APPLETON, WI – Federal investigators have concluded that an Appleton pallet manufacturer’s failure to train employees in machine safety procedures — and ensure the procedures were followed — contributed to the fatal injuries suffered by a 57-year-old employee struck by the carriage of a lumber stacking machine in late 2023.

NEWARK, NJ – A federal administrative law judge has affirmed safety violations against United Airlines related to a 2021 incident at Newark Liberty International Airport in which a 737’s tire crushed a technician’s foot as they worked with one of the company’s towing crews.

WILLARD, OH – One of the world’s largest and best-known tool and equipment manufacturers could have prevented a 29-year-old maintenance electrician from suffering severe burns during an electrical arc blast at a company facility in Willard if required safety standards were followed, a U.S. Department of Labor investigation has found. 

LINDEN, NJ  – The U.S. Department of Labor has reached a settlement agreement with a New Jersey contractor after a worker suffered a fatal fall at a Bayonne worksite in October 2023. 

The settlement followed an inspection by the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration of Granite & Marble Services LLC of Linden after the Bayonne Police Department alerted the agency that a worker had suffered fatal injuries at a multi-unit residential building under construction.

PORTLAND, OR – After a two-day bench trial, the U.S. Department of Labor obtained a federal court judgment that orders the U.S. Postal Service to pay $141,307 in lost wages and damages for emotional distress suffered to a probationary mail carrier who the agency fired after they reported an on-the-job injury to their supervisor and filed an accident report. 

CHICAGO – Joshua Herion, a Waukegan roofing contractor who has routinely endangered employees by ignoring federal workplace standards and penalties assesses for its violations since 2014, has paid $365,576 in fines and interest, after the U.S. Department of Labor moved to seize the employer’s assets as part of the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration debt collection program.

WASHINGTON – The Department of Labor today announced a final rule from its Occupational Safety and Health Administration that will update the current Hazard Communication Standard to better protect workers by improving the amount and quality of information on labels and safety data sheets and allow workers and first responders to react more quickly in an emergency. The updates take effect on July 19, 2024. 

WAUKEGAN, IL – Alleging that K.L.F. Enterprises — a Chicago demolition subcontractor — knew it was exposing its employees and others to the serious dangers of asbestos at a Waukegan work site, the U.S. Department of Labor has cited the company for 36 safety and health violations after a federal investigation. 

CINCINNATI – Zwanenberg Food Group USA Inc., one of the world’s leading suppliers of processed foods, agrees to pay $1.7 million in federal penalties and invest $1.9 million in safety improvements at its Cincinnati plant to resolve hazards found during several investigations by the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration. 

BRAINTREE, MA – The U.S. Department of Labor has determined that a Watertown roofing contractor again violated federal regulations for fall protections, following a workplace safety investigation into how an employee suffered fatal injuries after falling about 27 feet as they tried to carry materials and climb a ladder jack scaffold at a Brighton work site in September 2023.

ORLANDO, FL – For the third time in five years, a federal investigation has found the operator of multiple psychiatric and rehabilitation facilities, has had workers seriously injured or killed in violent patient attacks, including an employee who suffered serious injuries caused by a patient at a Melbourne location.

WASHINGTON – The Department of Labor today announced strategic changes to the structure of its Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s regional operations designed to direct its resources effectively and make the agency more resilient. 

WASHINGTON – The Department of Labor has taken an important step in addressing the dangers of workplace heat and moved closer to publishing a proposed rule to reducing the significant health risks of heat exposure for U.S. workers in outdoor and indoor settings. 

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration is encouraging construction industry employers and workers across the nation to take part in its 11th annual National Stand-Down to Prevent Falls in Construction from May 6-10. The event focuses attention on preventing the industry’s leading cause of worker deaths.

HASBROUCK HEIGHTS, NJ – Two related North Jersey construction contractor companies – Primetime Construction LLC and its subsidiary Primetime Contractors LLC of Paterson – have agreed to pay $215,000 in penalties and undertake several significant safety measures to resolve numerous safety violations found at five Paterson construction worksites in 2021, as part of a settlement with the U.S. Department of Labor.

FREMONT, NE – Responding to an employer’s report that a worker needed hospitalization after being struck by a semi-tractor-trailer and suffering severe injuries at a Fremont grain yard, federal workplace safety inspectors identified 23 violations by the worker’s employer, including failing to protect workers from being struck by moving vehicles.

ST. LOUIS – Federal workplace safety inspectors have cited a Missouri roofing contractor for 21 violations for illegally exposing roof workers — five times in seven weeks — at six Wentzville residential worksites to the dangers of fall hazards, the construction industry’s leading cause of serious injuries and death. 

CHICAGO HEIGHTS, IL – A follow-up workplace safety inspection at a metro Chicago manufacturer of medical glass bottles and vials found the company continues to fail in its obligation to protect workers by training them in machine safety procedures.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration returned to Gerresheimer Glass Inc., in Chicago Heights on Jan. 31, 2024, to verify compliance after inspections in October and December 2022 found workers exposed to machine hazards. 

SUN PRAIRIE, WI – A U.S. Department of Labor investigation into an employee’s disabling injuries at a Sun Prairie commercial baking facility in October 2023 found the well-known Midwest bread supplier again violated workplace safety regulations.

BRAINTREE, MA – The U.S. Department of Labor has determined an East Boston window cleaning company’s failure to inspect and replace damaged or defective equipment contributed to an employee’s fatal 29-story fall from a building in downtown Boston’s financial district in October 2023.