Three Southern California employers have been cited with fines totaling more than $500,000 — two for alleged willful violations — in the August 2011 explosion at a Sylmar worksite that severely injured two workers. The incident echoes another explosion two years ago in which the brother of one of the injured in the Sylmar event …
In an object lesson on how things can go wrong in confined-space incidents, the California Department of Public Health Occupational Health Branch (OHB) has issued a fatality alert on an incident at a California paint factory that killed one worker and almost killed a would-be rescuer. The alert by the California Fatality Assessment and Control …
The Construction Employers’ Association (CEA) honored 39 of its member companies with 2011 Excellence in Safety Awards. The award winners represent about 40% of the association’s members. CEA is a trade association representing unionized general contractors. Winners demonstrated a total incident rate at least 25% below the industry average, a lost-workday rate at least 25% …
In Cal-OSHA Reporter’s Feb. 3 edition, a reader asked: If an incident occurred in 2010 and the employee was out on workers’ comp in 2011, is the case also recorded on the 2011 Cal/OSHA Form 300? The answer is that when you record an incident in one year, you do not have to carry it …
The simple act of closing the gate to a bakery facility led to the death of a 58-year-old worker last August. Now California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) has weighed in on the incident, citing employer Chimenti’s Baking Co. for an alleged serious and two other violations. Rigoberto Yanez Guerrero was leaving the …
A spate of confined-space deaths in California last year has spurred California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) to launch a special emphasis program (SEP) to focus employers’ attention on this often deadly hazard. The SEP includes education, enforcement and consultation to help prevent future incidents. In 2011, four workers died and two were …
California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health has received reports on two workplace fatalities, one from a fall from height and another from apparent natural causes. The latter incident was on Jan. 31, involving an employee of Dell Services, occurring at Moffett Field at NASA-AMES Building 233 in Mountain View. The employee was in an …
As Cal/OSHA announces its special emphasis program on confined-space hazards, a new study says employers are over-reliant on fire departments for emergency services in confined-space events. These incidents are a relatively small percentage of workplace events, but often are deadly. Many, if not most, employers don’t have the expertise or resources to form a confined-space rescue …