work injury

Published on: June 5, 2013

New York negligent wood chip manufacturer exposed workers to hazardous chemicals, electrocution, amputation, struck-by injuries, hearing loss, toxic atmosphere, engulfment and danger of fires and explosions

When OSHA inspectors visited RWS, a plant that makes wood shavings for animal bedding, they found explosive combustible shavings all over the equipment and the floor with accumulation reaching as high as one foot in some areas. Adding to that employees were authorized to smoke in locations where excessive wood dust and wood shavings created a high risk of fire.

RWS Manufacturing plant in Queensbury, NY,deliberately, seriously and repeatedly violated worker safety and health standards and is now facing $233,870 in fines by OSHA.

Since its opening in Quennsburry, NY, 5 years ago, RWS Manufacturing plant has been the objects of multiple complaints by neighbors. It also has a long history of issues with the town’s enforcement codes related to noise, smoke and lack of groundwater control.

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Published on: May 21, 2013

Personal Injury Prevention – New OSHA Campaign targets work accidents and illnesses among young people

By GGCRBHS&M

young%20workers%20accident%20prevention.jpg Every 9 minutes a young worker suffers injury at work. In 2010, 328 teens died and 110’000 were injured at their workplace. Most accidents are due to unsafe equipment, insufficient training and supervision, dangerous work not appropriate for teens, pressure to perform better and stressful environment. Accidents happen mostly in retail, restaurant & fast food, cleaning & maintenance, outdoor work, construction, industry, agriculture and in offices. There is an increase of accidents in the summer as young people are finishing school and starting a new job or simply trying to make a little extra money during their vacations.

Young workers are twice as likely to get hurt on the job than older workers and often they are not aware of their rights. For this reason OSHA just launched a campaign that includes a special young workers web section as well as specific brochures for young workers on landscaping, retail work and grain engulfment. Brochures on landscaping and retail also exist in Spanish

Published on: May 6, 2013

Firefighter injury and Worker injury prevention: change in hospital data collection could make a difference

By GGCRBHS&M

While working on the Firefighter Injury Research and Safety Trend FEMA project, Workplace safety researchers from Drexel University School of Public Health found out that the addition of industry and occupation data information in the data collected by hospitals would benefit not only firefighters but also every woker in America. Here is a link to the white paper.

Every year an estimated 4.1 million workers suffer a serious work injury or illness however the number of workplace injuries as well as information about the type of injury and how, when and why specific injuries occur are not tracked by hospitals. In the “The Need for Industry and Occupation in Hospital Data” that was just published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Dr. Jennifer Taylor, Assistant Professor, and Leslie Frey, Policy Coordinator in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at the Drexel University School of Public Health petitioned for the inclusion of standards for industry and occupation within hospital data.