READING, PA – The U.S. Department of Labor has found a well-known Pennsylvania candy maker failed to evacuate employees after some reported smelling gas before a March 2023 explosion that killed seven workers at the company’s West Reading facility.

WAYNE, NJ – The U.S. Department of Labor has entered into a settlement agreement with a New Jersey building contractor who allowed their subcontractors’ employees to work in close proximity to high-voltage power lines at a Paterson work site in 2021 and 2022.

Employer:                                          Dolgencorp LLC, operating as Dollar General

404 East Pioneer St.

Crandon, Wisconsin 54520

Citations Issued:                   Three repeat violations and one other-than-serious violation 

BOISE, ID ‒ The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a consent judgment in federal court requiring a Boise dog daycare facility and its former owner to pay $50,000 in general and punitive damages for terminating two employees unlawfully for raising workplace safety concerns about being exposed to the risk of the coronavirus amid the pandemic in June 2020.

KEY LARGO, FL – A 29-year-old employee of a Florida marine construction company drowned in five feet of water after being pinned under a fallen crane in March 2023. Federal workplace safety investigators determined the company could have prevented the fatality by following required safety standards.

ATLANTA – A federal workplace safety investigation has found an Augusta battery manufacturer exposed employees to unsafe levels of lead, a determination based on personal air monitoring of workers and lead accumulation on respirators and counters in areas where workers took lunch breaks.

KANSAS CITY, MO – An Oklahoma construction contractor entered into a deferred prosecution agreement and agreed to pay $370,660 in criminal and civil penalties to avoid federal prosecution on one count of ignoring federal safety regulations that resulted in a worker fatality in St. Joseph in 2019.

IRVINGTON, NJ – Federal workplace safety inspectors have cited an Irvington contractor who exposed employees to potentially deadly falls by allowing them to do roofing work atop a two-story home in Bergen County without required fall protection in March 2023. 

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor announced that its Occupational Safety and Health Administration today launched a new initiative focused on enhancing enforcement and providing compliance assistance to protect workers in the engineered stone fabrication and installation industries.

MILTON, PA – U.S. Department of Labor investigations found a Pennsylvania manufacturer of steel containers exposed employees to a wide range of safety and health hazards at its Milton facility.

OKLAHOMA CITY – A U.S. Department of Labor workplace safety investigation found that a Caney contractor could have prevented a trench collapse that fatally injured a project manager at a McAlester work site in May 2023.

MIAMI GARDENS, FL – A federal workplace safety and health investigation has determined a Hialeah roofing contractor could have prevented a 28-year-old employee’s fatal injuries after a 40-foot fall through a commercial roof to a concrete surface below in Miami Gardens in March 2023 by following federal safety standards.

ATLANTA – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has begun efforts to provide on-site technical assistance and outreach to help protect workers conducting recovery and response activities in areas of Florida hardest hit by Hurricane Idalia. 

CANTONMENT, FL – A Georgia-based concrete pipe manufacturer could have prevented a 19-year-old worker from suffering fatal injuries after a concrete mixer restarted while the teen tried to clean the machine’s inside in Cantonment in March 2023.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced that its Occupational Safety and Health Administration awarded approximately $12.7 million in grants to 100 non-profit organizations across the nation to support education and training to help workers and employers recognize serious workplace hazards, employ injury prevention and understand workers’ rights and employers’ responsibilities under federal law.

AUSTIN, TX – A workplace safety investigation found that a Nixon poultry processor exposed employees to ergonomic hazards, a common industry safety concern and the cause of many injuries to its workers. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration estimates about 50 percent of injuries and illnesses in the poultry processing industry involve musculoskeletal disorders.

Who:            U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration

                        Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division

COLQUITT, GA – A federal investigation into how a 59-year-old worker at a Colquitt grain silo became engulfed and suffocated in April 2023 found the operator could have prevented the fatality by following required grain-handling safety regulations.

MILLERSBURG, OH – On four occasions in less than three months in 2023, U.S. Department of Labor inspectors observed a Millersburg roofing contractor again exposing workers to deadly fall hazards of up to 19 feet at four residential roofing job sites in Canton, Uniontown and Westlake, despite having fall protection equipment available on site. 

DEDEDO, GUAM ‒ Two weeks after federal workplace safety inspectors warned the operator of a Tamuning construction company of hazardous conditions facing employees working in an excavation, they returned to find the company again exposing workers to potentially deadly trench hazards as they installed a sewer line at the Paradise Court subdivision in Mangilao.