HOLDREGE, Neb. ‒ After two workers suffered partial amputations of their index fingers in separate incidents in October 2015, federal investigators found numerous machines lacked safety guards at the Holdrege facility of Becton, Dickinson and Company, a global medical technology company.

PORTLAND, OREGON – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration reminds employers that the agency covers safety and health conditions not specifically covered by the U.S. Coast Guard on all vessels within three nautical miles of shore. 

Regardless of whether they are inspected or uninspected, all vessels must report fatalities to OSHA at 800-321-OSHA within 8 hours. Vessels must report all in-patient hospitalizations of one or more employees, amputations, or loss of an eye within 24 hours. 

Date of Action: April 1, 2016

Type of Action: Complaint

Name(s) of Defendants: Carlos R. Calderon
C.R. Calderon Construction Inc.
Contractors and Employees 401(k) Profit-Sharing Plan

Employer: C and D’s Guest Homes, Inc., provider of residential care services for adults with developmental disabilities, doing business as C and D’s Guest Home and New Horizon’s Residential

Employer name: U.S. Postal Service Network Distribution Center, 4000 109^th St., Urbandale, Iowa         

Citations issued: April 6, 2016

Investigation findings: The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration's

Des Moines Area Office cited the postal facility for two repeated and one serious safety violations.

Employer name: Williamson Plumbing and Heating Inc., doing business as Roto-Rooter Services Co., 4197 East Harrisburg Pike, Middletown, Pennsylvania   

Site: 1857 Pebble Court, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

Employer name: V&T Painting LLC, 29585 Gramercy Court, Farmington Hills, Michigan

Site: Danville Borough Municipal Authority Storage Site, Reservoir Street, Danville, Pennsylvania

BATON ROUGE, La. – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited a Louisiana food manufacturing company for 25 serious and one other violation for exposing workers to hazardous chemicals, electrical dangers and fall hazards.

OSHA discovered the violations after an inspection of the Madisonville facility operated by Diversified Foods and Seasonings LLC. The agency inspected the plant after an evacuation of the facility sent workers to the hospital as a precaution on Oct. 16, 2015.

HARTFORD, Conn.  – A blocked emergency exit and improperly stored stock put the employees of the Guess? Factory Store at the Tanger Outlet Mall at Foxwoods Casino in Mashantucket at risk of burns, lacerations and being struck by falling objects, an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has found.

Responding to a complaint, OSHA began an inspection on March 3, 2016, and found the employer allowed the following hazardous conditions:

Employer: Litke Investments LLC, a San Francisco-based real estate investment enterprise, acquires, maintains and manages hotels and residential apartments.

Sites: Numerous hotels and apartments operating under various legal and trade names in California, Texas, Oregon and North Dakota.

Investigation findings: An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found Litke Investments:

Employer name: Winesburg Builders LTD, 6834 County Road 672, Millersburg, Ohio

Inspection site: Anchors Cove, Big Chimney, West Virginia

CINAMINSON, N.J. – Berlin Builders, a residential construction contractor with projects in Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, continues to expose its workers to dangerous falls on job sites by ignoring safety standards required by law, federal regulators say.

ARLINGTON, Va. – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration today released preliminary data for calendar year 2015, updating the “Mine Safety and Health at a Glance” page. The charts include information on inspections, violations and number of mines and miners. They also show fatality and injury rates for coal, metal and nonmetal, and all mining.

ATLANTA – A federal judge has entered a consent order expanding substantially the scope of a previous judgment and order between the U.S. Department of Labor and attorney David R. Johanson and his prior law firm, Johanson Berenson LLP, arising from their involvement in three Mississippi cases.

ATLANTA – The Federal Highway Administration, the state of Georgia and local government organizations are partnering with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration to sponsor a one-hour Safety Stand-Down at Georgia construction sites in conjunction with National Highway Work Zone Awareness Week from April 11-15.

NEW YORK – Nail salon workers in one of the world’s largest cities work hard to serve their customers. At the same time, they are what the U.S. Department of Labor refers to as vulnerable workers – unaware of their rights, sometimes with language barriers, or reluctant to step forward to complain.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced the availability of approximately $5 million in Pathways to Justice Careers’ grants to provide career training for 16- to 21-year-old youth at risk of dropping out of high school, becoming involved in the criminal justice system, or already hampered by juvenile records. 

BOSTON – The U.S. Department of Labor is suing two Gloucester fish processing companies and their owner for violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The department’s Wage and Hour Division found that Zeus Packing Inc., Cape Ann  Seafood Exchange and owner Kristian Kristensen owed $203,998 in unpaid wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages totaling $407,996  to 132 workers for the period October 2011 through September 2014.

In the week ending April 2, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 267,000, a decrease of 9,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 276,000. The 4-week moving average was 266,750, an increase of 3,500 from the previous week's unrevised average of 263,250.