Workplace Safety

August 9, 2012

10 Contractors from 6 States Cited by OSHA for Safety Hazards in Construction of New Hampshire Mall

The general contractor for the construction of the Merrimack Premium Outlets shopping mall in Merrimack, N.H., has been accused of violating workplace safety standards. According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the contractor, as well as nine other subcontractors, underwent a programmed inspection by OSHA’s Concord-area office back in January, which has since cited then $173,500 in fines.

The fines levied against the contractors reflect a variety of different hazards. According to Rosemarie Ohar, OSHA’s New Hampshire area director, the agency’s inspections “found workers exposed to… common but avoidable hazards associated with construction work, notably falls and electric shocks,” both of which are potentially fatal. As Ohar noted, this indicated a failure on the part of the contractors to “adhere to required safeguards at all times and on this and all job sites.”

The citations against the general contractor, Hardin Construction of Atlanta, Ga., carried $27,000 in fines and reflect five serious violations. Specifically, these violations include “employees being exposed to falls of up to 20 feet, an ungrounded power generator, unsecured and unmarked hole covers on the roof, a failure to supply fire extinguishers throughout the job site, and a lack of inspections by competent individuals with the knowledge to identify and authority to correct hazards.”
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August 7, 2012

Workers with Paid Sick Leave Less Likely to be Injured on Job

by Altman & Altman

According to recent study of health survey data, private sector employees with paid sick leave are less likely to be hurt on the job. The research, which was conducted by the CDC’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in Washington, D.C., found that these workers were “28% less likely to report an occupational injury that needed medical care.” The information was revealed in a statement from Dr. Abay Asfaw, PhD.

The 1993 Family and Medical Leave Act does necessitate that public and private-sector establishments allow for up to twelve weeks of leave to all eligible employees, but it does not specify whether that time must be paid or unpaid. The result of this policy is that employees who are not allotted paid sick leave feel pressured to work through illness because they do not want to lose any income. According to Asfaw’s statement, this could lead to an “increased risk of injury.” The study thus concluded that if fewer people work while they are sick, it could lead to a safer workplace.

The researchers did not that their data was “cross-sectional” and could not effectively establish a cause-and-effect relationship between paid sick leave and workplace safety. However, it is notable for being the first such effort to analyze information representing the non-institutionalized U.S. population. The study used data from the National Health Interview Surveys between 2005 and 2008. The surveys included questions regarding workplace injuries requiring medical care. However, the data was collected only from private-sector employees, as most public-sector workers have paid sick leave.
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June 6, 2012

10 Most Dangerous Occupations in the U.S.

by Altman & Altman

The Bureau of Labor Statistics has recently produced a report on workplace fatalities, and the figures are somewhat encouraging. According to the most recent data, which comprises deaths recorded in 2010, the workplace is actually becoming safer for many Americans. The Bureau reports that there were 4,547 fatal occupational injuries, which is 4 fewer than occurred in 2009.

Many sectors remain notoriously dangerous, with some reaching up to 116 fatalities per 100,000 workers. However, the overall trend seems to point toward increased safety in the workplace. Most of the reported injuries and deaths occur in only a handful of the most dangerous occupations.
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May 25, 2012

Settlement Reached in Mass. Plant Explosion

by Altman & Altman

The adhesives manufacturer Bostik Inc. has agreed to pay $600,000 in fines as a result of workplace safety citations stemming from a March 2011 explosion at its Boston Road plant in West Peabody, MA. Investigators from the Department of Labor reported that the accident, which was the result of a valve being left open, damaged two nearby buildings and caused nonlife-threatening injuries to four workers at the plant.

The Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), after an initial six-month investigation, had cited Bostik for a number of violations of federal safety requirements and procedures. It concluded that the most worrisome of these were the “serious deficiencies” in the company’s process safety management program-a comprehensive document required of companies that have more than 10,000 pounds of hazardous materials on-site. Bostik has said it is now taking steps to correct these deficiencies.
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April 18, 2012

Massachusetts Senate to Consider Greater Penalty for Failure to Purchase Workers’ Compensation

by Altman & Altman

Under current Massachusetts law, the failure of a business owner to purchase workers’ compensation for their employees is considered a misdemeanor-which carries a fine of up to $1500 or a year in prison. However, some believe the penalty is too light and hope to raise the penalty. According to reports, this week, the Massachusetts Senate will consider a bill that would raise the violation to a felony-which is already the fine for workers’ compensation fraud and carries a fine of up to $10,000, 5 years in prison or 2.5 years in jail. Currently, if a business owner does not purchase workers’ compensation, the state must pay for the compensation from a state trust fund-which comes from employers who do pay for workers’ comp and which reports indicate cost $26 million from the fund in the last 5 years.

As with all changes, however, there is opposition from those who believe the penalty is already high enough. We will update you with the progression (or lack thereof) of the bill. If you have any questions about the bill, its progress, or how it may affect you, feel free to contact an attorney.

Workers’ compensation failure a felony under bill before Senate, BostonHerald.com, April 15, 2012

March 22, 2012

MA Supreme Court makes Positive Decision for Workers’ Comp Disability Benefits

by Altman & Altman

In a recent decision, the Massachusetts Supreme Court found that workers’ compensation disability benefits could, in some cases, be calculated based on the worker’s current weekly earnings at his most recent job-even if that job is not in Massachusetts.

The controlling precedent for the lower court’s decision in this case was Letteney’s Case, where the court held that wages earned outside of Massachusetts could NOT be used to determine current workers’ compensation benefits. In the case at bar, the court reined in that holding-limiting it to cases involving “out-of-State wages earned after suffering latent injuries (such as from exposure to asbestos) that do not result in eligibility for incapacity benefits for at least 5 years.”

Scott Wadsworth, the plaintiff in the case, was certainly pleased. Wadsworth was injured in a metal rolling machine accident (his right hand was crushed) in 1980 while on the job at a Massachusetts corporation. He received benefits for incapacity from 1980-1988. He then started a job in Connecticut. He underwent a procedure to help the pain in his previously injured hand, which only caused further pain, then applied for permanent disability in 2003, arguing that his benefits should be calculated based on his wage rate in 2003 at his Connecticut job. Wadsworth’s rationale was that “he was permanently disabled from a subsequent injury that was a recurrence of his 1980 injury after having returned to work for a period of at least two months.”

March 5, 2012

MA Workers’ Compensation Rates May Increase

by Altman & Altman

According to reports, workers’ compensation rates in Massachusetts may significantly increase in September, if the state approves a proposed increase. The Workers’ Compensation Rating and Inspection Bureau of Massachusetts (WCRIBMA)-a non-profit organization licensed by the MA Division of Insurance that represents companies that write workers’ comp policies- asked the state to approve a 19.3% increase. This increase would raise the cost of employee compensation insurance for MA employers, which they are required to provide under M.G.L. Chapter 152, Section 25A.

We will keep you updated on this and other workers’ compensation developments in Massachusetts. If you have been injured on the job and believe you may be eligible for workers’ compensation benefits, contact a seasoned MA workers’ compensation lawyer.

Workers’ comp rates could go up, Boston.com, March 2, 2012

February 29, 2012

New England Grocery Store Faces Company-Wide Workplace Safety Violations

by Altman & Altman

A recent complaint filed by the U.S. Department of Labor’s regional solicitor’s office in Boston requests that the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission orders DeMoulas Super Markets Inc., doing business as Market Basket, to adhere to workplace safety measures. The Tewksbury, Massachusetts-based grocery store chain has more than 60 stores in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

The request for the entire company to adhere to the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s safety standards comes after multiple inspections at various store locations in which similar safety hazards were discovered. An inspection of Market Baskets stores in Rindge and Concord, New Hampshire, resulted in citations and fines up to $589,200. An employee of the Market Basket store in Billerica, Massachusetts, was seriously injured in 2007 after an unguarded fall and an employee of the Rindge, New Hampshire store was similarly seriously injured in April 2011 when he fell 11 feet onto a concrete floor from a poorly guarded storage mezzanine.

In addition to multiple fall hazards and recorded fall injuries, employees at the Rindge and Concord stores alone sustained at least 40 recorded hand lacerations between 2008 and 2011. OSHA has found that the company also failed to protect employees in produce, deli, and bakery departments against laceration dangers by not identifying the need for employee hand protection and by not providing any hand protection to employees working with knives, sharp objects, or cutting machines. The company agreed to complete job hazard analyses in all of their stores after being cited by OSHA in 2006, which they have failed to carry out.

Dr. David Michaels, Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA, said “Hazardous conditions at multiple locations that expose employees to serious injuries demand a swift and comprehensive corrective response at the corporate level…OSHA insists that this employer completely and effectively eliminate the hazards it never should have allowed to exist in the first place.” He continued to say, “Worker safety is not optional, and it cannot be addressed in a piecemeal fashion. It must be addressed across the board…This employer has the responsibility to safeguard all its employees at all its locations, something it has failed to do.”

If you or your loved one has been injured in the workplace, it is in your best interest to contact an experienced Massachusetts workers’ compensation lawyer.

Source:

US Labor Department files complaint to require DeMoulas Super Markets to address hazards at Market Basket stores in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, OSHA Regional News Release, January 18, 2012
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January 10, 2012

U.S. Labor Department and Construction Company Settle Litigation Over Workplace Safety

by Altman & Altman

The U.S. Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has recently settled litigation with NER Construction Management Inc., a Wilmington masonry contractor. The construction company has agreed to pay $134,000 in penalties and make significant safety protocol changes to protect company employees against workplace accidents. According to the terms of the settlement agreement that resolves litigation with the U.S. Department of Labor. At a jobsite located at Rowes Wharf in Boston, the original safety inspections were conducted by OSHA’s Braintree Area Office in January 2011. OSHA cited NER for willful and serious violations of workplace safety standards. NER employees also faced falling hazards of up to 17 feet.

According to the terms of the settlement agreement that resolves litigation with the U.S. Department of Labor, NER has agreed to pay the fines and has verified that it has fixed all of the cited hazards and is now taking steps to increase workplace safety on all job sites. This new protocol includes performing a detailed hazard analysis on each job to determine fall protection safeguards for every employee on the job, providing competent personal training for all employees authorized to identify and correct fall hazards, and revising the company’s disciplinary policy to include management employees. NER also agrees to provide OSHA with a monthly report of all job sites on which it will be working for the next year in addition to copies of any external safety audits conducted over the next two years.

Marthe Kent, OSHA’s New England regional administrator, said “Whenever OSHA cites employers, we’re looking for them to not only correct specific cited hazards but also to take effective steps to prevent them from recurring…With this settlement, NER Construction Management pledges to take such steps for the safety of its workers.” Michael Felsen, the Labor Department’s New England regional solicitor, said “Our ultimate goal in litigating OSHA cases is to ensure that employers safeguard their workers against needless and potentially devastating hazards…This positive settlement both upholds OSHA’s findings and lays a foundation for future compliance by this employer, which will result in safer workplaces for its employees.” Attorney James Polianites of the department’s Regional Office of the Solicitor in Boston litigated the case.

If you or your loved one has been injured in the workplace, it is in your best interest to contact an experienced Massachusetts workers’ compensation lawyer.

Source:

US Labor Department reaches settlement with Wilmington, Mass., masonry contractor to enhance fall protection for workers, OSHA Regional News Release, December 21, 2011
Related Blog Posts:

Repairman Loses Consciousness 14 Feet Underground in Septic Pump Chamber

MBTA Worker Falls Down 30-Foot Concrete Shaft at Charles/ Massachusetts General Hospital Station in Boston

Department of Transportation Worker Falls Into Shaft in Ted Williams Tunnel in Boston

Street Cleaning Machine Accident Leaves Operator Dead; OSHA and State Police Reconstruction Team Investigating

OSHA Cites Somerville Commercial Laundry Service After Employee Injury

Mansfield Factory Worker Injured by Forklift
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December 12, 2011

OSHA Cites East Boston Painting Contractor After Worker Suffers from Paint Fumes in Confined Space

by Altman & Altman

The U.S. Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has recently investigated a workplace accident in which an East Boston, Massachusetts, painting contractor´s employee suffered from paint fumes in a confined space while working at a job at the Senesco Marine LLC shipyard in North Kingstown, Rhode Island. The employee was spray-painting the interior of a tugboat and subsequently became unconscious in the confined space. The worker was rescued by the North Kingstown Fire Department.

The company, AMEX Inc., now faces $72,900 in proposed fines and was cited for 13 alleged violations of workplace and confined space safety violations. Working in a confined or enclosed space can result in a greater risk of fatalities, severe injuries, illnesses, and fume inhalation, such as the case here. During their investigation, OSHA found that AMEX did not abide by the required safety precautions for working in a confined space. The company did not properly check for hazardous conditions inside the confined space, did not test the atmosphere for toxic or flammable vapors before the worker entered, and did not provide confined space training for employees working in the space. The contractor also failed to supply the workers with sufficient respiratory protection or safe ventilation equipment.

Twelve of the violations were listed as serious and one was an other-than-serious violation due to an incomplete worker injury log. OSHA issues a serious violation when there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known. An other-than-serious violation is issued when the violation has an impact on workplace safety and health, but would most likely not result in death or serious physical harm, such as a serious violation.

OSHA´s area director, Patrick Griffin, said “This could very easily have been a fatality…Confined spaces are characterized by toxic, oxygen-deficient or flammable atmospheres that can be deadly for employees working in those spaces. No worker should ever enter a confined space until the atmosphere has been tested, proper respiratory protection is supplied and used, and adequate rescue procedures are in place.”

AMEX Inc. has 15 business days from the day that they received these citations and proposed monetary fines to agree with, or contest, these workplace safety violations with the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

If you or your loved one has been injured in the workplace, it is in your best interest to contact an experienced Massachusetts workers’ compensation lawyer.

Source:

US Labor Department’s OSHA proposes $72,900 in fines for East Boston, Mass., painting contractor for violations at North Kingstown, RI, shipyard, OSHA Regional News Release, December 1, 2011
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Repairman Loses Consciousness 14 Feet Underground in Septic Pump Chamber

Street Cleaning Machine Accident Leaves Operator Dead; OSHA and State Police Reconstruction Team Investigating

OSHA Cites Somerville Commercial Laundry Service After Employee Injury

Bostik Inc. Provides Cause for Plant Explosion and Worker Injuries in Middleton, Officials Continue Investigation

Mansfield Factory Worker Injured by Forklift
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