Pennsylvania Workers' Compensation Lawyers Blog

Today the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) released a new interactive tool that is aimed at helping to protect workers who are exposed to cadmium.

A press release from OSHA describes cadmium as a soft, silver-white metal used in many industries, including metal machining, plastics, ceramics, painting, and welding operations. Workers can also be exposed to cadmium through smelting and refining of metals, as well as air in industrial plants that manufacture batteries, coatings, or plastics.

According to the Agency for Toxic Susbstances and Disease Registry, about 300,000 workers in the U.S. are exposed to cadmium each year. Short-term exposure includes weakness, fever, headache, chills, sweating, and muscular pain. Long-term exposure can lead to cadmium poisoning which can cause kidney damage and cancer of the lung or prostate. It is also thought that cadmium can cause pulmonary emphysema and bone disease.

This week, the Citizen’s Voice reported that the Luzerne County Controller was questioning workers’ compensation settlements made to county workers this year. Those settlements have totalled $277,000.

One settlement that the controller questioned was for $100,000. It was given to a sheriff’s office employee.

The county’s controller feels that the settlements aren’t valid without approval from county council. The county’s home-rule charter, which began on Jan. 2 of this year, gives council the authority to approve recommendations to initiate and settle litigation.

Citigroup, the third-largest bank in the U.S., announced this week that it would cut 11,000 jobs, nearly 4 percent of its workforce.

According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, this story is far too familiar to the banking industry, which is still recovering from the 2008 financial crisis.

Most of the cuts (about 6,200) will come from Citi’s consumer banking unit, which handles functions such as branches and checking accounts. The company will also sell or scale back its consumer operations in Pakistan, Paraguay, Romania, Turkey, and Uruguay, so that it can focus on 150 cities around the world “that have the highest growth potential in consumer banking.” Another 1,900 job cuts will take place in the institutional clients group, which includes investment banking.

Workers seen using inadequately guarded saws and grinders at ProMaxima Manufacturing Ltd in Houston, TX prompted an inspection by OSHA’s Houston South Area Office. That inspection resulted in proposed penalties against the company, totaling $47,700.

According to a press release on OSHA.org, ProMaxima manufactures fitness equipment for various federal agencies. It employes about 200 workers.

Nine serious violations were found, including failing to properly guard machinery such as saws and grinders, failing to properly store gas cylinders, failing to keep electrical equipment free and clear of obstacles, and failing to train and certify forklift operators. Serious violations occur 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.

Mark Briggs, director of OHSA’s Houston South office, said, “The employer exposed workers to amputations as well as fire and electrical hazards. It is the responsibililty of the employer to provide a safe and healthful environment for workers.”

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According to an article on the RepublicanHerald.com, president and CEO of FesslerUSA, Walter Meck, announced last week that the garment company would be closing its doors at the end of this week. The company made it’s home here in Schuylkill County for 112 years.

Fessler had employed 130 people including office staff, sales employees, knitters, sewers and operators, and made underwear, tees, and tops. But recently it has been working with a skeleton crew as workers were laid off or found other jobs.

The company is being liquidated and all of its machinery will be dismantled and sold. All equipment is expected to be gone from the facility by January 2013, with most of it going overseas.