WASHINGTON – The familiar sounds of weed trimmers and lawn mowers and the sights of landscaping workers are familiar sights in many neighborhoods, office parks and other locations. For people doing these jobs, including young people employed for the summer, the work exposes them to hazards such as moving machine parts, heat exposure, falling trees and toxic chemicals.

ABBOTSFORD, WI ‒ The operator of a north central Wisconsin meat and sausage manufacturing plant might have spared two employees from suffering serious hand injuries by following required machine safety standards, a U.S. Department of Labor investigation found.

DENVER ‒ The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has recognized 16 Colorado employers for recording zero injury or illness incidents in 2022.

WASHINGTON – As Canadian wildfires continue to produce unhealthy air pollution in parts of the country, the U.S. Department of Labor announced that its Occupational Safety and Health Administration is offering employers important information to help protect outdoor workers from exposure to wildfire health hazards.

DENVER ‒ The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health is recognizing the continued commitment to employees’ well-being by two South Dakota employers – Bayer Research and Development LLC in Harrisburg and NuStar Energy’s Central East Region in Sioux Falls – both of which recorded zero recordable injury or illness incidents in 2022. 

PEWAUKEE, WI – Federal workplace safety inspectors opened an investigation at a Pewaukee Dollar Tree store in January 2023 in response to an employee’s concerns about unsafe work conditions.

ORLAND PARK, IL – For the seventh time since 2015, federal workplace safety inspectors have cited an Oswego contractor who refuses to protect carpenters working at elevations, as required by federal law.

What::            Presentation of OSHA Region VIII Voluntary Protection Programs’ Leadership Award

Who:               Joseph Sviatko, operations and maintenance technician

Black Hills Energy, Cheyenne Prairie Generating Station

Cheyenne, Wyoming.

When:             June 7, 2023

SIOUX FALLS, SD – A federal whistleblower investigation found a South Dakota-based helicopter ambulance servicer retaliated against a mechanic who reported safety concerns and filed a complaint with the Federal Aviation Administration.

DENVER ‒ The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health is recognizing the continued commitment to employees’ well-being by three North Dakota employers – Bayer Northern Production Company, West Fargo, CF Industries in Grand Forks and NuStar Energy, Central East Region in Jamestown – all of which recorded zero recordable injury or illness incidents in 2022. 

BUFFALO GROVE, IL ‒ Down about seven feet from the surface, the 27-year-old worker of a Burr Ridge plumbing contracting business was fixing a residential water line damaged during excavation when the trench’s walls collapsed, crushing him fatally in December 2022 at a Buffalo Grove work site. Another employee in the trench with him at the time escaped the trench unharmed.

DENVER ‒ The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health is recognizing the continued commitment to employees’ well-being by three Wyoming employers – Black Hills Energy, Cheyenne Prairie Generating Station in Cheyenne; Phillips 66, Casper Station in Casper; and Phillips 66, Rock Springs Terminal in Rock Springs – all of which recorded zero recordable injury or illness incidents in 2022. 

DENVER ‒ The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health is recognizing the continued commitment to employees’ well-being by nine Montana employers all of which recorded zero recordable injury or illness incidents in 2022. 

Participant:         Phillips 66 Bulk Petroleum Storage Facility and Terminal

Casper, Wyoming

What:                   OSHA Region VIII Voluntary Protection Programs’ Decades of Excellence Award

When:                   June 7, 2023

Participants:  U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational    

Safety and Health Administration

            Mexican Consulate, Albuquerque, New Mexico

GREENVILLE, IL – Federal workplace safety inspectors found a Fairmont City roofing contractor continuing to endanger employees to deadly fall hazards by not providing them fall protection, as required by federal law.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor announced an upcoming listening session with business owners, employers and workers to collect input on how organizations make safety and health a core value in their workplaces.

LAMESA, TX – A federal workplace safety inspection at another Dollar General store, this time in Lamesa, found exit routes and walkways blocked and merchandise unsafely stacked, conditions that exposed employees and others to fire hazards and struck-by injuries that have been common cause for violations at the company’s stores across the country.

WATERLOO, IL ‒ A Breese contractor who ignored a city engineer’s repeated verbal and written instructions to use trench cave-in protection faces penalties after federal workplace safety inspectors found the employer failed to protect workers installing storm sewer lines from potentially deadly trench cave-ins on a least five occasions.

DEDEDO, GUAM – The U.S. Department of Labor will send experts from its Occupational Safety and Health Administration to areas of Guam hardest hit by Typhoon Mawar to protect the safety and health of recovery workers as part of the federal response and recovery effort after the storm struck the island in late May.