fall protection
cmonforton | May 16, 2017Federal OSHA is assessing whether Arizona’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health (ADOSH) is meeting its obligation as an approved State OSHA program. The federal government’s scrutiny was prompted by a formal complaint, as well as investigative reporting by Emily Bregel and Tony Rich of the Arizona Daily Star. Both noted that the Industrial Commission of Arizona (ICA) routinely discounts the findings of ADOSH’s safety inspectors. The ICA’s decisions result in the severity classification of violations being downgraded (e.g., from serious to non-serious) and reduction in proposed monetary…
cmonforton | July 27, 2016Kevin Purpura's work-related death could have been prevented. That’s how I see OSHA's findings in the agency’s recent citations against Woda Construction and Sandow Development (here and here.)
The 39 year-old was working in January 2016 at a loft-style apartment redevelopment project in Wheeling, WV. The initial press reports indicated that Purpura was:
"inspecting metal studding surrounding an elevator shaft” when he fell several stories to his death.
I wrote about the incident shortly after it occurred.
The (Wheeling, WV) Intelligencer reported that the project developer was the Woda Group…
cmonforton | March 2, 2016Ascencion Molina Medina’s work-related death could have been prevented. That’s how I see the findings from South Carolina OSHA in the agency’s citations against his employer, G M Framing.
The 44 year-old was working in July 2015 at a construction project for a residential and retail development called Main + Stone in Greenville, SC. The general contractor of the Main + Stone development is Yeargin Potter Shackelford Construction.
The initial press reports indicated that Medina had “lost his footing” and fell about 30 feet. I wrote about the incident but, at the time, I did not have the name…
cmonforton | August 4, 2015Ascencion Molina Medina, 44, suffered fatal traumatic injuries on Thursday, July 30, 2015 while working at a construction site in Greenville, SC. Greenville On-line reports:
Medina “lost his footing” and fell about 30 feet, according to the county coroner. He died several hours later at the local hospital.
The construction project is a new mixed use development called Main + Stone which will house residential and retail properties. The Beach Company is the developer and the project broke ground in late 2014.
The general contractor of the Main + Stone development is Yeargin Potter Shackelford…
cmonforton | January 9, 2014[Updates below]
Angel Garcia, 28 is being remembered as a son who dearly loved his family, and basketball. He died last month while working on a $450 million renovation project at Texas A&M University’s football stadium. Garcia, a construction worker who was employed by Lindamood Demolition, fell four stories and died shortly thereafter.
OSHA is conducting a post-fatality inspection at the scene and of Lindamood’s operations. Just last year, the firm was subject to an inspection by OSHA at a demolition site in Wichita Falls, TX. The company received a citation and $4,900 penalty for a…
lborkowski | June 13, 2013A fire at a poultry plant in Dehui, China last week killed at least 120 people and injured many others. Some state media reports attribute the fire to an ammonia leak, and medical workers reported that many victims had swollen respiratory tracts consistent with ammonia poisoning. Workers who escaped and victims' relatives cited narrow hallways and locked exits as factors in the alarmingly high death toll.
One report from the BBC describes the factory:
Family members were quoted as saying the factory doors were always kept locked during working hours.
The plant is owned by Jilin Baoyuanfeng…
cmonforton | October 4, 2011I'm eager to listen in on tomorrow's congressional hearing about workplace safety. It's being conducted by the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, Subcommittee on Workforce Protections, with the title "Workplace Safety: Ensuring a Responsible Regulatory Environment." That's a heading that probably means different things to different people, and those of us watching would probably benefit if Members define the phrase, "responsible regulatory environment" and explained responsible to whom?
The subcommittee chairman, Tim Walberg (R-MI), has noted previously the "creative tension"…
cmonforton | September 30, 2011Congressman Denny Rehberg (R-MT) and his Republican members of the House Appropriations subcommittee with jurisdiction over the Labor Department don't think coal miner deserve better protection from black lung disease. In their FY 2012 appopriations bill they would prohibit the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) from using any funds to develop, promulgate, enforce or otherwise implement a new rule to protect miners from exposure respirable coal dust. (See page 36 in the bill.) This is a rule that has been in the works since at least 1996 when a federal advisory committee made…
lborkowski | January 19, 2011In the new executive order, which Rena Steinzor wrote about yesterday, President Obama stated that agencies must "propose or adopt a regulation only upon a reasoned determination that its benefits justify its costs." This isn't a revolutionary requirement; public-health agencies are already required to demonstrate cost-effectiveness of proposed regulations. For instance, when Occupational Safety and Health Administration recently revised its crane and derrick standard, it estimated the annualized costs of implementing the rule to be $154 million and the benefits - in the form of 22 lives…