OSHA calling on employers to protect workers as temperatures heat up
With temperatures reaching triple digits in several parts of the Southeast U.S., the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration is asking employers to protect workers from the dangers that come with such hot conditions.
State OSHA Shift Could Take Years, DeSantis’ office says
Saying it is too early to determine whether pursuing the change would be “prudent,” Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration has told legislative leaders that it could take about nine years to move away from workplace regulation by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
Florida companies can still impose vaccine restrictions after latest ruling
However, a different majority decided a narrower rule tailored toward health care workers did pass procedural muster. For Florida companies, the rulings put to rest weeks of uncertainty. DeSantis’ promise to fine companies that implemented vaccine mandates and the federal government’s orders. READ: Supreme Court halts COVID-19 vaccine rule for U.S. businessesHe added that since the case wasn’t decided on merits, there are still questions left unanswered. Thursday night, both AdventHealth and Orlando Health executives said they were studying the court’s rulings.
wftv.comJustice Department to form new domestic terrorism unit
The Justice Department will launch a new domestic terrorism unit. The new division was announced during testimony in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday. CBS News senior investigative reporter Catherine Herridge breaks down the latest on CBSN.
news.yahoo.comFDNY union touts Bronx building rescue
FDNY Fire Officers Association president said firefighters who responded to the scene of NYC's deadliest fire in decades "acted above and beyond the call of duty" to prevent loss of life. At least 17 people were killed, including eight children. (Jan. 10)
news.yahoo.comCourt allows Biden employer vaccine mandate to take effect
(AP Photo/Matt Rourke) (Matt Rourke)A federal appeals court panel on Friday allowed President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for larger private employers to move ahead. Circuit Court of Appeals reverses a decision by a federal judge in a separate court that had paused the mandate nationwide. Of the two ruling in favor of the OSHA mandate, one was appointed by a Democratic president and the other by a Republican. Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge said she would ask the U.S. Supreme Court to block the order. The vaccine requirement would apply to companies with 100 or more employees and would cover about 84 million workers.
wftv.comGOP-majority court chosen to consider Biden vaccine mandate
Virus Outbreak Vaccine Mandate FILE - President Joe Biden speaks about COVID-19 vaccinations after touring a Clayco Corporation construction site for a Microsoft data center in Elk Grove Village, Ill., Thursday, Oct. 7, 2021. The fate of Biden’s vaccine mandate for larger private employers may come down to a lottery that determines which federal circuit court will consider the matter. The challenges, along with some from unions that said the vaccine mandate didn't go far enough, were made this month in 12 circuit courts. Another court where a majority of judges were nominated by Republicans, the New Orleans-based 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, issued a ruling that put the mandate on hold. The employer vaccine mandate is higher profile and further reaching.
wftv.comAfter 'Rust' shooting, a look at other notable set accidents
Prop Firearm Movie Set A car passes by the entrance to the Bonanza Creek Film Ranch in Santa Fe, N.M., Friday, Oct. 22, 2021. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong) (Jae C. Hong)LOS ANGELES — (AP) — The shooting death of a cinematographer on the set of the set of the Alec Baldwin movie "Rust" is a reminder of the dangers that can exist on film and television sets. Morrow and the children were killed while filming a scene set in Vietnam for a film based on the popular television series. Director John Landis and four others were acquitted of involuntary manslaughter charges in a rare case of prosecutors targeting a film production for on-set deaths. After the fatal "Rust" shooting on Thursday, an account run by Lee's sister Shannon tweeted: "No one should ever be killed by a gun on a film set.
wftv.comMost California workers to stay masked under revised rules
That's the mandate under revised rules approved Thursday night by a sharply divided California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board. Board members made it clear the regulations are temporary while they consider further easing pandemic rules in coming weeks or months. Without the changes, the current pandemic workplace standards would have been required until at least October. Board members then unanimously adopted the revised rules to give a newly appointed three-member subcommittee time to consider more changes. The revised rules were supported by worker advocates and unions including those representing teamsters, machinists, utility workers, engineers, nurses and other health care workers, and school employees.
wftv.comCalif. governor seems unlikely to lift worker mask mandate
California Gov. Gavin Newsom appeared disinclined Friday to insert himself into the regulatory process for workplaces after a state safety board upset business groups by approving new rules that require all workers to wear masks unless everyone around them is vaccinated against the coronavirus. The revised rules, approved after a long and sometimes contentious meeting Thursday, eliminate social distancing requirements in workplaces but run counter to Newsom's plan to ”fully" reopen California in less than two weeks and allow vaccinated people to skip face coverings in nearly all situations. Critics hadn’t decided if they will push Newsom to override the worksite rules adopted on the second try by the board that sets standards for California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health, known as Cal/OSHA.
news.yahoo.comMost vaccinated California workers must keep masks on
(AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File) (Marcio Jose Sanchez)SACRAMENTO, Calif. — (AP) — Conflicted California workplace regulators approved controversial rules that allow workers to go maskless only if every employee in a room is fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. But the state safety board's staff says conditions are different among workers, leading to a proposed rule that even vaccinated employees wear masks unless everyone else in their workspace is inoculated. “A very large proportion of California employees will remain unvaccinated as of June 15, 2021," the staff said in its recommendation. More than 17.5 million of California’s nearly 40 million residents are fully vaccinated, state health officials said Thursday, and the positivity rate for the virus is 0.9%. That will require employers to track workers' vaccination status and stockpile masks in competition with health care workers.
wftv.comVaccinated or not, California workers may keep masks on
But the state safety board's staff says conditions are different among workers, leading to a proposed rule that even vaccinated employees wear masks unless everyone else in their workspace is inoculated. “A very large proportion of California employees will remain unvaccinated as of June 15, 2021," the staff said in its recommendation. More than 17.5 million of California’s nearly 40 million residents are fully vaccinated, state health officials said Thursday, and the positivity rate for the virus is 0.9%. “Worksite outbreaks are still occurring,” said Maggie Robbins, occupational health specialist with Worksafe Inc., an Oakland-based worker advocacy group, noting that the majority of Californians are not fully vaccinated. That will require employers to track workers' vaccination status and stockpile masks in competition with health care workers.
wftv.comU.S. workplace safety enforcer failed during COVID-19, watchdog says
The nation's enforcer of safety in the workplace hasn't done enough to protect workers during the coronavirus outbreak, according to a watchdog report released Tuesday. OSHA initially made this change to protect its own workforce — but eliminating in-person inspections means it's likely that many workplace violations were overlooked, "placing employees' safety at greater risk," the report found. Over the nine-month period covered in the report, OSHA received more than 23,000 complaints about workplace hazards, of which nearly half were related to COVID-19. At the same time, state workplace safety agencies in just 22 states found more than five times as many COVID-19 violations, the report noted. The inspector also called out OSHA for not creating stronger workplace safety rules during the pandemic.
cbsnews.comMeatpackers showed "callous disregard" for workers' lives, key congressman claims
"These actions appear to have resulted in thousands of meatpacking workers getting infected with the virus and hundreds dying," Clyburn stated. According to Clyburn, the agency waited months after receiving complaints about meatpacking plants to inspect those facilities, and the fines it did impose address "only a tiny fraction" of virus-cased deaths in meatpacking plants, he wrote in a letter to OSHA's head. "This is an important investigation," said Deborah Berkowitz, director of the Worker Health and Safety Program at the National Employment Law Project. But the decree sent the message that producing meat was more important than public health, worker advocates claimed. "I do hope that one conclusion is that worker safety rights are very weak," said NELP's Berkowitz.
cbsnews.comVaccines are coming to nursing homes, after dozens of Kane County care facilities have experienced recent outbreaks
Bria of Geneva was among those hardest hit by the virus early in the pandemic, and was cited in November by OSHA for coronavirus-related violations. Within the past 28 days the facility has had three virus cases, state data shows, though spokeswoman Natalie Bauer Luce said those stemmed from an employee who reported symptoms in November, and there are no longer any positive cases at the facility.
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