workplace safety News

Biden Administration Unveils Plan to Address ‘Silent Killer’ Extreme Heat

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is moving to protect workers and communities from extreme heat after a dangerously hot summer that spurred an onslaught of drought-worsened wildfires and caused hundreds of deaths from the Pacific Northwest to hurricane-ravaged Louisiana. …

Small Agency, Big Job: Biden Tasks OSHA With Vaccine Mandate

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Occupational Safety and Health Administration doesn’t make many headlines. Charged with keeping America’s workplaces safe, it usually busies itself with tasks such as setting and enforcing standards for goggles, hardhats and ladders. But President Joe Biden …

Fines Appealed After Nitrogen Kills Six at Georgia Plant

GAINESVILLE, Ga. (AP) — Three of four companies are appealing federal workplace safety fines following a January liquid nitrogen leak that killed six workers at a Georgia poultry processing plant. The U.S. Department of Labor says plant owner Foundation Food …

Insurers Worry About COVID-19 Discrimination Claims as Workers Return

LONDON — Liability insurers on both sides of the Atlantic are scaling back the cover they offer companies ahead of an expected wave of discrimination claims as employers call staff back to their desks after 18 months of pandemic-induced home …

Viewpoint: How Zoom and the ‘Quarantine 15’ Created a Perfect Storm for Soft Tissue Injuries

In a normal year, work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), also known as soft tissue injuries, account for roughly 34% of lost work-days in the U.S. and one-third of the dollars spent on workers compensation claims. But this was anything but a …

Anglo American Exposed Coal Miners to Excessive Risk, Inquiry Finds

MELBOURNE — An Australian inquiry into a blast at an Anglo American coal mine in Queensland state that seriously injured five workers found that the miner repeatedly produced more methane gas than it could remove and had exposed workers to …

5th Circuit: Cal-OSHA Has Jurisdiction Over Texas Trucking Co. for Work Safety Violations

A federal appellate court rejected a Texas trucking company’s attempt to force a California state agency to pursue a $6,180 fine for workplace safety violations in a Texas court. Bulkley & Associates filed suit twice to challenge the California Department …

Walmart Sales Soared, Essential Workers Got Scant Protection

COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) — Sandra Kunz had been worried for her safety while working as a cashier at a Walmart in Aurora, Colorado, during the pandemic, said her sister, Paula Spellman. The 72-year-old had lung disease, Spellman said. She …

Pork Processor Seeks To Delay Court Decision Limiting Slaughter Speeds

CHICAGO — U.S. pork processor Seaboard Foods wants to pursue a 10-1/2-month delay to a federal court decision that would force it to slow the speed of hog slaughtering at a massive Oklahoma pork plant, according to court documents. The …

Most U.S. Firms Hit With Covid-19 Safety Fines Aren’t Paying Up

U.S. workplace safety regulators have announced more than $4 million in penalties on more than 300 employers they say put workers at risk during the COVID-19 pandemic. But about two-thirds of these employers aren’t paying up. Only 108 companies had …