Reinstatement ordered for driver of explosives truck who was fired for objecting to a co-worker smoking in the vehicle. The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration also ordered the owners of Roadmaster Group, the Glendale, Ariz., firm now running the company that fired the whistleblower, to pay the driver $315,000 in back wages and damages. OSHA said the driver, who was not identified, was dismissed in February, 2010 — two days after refusing to take a shipment of explosives to Canada with a co-driver whose ashtray was overflowing with cigarette butts. The driver noted that smoking while hauling explosives violates federal regulations. “Firing or otherwise retaliating against workers who raise safety concerns is unacceptable and against the law,” an OSHA official said. OSHA
Norfolk Southern ordered to pay $932,070 to two illegally fired workers. The ruling marked the third time in less than three months that the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration found the railroad company violated whistleblower protection laws. OSHA said the company “continues to retaliate against employees for reporting work-related injuries and has effectively created a chilling effect in the railroad industry.” In Tuesday’s rulings, OSHA said Norfolk Southern wrongly accused the two workers — a switchman in Illinois who suffered a hurt shoulder in a derailment, and a Michigan trackman injured in a truck accident — of providing false or conflicting information about their injuries. The (Norfolk) Virginian-Pilot, OSHA
Internal Energy Department memo blasts nuclear waste site contractor. The memo is aimed at Bechtel National Inc., the construction company hired to design and build a $12.3 billion waste treatment plant at south-central Washington’s Hanford nuclear reservation. It raises more concerns about Bechtel, which has been stung in recent months by critics who say the company has suppressed employee concerns about plant safety and retaliated against whistleblowers. “The behavior and performance of Bechtel Engineering places unnecessarily high risk that the [waste treatment plant] design will not be effectively completed,” said the memo, from the government’s engineering director for the project. The Associated Press
New York’s attorney general investigating energy drink industry. The probe is focusing on whether the multibillion-dollar industry is deceiving consumers with misstatements about the ingredients and health value of its products. The state’s attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman, has issued subpoenas to PepsiCo Inc., the maker of AMP, Monster Beverage Corp., and Living Essentials, the maker of 5-hour Energy drink, a source said. The caffeine-heavy, carbonated beverages are sold widely at grocery stores, gas stations and checkout counters. Makers of the drinks, often sweetened with flavors such as grape or mixed berry, say they boost energy with a mix of additives including B-vitamins, taurine and ginseng. The Wall Street Journal
Researchers call for safety measures to reduce Humvee crash deaths and injuries in combat. A groundbreaking study by Johns Hopkins University and U.S. Army researchers found that nearly half of all soldiers hurt in motor vehicle crashes while deployed in Iraq, Kuwait, and Afghanistan from 2002-2006 were in Humvees. Gunners and drivers were the most likely to be injured. Noting that motor vehicle crashes are responsible for one-third of U.S. military deaths every year, researchers urged military authorities to consider combat simulation training for drivers. They also suggested developing equipment to protect gunners from getting hurt in rollover crashes. KPBS, ScienceDaily
Recalls: Cooper Lighting shower light trims
Compiled by Stuart Silverstein
What is the meaning of OSHA? How this term is related with trucking industry.
Always good to the the whistle blower laws working. Especially in the trucking industry were manipulation and threatening of new drivers is rampant.