California Company Faces Healthy Fine for Double Fatality Safety.BLR.com
The case involved one of the largest fines ever levied in California in connection with an occupational fatality. Cal/OSHA initially investigated the April 25, 2002 confined space accident, and cited Petaluma for eight serious safety violations. The workers were asphyxiated while cleaning a 12-foot-tall steel tank that filters flax seed oil used in products made by Spectrum. Reportedly, the tank the men were cleaning had been pumped full of argon gas, a step taken to displace oxygen and kill bacteria. Cal/OSHA investigators found that the workers did not have safety harnesses, oxygen monitors, and breathing gear as required in confined space operations.
OSHA Schedules Stakeholder Meetings on Hearing Conservation for Construction Workers U.S. Newswire
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is inviting the public to participate in informal stakeholder meetings next month for discussions on reducing noise exposures and hearing loss of workers in the construction industry.
The meetings, scheduled for March 24-25 in Chicago, are a continuation of OSHA's information gathering process that began with an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Aug. 5, 2002, that addressed the issue. At that time, OSHA asked for comments on whether the agency should add a requirement for a hearing conservation program to its construction noise standard similar to those requirements that cover general industry workers.