TIYAN, GUAM ‒ A contractor with a history of failing to protect employees working in trenches from potentially deadly harm faces penalties of more than $1 million after federal investigators found employees working in trenches deeper than 5 feet without required safety equipment. 

ORLANDO, FL – Federal workplace safety investigators have determined that a Tampa-area construction contractor could have prevented a 37-year-old aerial lift operator from suffering fatal injuries after being struck by a boom as a crane tipped over during work on an Orlando highway ramp in October 2023.

CENTRE HALL, PA – The U.S. Department of Labor has again found Hanover Foods Corp., a large food manufacturer with a history of hazardous workplace safety practices, in violation of dozens of safety and health hazards at its Centre Hall facility.

The producer of glass-pack, canned, frozen, refrigerated, freeze-dried and snack food products under the Hanover brand as well as other private labels also operates eight other manufacturing plants, including five in Pennsylvania and one each in Delaware, New Jersey and Guatemala.

WASHINGTON – When the nation first observed Workers Memorial Day on April 28, 1970, an estimated 38 U.S. workers suffered fatal on-the-job injuries each day and many more endured debilitating respiratory diseases and other life-altering illnesses related to workplace exposures. 

FRANKLIN, OH ‒ An Ohio subsidiary of one of the world’s largest automotive suppliers could have prevented a 26-year-old employee in Franklin from being fatally crushed in October 2023 if the company had provided proper machine guarding. 

LINCOLN, NE ‒ Fifteen years after the fatal, work-related incident that took the life of Waverly High Alumni Tonya Malley Ford’s uncle, she has turned her family’s loss into a national event. 

FORT LAUDERDALE, FL – Making the trip from Mexico to South Florida, a 26-year-old man arrived in September 2023, ready to start a new job on a sugar cane farm in Belle Glade. Four days later, he suffered fatal heat-related injuries while working in an open field as the heat index reached 97 degrees.

WELLSVILLE, KS – Federal workplace safety inspectors found a Kansas roofing contractor again putting its employees at risk of falls from elevation — the construction industry’s deadliest hazard — by not providing required protective equipment at two residential worksites in October 2023. 

BRAINTREE, MA – A Connecticut marine and heavy construction contractor could have prevented the October 2023 collapse of a 200-foot section of pier on Hervey Tichon Avenue in New Bedford — which plunged five workers into the Acushnet River and injured two of them — by adhering to legally required safety standards, a U.S. Department of Labor inspection has determined. 

CAMDEN, NJ – The U.S. Department of Labor has reached a settlement agreement with one of the East Coast's largest auto recyclers and used parts suppliers affirming 35 citations issued for workplace safety violations at its Camden facility and assessing related penalties.

PALATKA, FL – As he had many other days, the morning shift welder arrived at 5 a.m. to work at St. John’s Ship Building Inc. in Palatka on Aug. 28, 2023. Tasked with doing some fabrication work in a 4-foot by 8-foot space in a ship’s hull, the employee began work unaware that fatal suffocation would soon end his life. 

ATLANTA – The U.S. Department of Labor is joining with Georgia’s leading construction organizations to promote safety for people employed in work zones near moving traffic and encouraging industry employers to take a break to educate workers on how to protect themselves from harm during 2024 National Work Zone Awareness Week, April 15–19.

Employer name:             Trader Joe’s Co. 

Investigation site:         5910 South University Blvd.

                                                 Greenwood Village, CO 80121

ATLANTA – For the second time in less than a year, federal workplace safety inspectors have found a global electric vehicle battery manufacturer exposing employees to serious safety and health hazards at its Commerce plant, after workers suffered potentially permanent respiratory damage in an October 2023 lithium battery fire.

ST. LOUIS – Federal workplace safety inspectors found a Missouri roofing contractor again risking the safety of its employees by failing to protect them against the construction industry’s deadliest hazard — falls from heights— at five residential worksites in Wentzville in October and November 2023. 

AUSTIN, TX – An Austin subsidiary of one of the nation’s largest producers of modular and manufactured homes faces $272,479 in penalties after federal investigators found the company exposing employees to more than two dozen serious violations during an October 2023 inspection.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced a final rule clarifying the rights of employees to authorize a representative to accompany an Occupational Safety and Health Administration compliance officer during an inspection of their workplace will be published in the Federal Register on April 1.

SAN FRANCISCO ‒ The U.S. Department of Labor has ordered a former senior vice president and two managers employed by PrimeLending to pay $35,000 in emotional damages and the legal fees of two California employees who the company fired illegally after they reported a branch manager pressured them to pass on fees to loan applicants caused by the company’s internal processing delays. 

BELLEFONTAINE, OH ‒ In October 2023, following the receipt of a complaint, U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspectors opened an inspection at an Ohio industrial hose manufacturer’s Bellefontaine plant. This was OSHA’s eighth investigation into HBD Thermoid Inc. since 2013. 

SHELBY, OH ‒ Despite citations from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration for similar hazards at its Shelby facility in 2022, ArcelorMittal Tubular Products USA LLC — a subsidiary of one of North America’s largest steel suppliers — failed to protect a 60-year-old employee from severe injuries after they became caught in a pinch point created by a bundle of steel tubes and a rotating roller conveyor in December 2023.