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Safety/Health

How to prevent workplace violence–and manage legal liability

07/26/2011
According to the latest numbers from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 12% of assailants in fatal workplace shootings are co-workers or former co-workers. Sadly, violence can strike any workplace. That’s why it’s so important to be able to recognize the signs of potential trouble and have protocols in place to prevent a poten­tially tragic situation. That’s often easier said than done.

OSHA cites Troy Chemical after Newark accident

07/26/2011
OSHA has issued 11 serious safety citations to Troy Chemical Corp. arising from a chemical spill at the company’s Newark facility. OSHA fines will amount to $62,100.

Use your Internet policy to justify terminating potentially dangerous employee

07/26/2011
Employers that want to maintain a productive workplace are smart to set limits on the websites employees can visit. Consider the following case, in which an employer was able to use its Internet policy to terminate an e­mployee whom co-workers and super­visors feared might do them harm.

The 5 steps you must take to prevent workplace violence

07/25/2011

There’s never been a better time to implement a violence prevention plan. Tough economic times sometimes cause people to snap—and they might do so at work. You need a prevention program that starts with employee screening and ends with publicizing your tough anti-violence policy.

Lorain steel company faces $563,000 in OSHA penalties

06/30/2011

Steel manufacturer Republic Engineered Products must answer to OSHA for seven allegedly willful violations and three alleged repeat safety violations at its Lorain plant. OSHA has proposed penalties total­ing $563,000.

Cal/OSHA puts heat on contractor after flash fire injures welder

06/16/2011
The California Division of Occu­pa­tional Safety and Health has fined a public works contractor more than $235,000—and threatened to put it out of business and criminally prosecute executives—after a welder suffered severe burns in a workplace flash fire.

Owner, foreman get jail time for worker’s fatal plummet

06/16/2011
A California court has sentenced a company owner and a foreman to a year in jail for allowing unsafe working conditions that led to a roofer’s accidental death.

What can we do to protect ourselves? A worker leveled threats after we fired him

06/08/2011
Q. We recently fired an employee because of insubordination and anger-management issues. The termination meeting, not surprisingly, didn’t go well and the employee became very agitated. He made some statements that could be interpreted as vague threats against his supervisor and our company. Is there anything we can or should do to protect ourselves from this former employee?

Court upholds $40 million verdict for Xcel lineman

06/08/2011
A lineman for Minneapolis-based Xcel Energy will collect $40 million from Qwest Telephone as a result of a 2004 accident that left him paralyzed from the waist down.

Fight unemployment benefits if employee quits because of unsubstantiated safety fears

06/08/2011
An employee who reports a serious safety hazard and stops coming to work after the employer refuses to fix the hazard may collect unemployment benefits. But that’s not true if the employee doesn’t give the employer a chance to remedy the problem and just quits out of fear.