OSHA Cites NJ Recycling Company for Safety Violations Following Worker Amputation

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Lieze Associates, doing business as Eagle Recycling of New Jersey, with one repeat and three serious safety violations after a worker's fingers were amputated in December 2012 at the company's North Bergen recycling transfer station. OSHA's investigation was initiated in response to a referral by the North Bergen Police Department and has resulted in proposed fines of $70,070.

"This incident should have been prevented by simply locking out the machine's power source," said Kris Hoffman, director of OSHA's Parsippany Area Office. "Eagle Recycling of New Jersey's continued disregard for complying with OSHA safety standards will not be tolerated."

OSHA inspectors found that procedures were not used to lock out the energy source of a conveyor belt system while the worker was clearing a cardboard jam, which resulted in the amputation. OSHA cited the company with a serious violation for failing to implement a lockout/tagout program to control potentially hazardous energy. Another violation includes failing to ensure a ladder placed with the two top rails was supported and placed with secure footing. A serious violation occurs when there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known.

The repeat violation was cited for exposing workers to 8-foot fall hazards while working on unguarded platforms. A repeat violation is issued when an employer previously has been cited for the same or similar violation of a standard, regulation, rule or order at any other facility in federal enforcements states within the last five years. A similar violation was cited in 2009 and 2010.

The company has 15 business days from receipt of the citations to comply, ask for an informal conference with OSHA's area director in Parsippany, or contest the citations and proposed penalties before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

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Workers' Compensation is Riding on the Road to Wellville with Obama Care

As Obama Care [The Affordable Care Act] launches, workers' compensation programs will start to undergo subtle changes   The innovation of wellness programs and new treatment protocols will eventually cause major shifts to the delivery of workplace medicine.

Workers' compensation's future, ironically, has actually been viewed primarily in a rearview mirror. The shift to break with old habits has been a major struggle. The inertia will give way to a creative future based on new technologies and socio-economic challenges.

In a recent article by The Honorable David B. Torrey, Judge of Workers' Compensation ["The Affordable Care Act and Effects on the Workers' Compensation System, (7 PAWCSNL 114 at 30, March 2013)], the significance of  Obama Care is reported.  Judge Torrey recognizes that even those with major pecuniary interests in the compensation business have been unable to halt the momentum of change.

The Painful Knee: A Genetic Issue

Recent reports indicate that the pace at which aging knees deteriorate maybe a function genetics and that conservative treatment might indeed be the best approach.

"But in the end, genetics, and the kind of cartilage you got from your parents, may play the biggest role. It is a little like buying tires, said Dr. Frederick M. Azar, chief of staff of the Campbell Clinic in Memphis and an official with the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. “You can get nice treads or you can get retreads,” he said."

Read the complete report: Why Do My Knees Hurt? (NYTimes 3.15.13)

Poisoned Water: Chromium IV - What the EPA Hasn't Done

Corporate water pollution in the US is the subject of a current PBS-TV (Public Broadcasting Network) series.

In part one of a two-part series, PBS NewsHour Science Correspondent Miles O'Brien travels to Hinkley, CA -- the town whose multi-million dollar settlement for groundwater contamination was featured in the movie "Erin Brockovich." Now, almost 30 years later, O'Brien explores the reasons why the groundwater in Hinkley still has dangerous levels of the chemical chromium and its link to cancer.

Related articles

• The Toxic Cloud Over the US EPA (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
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Seattle Shooting - Another Case of Workplace Gun Violence, and Another Call to Action

By working together we can bring an end to gun violence in America

Today's post comes from guest author Kit Case from Causey Law Firm, Seattle, Washington.

    

     A man entered a Seattle bar late Sunday night, January 27, 2013, and confronted his ex-girlfriend, brandishing a gun.  The gunman shot both his ex-girlfriend and the doorman before the gunman was fatally shot by Seattle police.  

Both the ex-girlfriend and the doorman were taken to Harborview Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.  Both were victims of senseless gun violence, but the doorman is also a workers’ compensation claimant due to this occurring while he was on-the-job.

2012 has been the worst year for these events in modern US history, with 151 victims injured and killed.

       Quoting an article published by Mother Jones (Mother Jones Investigates: The NRA Myth of Arming the Good Guys), Washington CeaseFire shared that there have been at least 62 mass shootings in the last three decades, attacks in which the killer took the lives of four or more people (the FBI's baseline for mass murder) in a public place—a school, a workplace, a mall, a religious building. Seven of them have occurred this year alone. Along with three other similar though less lethal rampages—at a Portland shopping mall, a Milwaukee spa, and a Cleveland high school—2012 has been the worst year for these events in modern US history, with 151 victims injured and killed.

    On Tuesday, January 22nd, Washington CeaseFire presented the results of a statewide poll conducted by Alison Peters Consulting. The poll of 600 randomly selected registered Washington voters reveals a strong preference for stronger gun safety laws on both Eastern and Western sides of the state. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent. Findings included :

FDA Warns Zithromax® / Zmax® Antibiotics Potential Risk of Fatal Heart Rhythms

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning the public that azithromycin (Zithromax or Zmax) can cause abnormal changes in the electrical activity of the heart that may lead to a potentially fatal irregular heart rhythm. Patients at particular risk for developing this condition include those with known risk factors such as existing QT interval prolongation, low blood levels of potassium or magnesium, a slower than normal heart rate, or use of certain drugs used to treat abnormal heart rhythms, or arrhythmias. 

This communication is a result of the FDA's review of a study by medical researchers as well as another study by a manufacturer of the drug that assessed the potential for azithromycin to cause abnormal changes in the electrical activity of the heart.

The azithromycin drug labels have been updated to strengthen the Warnings and Precautions section with information related to the risk of QT interval prolongation and torsades de pointes, a specific, rare heart rhythm abnormality. Information has also been added regarding the results of a clinical QT study which showed that azithromycin can prolong the QTc interval. (see Data Summary)

Health care professionals should consider the risk of fatal heart rhythms with azithromycin when considering treatment options for patients who are already at risk for cardiovascular events (see Additional Information for Health Care Professionals below).  FDA notes that the potential risk of QT prolongation with azithromycin should be placed in appropriate context when choosing an antibacterial drug: Alternative drugs in the macrolide class, or non-macrolides such as the fluoroquinolones, also have the potential for QT prolongation or other significant side effects that should be considered when choosing an antibacterial drug.

Proposed Asbestos Legislation Called "A Subterfuge" to Alter the Civil Justice System

H.R. 982, the “Furthering Asbestos Claim Transparency (FACT) Act of 2013.


"Asbestos defendants and insurance companies, under the guise of creating increased 

“transparency,” are introducing proposed legislation in state legislatures to grant solvent asbestos  defendants new rights and advantages to be used against asbestos victims in court. Some of these  bills would also burden the asbestos trusts with unnecessary reporting requirements, slowing  their ability to pay claims, and further draining them of the resources needed to make their  already diminished payments. In general, the bills are an attempt to change the rules of the tort system to provide defendants with an advantage, using the existence of the trusts and claims of a lack of “transparency” as a subterfuge."

Elihu Inselbuch, Member, Caplin & Drysdale, Chartered, Testimony, Hearing: March 13, 2013

H.R. 982, the “Furthering Asbestos Claim Transparency (FACT) Act of 2013”

COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY SUBCOMMITTEE ON REGULATORY REFORM, COMMERCIAL AND ANTITRUST LAW