CINCINNATI ‒ While working the overnight sanitation shift at an Ohio food processing plant, a 29-year-old temporary worker – on the job just nine months – suffered critical injuries after falling into an industrial blender he was cleaning and became caught in the rotating paddle augers. The worker’s injuries led to a leg amputation.

Participant:   L.L. Bean Manufacturing Brunswick

Brunswick, Maine

Description:   L.L. Bean Manufacturing Brunswick employs about 200 workers at the Brunswick facility where they manufacture and assemble boots, dog beds and perform custom embroidery.

HOUSTON – A federal workplace safety investigation into a Houston wind turbine parts manufacturing facility – operated by Proinlosa Energy Corp. – determined the employer failed to address safety violations found in a previous inspection from April 2022.

BOLLINGER COUNTY, MO - Workers and others engaged in recovery and cleanup operations after at least one tornado struck the Village of Glenallen in Bollinger County in the early hours of April 5, 2023, may face hazards related to falls, downed power lines and sharp debris.

Participant:    Guarantee Electrical Contracting LLC

                              1390 Wheeling St.

                              Denver, CO 80239

Participant:   Wheelabrator Bridgeport

Bridgeport, Connecticut

Description:  Wheelabrator employs about 70 workers at the Bridgeport site. The site is a waste-to-energy facility generating electricity for the New England power grid.

PORTSMOUTH, OH ‒ For the third time in five months, federal safety inspectors responded to a Portsmouth hardwood flooring mill to investigate reports of unsafe machinery. Two of those inspections involved worker’s injuries, the latest on Oct. 5, 2022, when a worker’s fingertip was partially amputated because it was caught in an unguarded belt and pulley.

PENSACOLA, FL – Unaware of the danger, a 59-year-old roofer working atop a Milton airport hangar on Oct. 25, 2022, stepped onto a skylight and its sudden collapse caused the worker to fall 25 feet to the concrete floor below. The injured roofer died four days later.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has published 2022 injury and illness data based on reports by more than 300,000 establishments. The Injury Tracking Application data is part of OSHA’s electronic recordkeeping requirements for certain employers who were required to submit OSHA Form 300A information from Jan. 2 to March 2, 2023.

ATLANTA - After severe weather swept through much of the Southeast on March 24 and spawned at least 27 tornadoes across Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and Tennessee, workers involved in cleanup activities face dangers during recovery operations.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Doug Parker hosted workers, advocates and worker organization leaders today for a discussion on the agency’s new authority to issue certifications in support of applications for U nonimmigrant status and T nonimmigrant status visas. The agency also launched a new U and T Visa Certifications webpage.

FORT WALTON BEACH, FL – For the sixth time since 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor has found a Fort Walton Beach framing contractor endangering employees by not following federal safety standards for fall and eye protection and other hazards.

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

Material Handling Institute’s Ergonomics Assist Systems and Equipment Council

What:             Alliance agreement

Participants:      U.S. Department of Labor’s occupational safety and Health Administration

                                  HC Beck LTD School of Construction                                                                                         

TAMPA, FL – Federal workplace safety inspectors have found that an Ocala framing contractor’s history of defying required safety standards continues with their employees’ safety and lives at risk.

MANDAN, ND ‒ Twice in 2022, the owner of a Mandan excavation company sat behind the controls of an excavator, supervising employees below as they installed municipal water lines in trenches as deep as 10 feet without protection against deadly collapses, federal workplace safety inspectors found. In 2022, trench collapses killed 39 workers, as thousands of pounds of soil and rocks crush or smother people in seconds.

APPLETON, WI – Federal workplace safety inspectors have found that Security-Luebke Roofing Inc. – one of Fox Valley’s largest roofing general contractors – allowed a roofing subcontractor to expose workers to potentially deadly falls at an Appleton worksite, just two months after the general contractor discussed the importance of safe work practices with the U.S. Department of Labor.

AUSTIN, TX – When an employee of a luxury auto dealership in Austin learned a co-worker had tested positive for COVID-19 in December 2020, they alerted the company’s management and requested they notify other employees immediately of their exposure risk.

After the dealership failed to act, the employee emailed all company employees about the potential hazards. Less than an hour later, the car dealer terminated the employee.

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

                        Grain and Feed Association of Illinois

What:             OSHA alliance renewal

WASHINGTON ‒ Once inside a grain storage bin, a worker can find themselves engulfed or trapped by flowing grain in just seconds. In 2021, 38 percent of reported grain engulfments turned deadly because required safeguards were not followed.

Concerted efforts by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration, state workplace safety officials and industry stakeholders helped to reduce the rate of fatal engulfments by 17 percent from 2020 to 2021.