A 31 year old employee of the Pulverdryer plant near Battle Creek Michigan suffered injuries due to an electrical accident and later died at the hospital. Pulverdryer is a manufacturer of technology for pulverizing and drying systems.   The Michigan OSHA has opened an investigation of the accident according to the Springfield Department of Public Safety. Click here [...]

Three men were injured after a transformer exploded while they were replacing an above ground power vault.   One of the injured is an employee of Anaheim Public Utilities and the other two were under contract with the City of Anaheim. All three were hospitalized.  Police report that their clothing caught fire in the explosion. Oct. 26, 2011 [...]

A 38 year old miner was killed September 13, 2011, when he opened the 480 V feeder box and began to remove the leads.  He received a fatal shock.  He was working at a portable sand and gravel operation.  The full investigation has not yet been published. Click here to read more about the electrical mining [...]

Milk Specialties Co. (MSC) has refused to provide OSHA access to an internal report of an alleged combustible dust explosion that occurred in August,2011.  OSHA had a subpoena issued to help determine it employees were exposed to dust hazards.  The company contends that providing the report would violate attorney-client privilege Click here to read more about [...]

OSHA has issued an  alert, warning  of the dangers of using certain Eaton/Cutler-Hammer molded-case circuit breakers that were incorrectly rebuilt. The circuit breakers (model numbers E²K and E²KM) may have been altered by the third-party re-builder by using incorrect parts that can cause the circuit breakers to malfunction. The breakers were originally manufactured by Eaton/Cutler-Hammer as [...]

The employee was working as a subcontractor at a construction site when the incident occurred.    The explosion was caused when a main electrical supply cable to the site was cut during its removal.  A 415 volt three-phase temporary supply had been provided to the site. The Court heard that the worker approached his supervisor to explain that the electrical [...]

OSHA inspectors identified deficiencies in the hazardous energy control program.  This program involves powering down and locking out machines’ power sources to prevent their unintended start up during maintenance.  Lockout procedures were not developed for tasks that resulted in recordable worker injuries, all lockout procedures were not inspected periodically and employees were not trained on lockout procedures. [...]

OSHA identified 11 serious violations with  $33,660 in fines that involvd failing to develop lockout/tagout procedures to prevent accidental startup duirng maintenance, provide locks or suitable hardware for the lockout/tagout process, and among others. and Violations also include several electrical hazards, such as damaged equipment, exposed live parts, uncovered openings in cabinets and boxes, and [...]

OSHA found one repeat, and 13 serious and two other-than-serious safety violations for exposing workers to a variety of grain hazards during bulk birdseed handling and packaging operations. The repeat violation involved improper electrical wiring.  Proposed penalties total $62,100. Click here to read about OSHA fines in Colorado Facility

While OSHA does not  have authority over the working conditions of military personnel, it does for civilian employees and contractors who work on military installations.  Violations included a lack of protective equipment available for workers who work on electrical panels.  OSHA has no authority over military bases but they will often invite OSHA to consult and provide [...]