In October 2010, two employees were painting the inside of a water tank when a suspended scaffold device anchored on the outer surface of a roof hole fell through the hole, causing one side of the scaffold to collapse.
MSHA recently announced that federal inspectors issued 377 citations and orders during special impact inspections conducted at 15 coal and seven metal/nonmetal mine operations last month. The coal mines were issued 208 citations and seven orders; the metal/nonmetal mines were issued 148 citations and 14 orders.
In the settlement, the company agreed to permanently reinstate the worker to his job at the mine and to pay the full $6,000 in back wages, as well as the full $15,000 penalty.
The employee had complained to company management for being required to climb microwave towers, work in manholes, and enter asbestos-filled buildings without safety training or equipment while working at several San Diego military installations.
It doesn't matter what the emergency response team or individual is called. The assigned function defines the intent, and the appropriate rules apply.
OSHA announced that it has proposed a total of $220,000 in fines against Oberdorfer LLC, which manufactures aluminum castings.
In any confined space rescue, some common denominators should be established immediately, including air monitoring.
An introductory-level online course augments formal confined space training but is not meant to replace it.
This year's conference season includes many exciting stops, starting with AAOHN's national conference in Atlanta. The National Safety Congress opens in Philadelphia just in time for Halloween.
The Savannah River Site's Area Closure Project successfully tested a commercially available laser scanning system that would aid in planning deactivation and decommissioning jobs, SRNL reports.
The proposal would eliminate the potential POV procedure, which involves written notification that a potential POV exists at a particular mining operation. No longer would mine operators receive advanced warning.
There were more grain entrapments in 2010 than in any year since they started collecting data on entrapments in 1978, according to researchers at Purdue University.
The individual employees, safety managers, and companies represent a range of industries and hazard solutions, including highly successful first aid iPhone apps and an electrical engineer's contribution toward a national arc flash standard. Winners will be announced April 28.
Of the 71 mining fatalities reported, 23 of those victims were killed in surface mining accidents, while 48 miners died in underground mining accidents, 29 of whom were killed in the explosion at the Upper Big Branch mine in April.
OSHA issued willful citations alleging that Gerardi failed to properly protect workers from trench cave-ins, the result of four separate inspections conducted under the OSHA Trenching and Excavation Special Emphasis Program.
MSHA recently announced a proposal to revise its requirements for pre-shift, supplemental, on-shift, and weekly examinations. The proposed rule on "Examinations of Work Areas in Underground Coal Mines for Violations of Mandatory Health or Safety Standards" would require mine operators to take responsibility for conducting complete workplace examinations; correcting violations; and reviewing with mine examiners on a quarterly basis all citations and orders issued in areas where pre-shift, supplemental, on-shift, and weekly examinations are required.
MSHA recently announced that federal inspectors issued 250 citations, orders, and safeguards during special impact inspections conducted at 12 coal and 10 metal/nonmetal mine operations last month.
The Mine Safety and Health Administration announced recently that it successfully obtained a court order that imposes a number of requirements on Sullivan Granite Co. LLC, which operates Brown's Meadow Quarry in Franklin, Maine.
"We want to ensure that miners are protected from overexposure to harmful contaminants and mine operators have required safety and health programs in place to meet that objective," said Joseph A. Main, assistant secretary of labor for mine safety and health.
Semiannual agendas published Monday in the Federal Register are later than usual. Those from the Labor Department's units are sparse.