not only failing to provide its employees with the necessary PPE, but more importantly, lying about it to the OSHA inspectors. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has in turn, penalized BME & Sons for one willful violation and one other serious violation that has been assessed at approximately $1,600. Hence, the Barrigada firm may have to pay a total amount of $45,600, in fines. Mr.Ken Nishiyama Atha, OSHA’s regional administrator in San Francisco, stated that, “We cannot emphasize enough that employers have an obligation to provide protective safety equipment to their workers.” However, BME & Sons is far from unfamiliar, with regards to OSHA’s standards, for it has been penalized by OSHA 16 times since 2005. These penalties and citations stem from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s inspection, which was carried out on the 24th of February, at a work site in Sa...

The Cooperative Plus Inc, a farmer-owned cooperative, must be very familiar with OSHA's wrath by now. For it has been just a few months since it was slapped with a fine of $721,000 after an employee was seriously injured from nearly being engulfed by soybeans at the cooperative's Burlington, Wisconsin facility. Currently, it faces a penalty of nearly $374,500, for being guilty of committing 25 safety violations at 2 particular grain facilities situated at Whitewater and Genoa City. Regarding this matter, the Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA, Dr. David Michaels said that, “This continued non-compliance with long established safety standards for working in grain handling operations by Cooperative Plus Inc. shows a complete disregard for worker safety,". He further went on to say that,"All workers have the right to work in a safe environment and the Labor Department will use all legal means necessary to ensure companies comply with established safety requirements....

The U.S OSHA has slapped a fine of $16.6 million on the construction companies connected with the explosion in February this year at Kleen Energy Systems, which killed 6 workers. O&G Industries, the project's general contractor was fined $8.3m, whereas, the commissioning and start up contractor for the plant, Blue-water Energy Services was fined $896,000 and 14 sub contractors were fined a total of $686,000. The assistant secretary of labor for OSHA, Mr. David Michaels said that,"These employers blatantly disregarded well-known and accepted industry procedures and their own safety guidelines in conducting the gas blow operation in a manner that exposed workers to fire and explosion hazards." he also further stated that, "We see this time and time again across industries when companies deliberately ignore safety precautions in the interest of completing jobs quickly, and workers end up being killed or seriously hurt." It is important to note that the Kleen En...

OSHA has slapped the United States Postal Office with a total fine of $357,000, after finding, “willful and serious” violations of federal workplace safety laws, at the South Boston mail center on Summer Street. However, the postal service has vowed to fight back. The spokesperson for the postal service, Dennis P. Tarmey, recently stated that, “We are confident that our electrical work plan and our work practices meet requirements today”. He further said that there are “nearly 700 full-time safety professionals who work more than one million hours every year”. More so, the postal service nearly spent almost $2 million on protective gear, including shatter-proof glasses, fire-resistant overalls and shock-proof gloves. Unfortunately, all the equipment may be arriving far too late. The American Postal Workers Union has reportedly asked OSHA to launch the probe. During the probe, OSHA inspectors found several employees who had been exposed to electrical shock, which in turn lead to burns a...