Safe Workplace and Safety News
This is the safety news blog for the Safe Workplace web site. We cover workplace safety related news with a focus on how safety, or a lack of safety, impacts employers, employees and their families. We also cover topics such as safety training, safety tools, and legal issues related to safety. For regular safety news and information enter your email address in the box above the Subscribe button to the right (then click on the button).
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Goose Attack Tests Railroad Worker Injury Law
Aaron Richards, "a West Virginia railroad worker is causing a bit of a flap in his industry by suing his employer for failing to protect him from an unusual workplace hazard –- a nesting goose."
Under the Federal Employers' Liability Act allows workers can collect a damage award from their employer based on only circumstantial evidence of very slight employer negligence.
Read the complete story in the On.Point blog
Under the Federal Employers' Liability Act allows workers can collect a damage award from their employer based on only circumstantial evidence of very slight employer negligence.
Read the complete story in the On.Point blog
Labels: employment, workplace safety
posted by Steve Hudgik |
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Friday, May 08, 2009
Injury That Occurs While Buying Cake May Be Compensable
If an employee injures themself while doing personal activities while at work, is that covered by Worker's Compensation? The California Court of Appeal says that it is.
A Costco employee purchased a cake at Costco for her sister. When she went to the Costco bakery to picked up the cake, she slipped and fell injuring herself. Costco denied reimbursement for her knee surgery, on the basis that she was engaged in a personal activity not a work related activity.
Risk & Insurance magazine reported on the court decision, saying:
"The court determined that retrieving the cake was more than a personal convenience. The claimant was simultaneously providing a financial benefit to the store in furtherance of the store's business activities. The court stated that according to the state's "dual purpose doctrine" when an employee combines her own business with that of the employer or attends to both at substantially the same time, the court will not make an inquiry into which business the employee was actually engaged in at the time of injury, unless it clearly appears that neither could be serving the employer."
Read the complete article.
A Costco employee purchased a cake at Costco for her sister. When she went to the Costco bakery to picked up the cake, she slipped and fell injuring herself. Costco denied reimbursement for her knee surgery, on the basis that she was engaged in a personal activity not a work related activity.
Risk & Insurance magazine reported on the court decision, saying:
"The court determined that retrieving the cake was more than a personal convenience. The claimant was simultaneously providing a financial benefit to the store in furtherance of the store's business activities. The court stated that according to the state's "dual purpose doctrine" when an employee combines her own business with that of the employer or attends to both at substantially the same time, the court will not make an inquiry into which business the employee was actually engaged in at the time of injury, unless it clearly appears that neither could be serving the employer."
Read the complete article.
Labels: employment, Workers' Comp
posted by Steve Hudgik |
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Thursday, August 21, 2008
2007 Has Lowest Annual Workplace Fatality Rate Ever Reported
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported yesterday that a total of 5,488 fatal work injuries were recorded in the United States in 2007, a decrease of 6 percent from the 5,840 fatal work injuries reported for 2006. While these results are considered preliminary, this figure represents the smallest annual preliminary total since the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) program was first conducted in 1992. Final results for 2007 will be released in April 2009.
Thirty States reported lower numbers of fatal work injuries in 2007 than in 2006, 19 States and the District of Columbia reported higher numbers, and one State was unchanged.
Based on these preliminary counts, the rate of fatal injury for U.S. workers in 2007 was 3.7 fatal work injuries per 100,000 workers, down from the final rate of 4.0 per 100,000 workers in 2006, and the lowest annual fatality rate ever reported by the fatality census.
The four occupations with the highest fatality rates were:
Key findings of the 2007 Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries:
Thirty States reported lower numbers of fatal work injuries in 2007 than in 2006, 19 States and the District of Columbia reported higher numbers, and one State was unchanged.
Based on these preliminary counts, the rate of fatal injury for U.S. workers in 2007 was 3.7 fatal work injuries per 100,000 workers, down from the final rate of 4.0 per 100,000 workers in 2006, and the lowest annual fatality rate ever reported by the fatality census.
The four occupations with the highest fatality rates were:
- Fishers and related fishing workers with a fatality rate of 111.8 per 100,000 workers
- Logging workers (86.4)
- Aircraft pilots and flight engineers (66.7)
- Structural iron and steel workers (45.5)
Key findings of the 2007 Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries:
- The number of fatal falls in 2007 rose to a series high of 835--a 39 percent increase since 1992 when the CFOI program was first conducted.
- Transportation incidents, which typically account for two-fifths of all workplace fatalities, fell to a series low of 2,234 cases in 2007.
- Workplace homicides rose 13 percent to 610 in 2007 after reaching a series low of 540 in 2006.
- The number of fatal workplace injuries among protective service occupations rose 19 percent in 2007 to 337, led by an increase in the number of police officers fatally injured on the job.
- Fatal occupational injuries incurred by non-Hispanic Black or African American workers were at the highest level since 1999, but fatal work injuries among Hispanic workers were lower by 8 percent in 2007.
Labels: employment, workplace fatalities
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Monday, August 04, 2008
U.S. Department of Labor Files Whistleblower Lawsuit
The following is a press release from OSHA:
FREEHOLD, N.J. -- The U.S. Department of Labor has filed suit against Exclusive Decorators Inc.; Interiors Furniture, LLC; and its vice president, Garrett Ney, on behalf of an employee who was terminated in violation of the whistleblower provisions of the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act.
The complaint alleges that the employee was terminated after complaining to the employer about the lack of ventilation in the workplace. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) previously had cited the employer for ventilation violations. OSHA conducted an inspection of the worksite in response to a complaint about safety and health practices.
The former employee filed a complaint with OSHA alleging retaliation by the defendants in violation of Section 11(c) of the OSH Act. OSHA investigated the complaint and determined it had merit. After being notified of OSHA’s findings, the defendants refused to reinstate the employee to the same or a substantially equivalent position of employment, and declined to pay back wages or other employment benefits.
"Every employee should be free to exercise his or her rights under the law without fear of termination or retaliation by their employers," said Robert Kulick, OSHA’s regional administrator in New York. "The Labor Department is committed to protecting those rights."
Filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, the complaint seeks to reinstate the employee; secure compensatory damages, lost back pay and punitive damages; and require the company to post a notice in a prominent place for 60 days that explains employee rights under Section 11(c) of the OSH Act.
Exclusive Decorators Inc. specializes in manufacturing and installing wood cabinets and furniture.
OSHA enforces the whistleblower provisions of the OSH Act and 15 other statutes protecting employees who report violations of various trucking, airline, nuclear power, pipeline, environmental, rail and securities laws. Detailed information on employee whistleblower rights, including fact sheets, is available online at: http://www.osha.gov/dep/oia/whistleblower/index.html.
FREEHOLD, N.J. -- The U.S. Department of Labor has filed suit against Exclusive Decorators Inc.; Interiors Furniture, LLC; and its vice president, Garrett Ney, on behalf of an employee who was terminated in violation of the whistleblower provisions of the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act.
The complaint alleges that the employee was terminated after complaining to the employer about the lack of ventilation in the workplace. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) previously had cited the employer for ventilation violations. OSHA conducted an inspection of the worksite in response to a complaint about safety and health practices.
The former employee filed a complaint with OSHA alleging retaliation by the defendants in violation of Section 11(c) of the OSH Act. OSHA investigated the complaint and determined it had merit. After being notified of OSHA’s findings, the defendants refused to reinstate the employee to the same or a substantially equivalent position of employment, and declined to pay back wages or other employment benefits.
"Every employee should be free to exercise his or her rights under the law without fear of termination or retaliation by their employers," said Robert Kulick, OSHA’s regional administrator in New York. "The Labor Department is committed to protecting those rights."
Filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, the complaint seeks to reinstate the employee; secure compensatory damages, lost back pay and punitive damages; and require the company to post a notice in a prominent place for 60 days that explains employee rights under Section 11(c) of the OSH Act.
Exclusive Decorators Inc. specializes in manufacturing and installing wood cabinets and furniture.
OSHA enforces the whistleblower provisions of the OSH Act and 15 other statutes protecting employees who report violations of various trucking, airline, nuclear power, pipeline, environmental, rail and securities laws. Detailed information on employee whistleblower rights, including fact sheets, is available online at: http://www.osha.gov/dep/oia/whistleblower/index.html.
Labels: employment, safety management
posted by Steve Hudgik |
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Wednesday, April 16, 2008
What's More Important, Religion or Safety?
Hard hat policy spurs debate between safety and religion.
International Forest Products Ltd (Interfor) in Delta, BC (Canada) put a new safety policy in place that required all sawmill workers to wear hard hats. This caused a problem for two employees who practice the Sikh religion. OHS Canada reported yesterday that:
"Since early last November, Sikh sawmill workers Mander Singh Sohal and Kalwant Singh Sahota have not been permitted to work at Interfor's Acorn Mill in Delta because they refused to wear hard hats over their turbans. For many Sikhs, it is considered a religious requirement to not cover their turbans."
You can read the complete article at: OHS Canada
Negotiations are in progress. Interfor will enforce the new safety policy, and they plan to offer alternative work to the Sikh employees.
International Forest Products Ltd (Interfor) in Delta, BC (Canada) put a new safety policy in place that required all sawmill workers to wear hard hats. This caused a problem for two employees who practice the Sikh religion. OHS Canada reported yesterday that:
"Since early last November, Sikh sawmill workers Mander Singh Sohal and Kalwant Singh Sahota have not been permitted to work at Interfor's Acorn Mill in Delta because they refused to wear hard hats over their turbans. For many Sikhs, it is considered a religious requirement to not cover their turbans."
You can read the complete article at: OHS Canada
Negotiations are in progress. Interfor will enforce the new safety policy, and they plan to offer alternative work to the Sikh employees.
Labels: employment, safety, safety regulations, workplace safety
posted by Steve Hudgik |
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Monday, January 22, 2007
Industrial Safety Employment Forcast
Do you work in the industrial safety industry, or have been interested in entering this industry? The employment forecast is bright according to a white paper put out by Industrial Safety & Hygiene News. In their January issue they report that, based on a survey conducted last fall, employment in safety related fields should be stable for the next year... with neither significant growth nor decline.
You can read a summary of the white paper online. To request the complete white paper e-mail info@clearseasresearch.com or contact Renee Love at (248) 786-1581.
You can read a summary of the white paper online. To request the complete white paper e-mail info@clearseasresearch.com or contact Renee Love at (248) 786-1581.
Labels: employment, Industrial Safety, workplace safety
posted by Steve Hudgik |
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