Occupational Safety and Health Administration News

Texas-Based Supermarket Faces $1 Million in Fines over Unsafe Working Conditions

Despite a history of violations and worker injuries dating back almost a decade, Fiesta Mart LLC – a Houston-based supermarket operator – continues to fail in its legal obligations to protect employees. Made apparent after federal inspections in February and …

Construction Worker Falls to Her Death from Florida Condo

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — A 23-year-old construction worker fell to her death from a 13-floor balcony of a condominium complex in West Palm Beach, police said. Delores Yamilety Martinez-Ponce was working Saturday morning at the La Clara condominium …

Report Criticizes Meat Industry, USDA Response to Pandemic

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — At the height of the pandemic, the meat processing industry worked closely with political appointees in the Trump administration to stave off health restrictions and keep slaughterhouses open even as COVID-19 spread rapidly among workers, according …

OSHA Fines Florida Utility $500,000 for Power Plant Deaths of Five Workers

A Florida power company has agreed to pay a $500,000 fine for a 2017 explosion that left five workers dead. Tampa Electric Co. has pleaded guilty to violating an Occupational Safety and Health Administration standard, causing death, according to a …

Amazon Warehouse Collapse Probe Finds Worker Safety Risks

U.S. regulators are calling on Amazon to improve its procedures for dealing with severe weather like hurricanes and tornadoes that could threaten workers at its warehouses dotted across the country. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration on Tuesday sent a …

Federal OSHA Mulls Yanking Arizona’s Work Safety Oversight

PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona may lose the authority to oversee its own workplace safety program because of a pattern of ignoring federal directives involving COVID-19 protection, employer penalties and other issues, the Biden administration said Wednesday. The U.S. Department of …

USPS: Investigation Still Open After Worker Lost Arm

GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) — The U.S. Postal Service is continuing to investigate an accident at a North Carolina distribution center in September that caused an employee to lose an arm after touching a machine, the federal agency said Monday. The …

COVID Underscores Lack of Whistleblower Protections

FORT WORTH, Texas — Inside a partially completed Amazon warehouse here, workers last summer walked on conveyor belts four stories high without safety harnesses, welders used plasma torches while surrounded by flammable cardboard boxes, and laborers raised metal racks alongside …

Nebraska Business Owners Sentenced, Fined for Safety Violations, False OSHA Documents

Two owners of an Omaha company were sentenced Friday to federal prison for knowingly violating worker safety standards, leading to an explosion that killed two workers. Nebraska Railcar Cleaning Services; Steven Michael Braithwaite, president and owner of the business; and …

OSHA Opens Probe Into Amazon Warehouse Fatal Collapse in Illinois

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill.–The U.S. workplace safety watchdog is investigating the circumstances around the collapse during Friday night’s storm of an Amazon.com Inc building in Illinois in which six workers died, an official at the U.S. Department of Labor said on Monday. …