The family of an Iowa meat-packing worker who died of COVID-19 is claiming that the company violated OSHA standards and several laws by failing to mandate face coverings, social distancing and other protective measures, in addition to allegations that mangers bet money on how many employees would contract the disease.
OSHA is touting a $1.5 million settlement in a criminal enforcement case centered on a worker’s 2016 death by crushing at an Alabama auto-parts plant, including a three-year judicially mandated timeline for the firm to improve hazardous energy control measures at the facility.
The Department of Agriculture (USDA) is readying a proposal that would codify its waiver program allowing poultry slaughterhouses to raise their maximum line speeds, setting the stage for the latest step in a long-running clash between the Trump administration and worker groups over the safety implications of higher speeds.
A federal district judge has rejected Amazon workers’ suit over alleged violations of New York COVID-19 protections at a warehouse in the state, holding that OSHA has “primary jurisdiction” over the issue in a decision that underscores states’ limited authority to enforce more-stringent protections than the federal government.
A federal appeals court is backing OSHA’s argument that its process safety management (PSM) standard covers not just equipment that contains high hazard chemicals (HHCs) but anything “connected” to those devices such as boilers, rejecting an Oklahoma refinery’s argument that the rule is ambiguous and should be read narrowly.
Michigan has enacted the second binding set of state-issued workplace standards in the United States for COVID-19 after the state’s high court struck down Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s (D) executive orders aimed at curbing the pandemic, with the new rule setting broad mandates for employers as well as sector-specific requirements.
An attorney for labor unions suing over the Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) line speed waiver program for swine slaughterhouses says the judge hearing the case appears poised to find that the rule is unlawful, but is giving no indication of whether she would vacate the policy or allow it to stay in force during a remand.
The Department of Agriculture (USDA) is asking a federal district court to dismiss a suit from unions and a worker-safety group over its program that allows some poultry slaughterhouses to increase line speeds, arguing that they have shown no proof the higher speeds pose a “substantial” risk to workers.
The Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission’s (OSHRC) third unanimous decision in less than a week rejecting an OSHA fine for employers’ alleged failure to install safety equipment is drawing a warm welcome from employer attorneys, with one calling it evidence of a “trend” toward scrutiny of agency enforcement decisions.
The Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) has for the second time in a matter of days struck down an OSHA citation for an industrial accident because the agency failed to prove that a worker’s risky behavior was part of “normal operation” for the facility, underscoring the potentially high bar to make that showing.