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A New Bedford-based manufacturer of rubber products has been cited by OSHA for 34 alleged safety and health violations at its plant. An inspection last November found mechanical, electrical, fall, burn and other safety hazards at the plant. The company now faces $44,250 in proposed fines for violating health and safety standards.

Among those hazards identified during OSHA’s inspection were locked exits, excess carbon monoxide levels from forklifts, lack of personal protective equipment for welders, untrained forklift operators, and numerous electrical safety issues. Those findings amounted to 31 serious citations and $43.750 in proposed penalties. The company also received three other-than-serious citations for not having an injury and illness log, dust masks, and forklift data plates.

According to OSHA’s area director for Boston and southeaster Massachusetts, these issues “need to be addressed effectively and continuously to prevent injuries and illnesses, and ensure the health and safety of the workers at this plant.”

The company has 15 business days from receipt of the citations to comply, request a conference with the OSHA area director, or contest the citations and proposed penalties.

Lack of Dust Masks, 33 Other Violations Found at Rubber Products Plant, OHSonline.com, April 28, 2009 Continue reading

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The Boston Globe reports that a North Andover resident is now one of the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) most wanted fugitives. Albania Deleon, 39, ran the largest asbestos removal training school in New England from 2001 to 2007. However, federal officials discovered that Deleon was granting fraudulent certificates stating the bearer had training to safely asbestos.

Officials estimates that Deleon and her assistants gave fraudulent certificates to over 2,500 works, who then removed asbestos from hundreds of schools, churches, homes, libraries, and hospitals across New England through Deleon’s staffing agency, Metheun Abatement Staffing.

Because these workers did not receive proper safety training, they have unwittingly exposed themselves to hazardous conditions that could lead to lung cancer and death decades into the future. Many of them did not even know how to wear a respirator and may have exposed their family to the hazardous fibers by unknowingly bringing them home.

Delean sawed off her ankle monitor and fled in March. Law enforcement officials are searching for Deleaon across three countries, vowing to catch her for putting so many workers at risk.

She ‘harmed so many. And we will catch her’, Boston Globe, May 17, 2009 Continue reading

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On Friday afternoon, a construction accident in downtown Calgary killed a construction worker who was working as a rigger on the 21st floor. Early reports stated that the 27-year-old worker fell 10 storeys, but a Calgary policeman said he was crushed when 1,800 kilograms of building materials slipped out of a crane sling.

The construction worker was pronounced dead at the scene of the crane accident.

Workers who were completing projects nearby said they heard a loud thud and that rain and wind made for difficult and potentially dangerous working conditions. Police that Occupational Health and Safety investigators along with the chief medical examiner are now looking into the construction accident.

Calgary construction worker crushed to death in crane accident, AOL News, May 8, 2009 Continue reading

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Although the US Attorney’s Office dropped all 10 charges relating to the 2006 accident that killed a Jamaica Plain woman as she drove through the Big Dig construction project, Modern Continental Corp., the largest Big Dig contractor, still faces 39 federal charges of overbilling and construction defects on the project. The contractor pleaded guilty last week, and its lawyers added that the ceiling collapse was the result of another company supplying the wrong epoxy for ceiling panels.

In December, the epoxy vendor agreed to pay $16 million to Massachusetts and Boston to resolve the criminal charges. According to the Boston Globe, prosecutors were not available for comment.

Modern Continental faces criminal fines up to a half million dollars on each of the 39 counts; however, lawyers noted that the company sought the shelter of the US Bankruptcy Court three days after the criminal charges were filed last summer because they do not have the money to pay the fines.

Big Dig contractor Modern Continental pleads guilty, Boston Globe, May 8, 2009 Continue reading

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A Fall River man who works for the Department of Public Works was critically injured after falling off the back of a truck. According to accident reports, the garbage truck was on its usual pick-up route when the worker fell and hit his head. The workplace accident occurred on Nichols Street in Fall River. The worker is at Charleton Hospital, where police say he is fighting for his life.

The truck accident is under investigation by the Massachusetts State Police truck team and the Fall River Police Department.

Head injuries can be especially serious and can result in permanent, life-altering damage in some cases. Many injured workers are not able to return to work after an accident because of permanently debilitating injuries. The cost of long-term care and the loss of financial support take their toll on the injured worker as well as his or her family.

Worker critical after falling off truck, WPRI.com, May 6, 2009 Continue reading

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In April, an electrical worker was involved in a rooftop accident at Melrose’s Oak Grove Village. Police received a 911 call around 11:20am on Tuesday, April 14 reporting a possibly electrocution. Chad O’Clair, the twentysomething worker who was hit with 220 volts, was taken by ambulance to Massachusetts General Hospital for tests.

O’Clair is a resident of North Reading and an employee of the North Reading-based Electrical Dynamics Inc. Fortunately, O’Clair did not lose consciousness and was released from Massachusetts General Hospital later that day.

The construction company responsible for the project says that the cause of the electrical accident remains under investigation.

According to a representative, We’re obviously doing an internal investigation and I believe that OSHA [Occupational Health and Safety Administration] is now at the site and our folks are reviewing it [the accident] with them.”

Melrose injured electrical worker, rescued from rooftop earlier today, now released from hospital, WickedLocal.com, April 14, 2009 Continue reading

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In Suffolk Superior Court, a 39-year-old man pled guilty to workers’ compensation fraud, 23 counts of unemployment fraud, and two counts of larceny over $250. Rigoberto Tellez was sentenced to two years probation and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $14,398.

Tellez suffered injuries after he fell at work on December 10, 2005. He received workers’ compensation benefits from December 2005 to May 2006, when he was cleared for light duty work following an independent medical examination (IME). His employer offered him work that met the IME’s criteria, but he refused and filed an employee claim through the Department of Industrial Accidents, which ordered his employer’s insurance company to pay Tellez benefits retroactively from June 2006.

At the same time, Tellez filed an Employee Earning Report stating that he was entitled to workers’ compensation and did not have any other income coming in. However, he was also collecting unemployment benefits in addition to workers’ compensation for part of this time.

MA Man Sentenced For Fraudulently Collecting WC Benefits, WorkersCompensation.com, April 15, 2009 Continue reading

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In Gloucester, Massachusetts, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration will lead an all-day safety training workshop this Thursday, April 23. The workplace safety seminar is presented by the Contractor’s Division of the Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce and leads to the awarding of an OSHA 10 Certificate, which is a requirement for workers in many states.

Massachusetts has required an OSHA 10 certificate on all prevailing rate jobs since August of 2006 and many places are increasingly requiring the certificate on non-prevailing rate jobs. Understanding safety regulations is especially important for construction workers, as their jobs may expose them to hazards such as explosions, crane accidents, fires, welding accidents, and more.

Randy Purser of Crane’s Safety Institute in Ashland will lead the workshop. Contact the Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce at 978-283-1601 or info AT CapeAnnChamber DOT com to register.

OSHA seminar for tradespeople planned for April 23, WickedLocal.com, April 17, 2009 Continue reading

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A Massachusetts construction company has been issued $60,000 in proposed fines for allegedly failing to provide cave-in protection for workers at an excavation site in Taunton.

Inspectors from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration drove by the site on October 28, 2008 and noticed employees installing a drain line in the 6-foot, 3-inch deep excavation. The excavations sidewalls were not properly shored to prevent a collapse and workers did not have a ladder or other safe means of exit. OSHA standards require cave-in protection when an excavation is 5 feet or deeper.

Because of these safety concerns, OSHA issued G. Lopes Construction Inc. one willful citation with a proposed fine of $56,000 for the lack of cave-in protection and one serious citation for the absence of a ladder (that proposed fine is $4,000).

The construction company has 15 business days from the time they receive the citation to comply, request a conference with the OSHA area director, or contest the citations and proposed fine.

OSHA Proposes $60,000 in Fines Against Mass. Contractor for Cave-In Hazard, EHSToday.com, April 14, 2009 Continue reading

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The US Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has announced a safety partnership with the Burlington-based construction company Erland Construction. The goal of the partnership is to maximize worker safety and health at the Covidien West Street construction project in Mansfield, Massachusetts.

According to Brenda Gordon, OSHA’s South Boston Area Office director, “this partnership is designed to encourage, recognize and assist contractors who want to minimize hazards and enhance their safety and health performance.”

As part of the agreement, Erland will develop a project-specific safety and health plan. A qualified safety and health representative will implement and supervise the project.

Since 1998, over 1.4 million employees and almost 28,000 employers have participated in strategic partnerships with OSHA.

U.S. Labor Department’s OSHA Partners With Erland Construction To Enhance Safety And Health At Mansfield, Mass., Construction Project, SafetyOnline.com, April 9, 2009 Continue reading

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