Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) News

New Jersey Contractor to Pay $13K Penalty After Worker’s Fatal 5-Story Fall

The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) reports it has reached a settlement agreement with a New Jersey contractor after a worker suffered a fatal fall at a Bayonne worksite in October 2023. The settlement followed an OSHA inspection …

Construction Workers Had Little Warning as Baltimore Bridge Collapsed. Why?

In the moments before the cargo ship Dali rammed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge and sent it crumbling into the water, a flurry of urgent warnings crackled over radios and enabled police to block traffic from getting on the …

Court Orders Sports Bar, Owner to Pay $359K for Retaliating Against Employees

A federal court has ordered a Milford, Connecticut, sports bar and its owner to pay employees a total of $359,485 in back pay, emotional distress damages, withheld compensation and punitive damages for violating labor and safety law anti-retaliation provisions. The …

OSHA Announces Penalty Increases for 2024

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration said it is slightly raising civil penalty amount for 2024, effective Jan. 16. The Department of Labor’s OSHA said maximum penalties for serious and other-than-serious violations will increase from $15,625 per violation to $16,131 …

Dollar Tree Inc. Agrees to Improve Safety and Pay $1.35M in Fines: OSHA

Dollar Tree Inc. and subsidiary Family Dollar have entered an agreement with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to make operational changes within two years. The Department of Labor’s OSHA said it has cited the stores throughout the U.S. …

OSHA Probe of Teen Worker’s Fall Uncovers Other Wage, Child Labor, Safety Issues

A federal investigation into why a 17-year-old worker – who fell 24 feet from the roof of a New Castle, Pennsylvania, home improvement store in October 2022 – was doing work that violated child labor laws led to a wider …

Walmart Loses Challenge to OSHA Finding in Injury at New York Warehouse

Walmart Inc. violated federal workplace safety standards at its warehouse in Johnstown, New York, when it failed to prevent stored merchandise from falling onto – and seriously injuring – an employee in 2017, a federal panel has affirmed. The Feb. …

OSHA: Amazon Failed to Record Some Warehouse Injuries

Amazon failed to properly record work-related injuries at warehouses located in five states, a federal agency said Friday while announcing it issued more than a dozen citations during the course of its ongoing investigation of the company. The Occupational Safety …

OSHA Seeks $1.2M Fine From Demolition Firm in Fatal Boston Garage Collapse

A heavy equipment operator doing demolition on the eighth floor of the Government Center garage in downtown Boston died on March 26, 2022, when the partially demolished floor collapsed, and the 11,000-pound excavator and its operator fell 80 feet. It …

U.S. DOL Expands OSHA’s Severe Violator Enforcement Program

OSHA’s Severe Violator Enforcement Program targets employers who repeatedly disregard workers’ safety and health. In order to strengthen enforcement and improve compliance with workplace safety standards and reduce worker injuries and illnesses, the U.S. Department of Labor is expanding the …