Occupational Safety and Health Administration News

Amazon Warehouse Collapse Probe Finds Worker Safety Risks

U.S. regulators are calling on Amazon to improve its procedures for dealing with severe weather like hurricanes and tornadoes that could threaten workers at its warehouses dotted across the country. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration on Tuesday sent a …

Federal OSHA Mulls Yanking Arizona’s Work Safety Oversight

PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona may lose the authority to oversee its own workplace safety program because of a pattern of ignoring federal directives involving COVID-19 protection, employer penalties and other issues, the Biden administration said Wednesday. The U.S. Department of …

USPS: Investigation Still Open After Worker Lost Arm

GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) — The U.S. Postal Service is continuing to investigate an accident at a North Carolina distribution center in September that caused an employee to lose an arm after touching a machine, the federal agency said Monday. The …

COVID Underscores Lack of Whistleblower Protections

FORT WORTH, Texas — Inside a partially completed Amazon warehouse here, workers last summer walked on conveyor belts four stories high without safety harnesses, welders used plasma torches while surrounded by flammable cardboard boxes, and laborers raised metal racks alongside …

Nebraska Business Owners Sentenced, Fined for Safety Violations, False OSHA Documents

Two owners of an Omaha company were sentenced Friday to federal prison for knowingly violating worker safety standards, leading to an explosion that killed two workers. Nebraska Railcar Cleaning Services; Steven Michael Braithwaite, president and owner of the business; and …

OSHA Opens Probe Into Amazon Warehouse Fatal Collapse in Illinois

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill.–The U.S. workplace safety watchdog is investigating the circumstances around the collapse during Friday night’s storm of an Amazon.com Inc building in Illinois in which six workers died, an official at the U.S. Department of Labor said on Monday. …

Vaccine Mandates Are in Limbo While Employers Wait Out Biden Rules

Almost a third of companies say they will only impose a vaccine requirement for employees if President Joe Biden’s shot-or-test rules are upheld by U.S. courts, indicating that corporate mandates won’t be widespread without federal regulation. A Willis Towers Watson …

U.S. Govt. Asks Court to Immediately Lift Stay on COVID Vaccine Rule

The U.S. government asked a federal appeals court to immediately lift a court-ordered stay on a sweeping workplace COVID-19 vaccine rule to avoid “enormous” harm to public health, or alternatively to allow a masking-and-testing requirement, according to a court filing. …

Lawsuits Challenging Biden Workplace Vaccine Rule Sent to 6th Circuit

A judicial panel on Tuesday consolidated 34 lawsuits challenging the Biden administration’s workplace COVID-19 vaccine rule in the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, a venue favored by opponents of the rule. President Joe Biden announced plans for the vaccine …

Whistleblowers to Play Key Role in Enforcing Vaccine Mandate

WASHINGTON (AP) — To enforce President Joe Biden’s forthcoming COVID-19 mandate, the U.S. Labor Department is going to need a lot of help. Its Occupational Safety and Health Administration doesn’t have nearly enough workplace safety inspectors to do the job. …