Health Administration

Officials of the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration are investigating the death of a 29-year-old man who fell while working on the Deer Isle-Sedgwick bridge in eastern Maine. The Hancock County Sheriff’s Department said Ercio Gasques suffered massive head injuries when he fell about 40 feet Sunday afternoon. He died en route to the hospital. Sheriff’s officials said Gasques was from New Jersey and was part of a painting crew working for a Pennsylvania contractor that has been working on the suspension bridge.

Officials of the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration are investigating the death of a 29-year-old man who fell while working on the Deer Isle-Sedgwick bridge in eastern Maine. The Hancock County Sheriff’s Department said Ercio Gasques suffered massive head injuries when he fell about 40 feet Sunday afternoon. He died en route to the hospital. Sheriff’s officials said Gasques was from New Jersey and was part of a painting crew working for a Pennsylvania contractor that has been working on the suspension bridge.

BURLINGTON -- A cleaning contractor has been fined more than $150,000 by federal workplace safety regulators in a June 8 tragedy at a Burlington office building in which a window washer plunged 50 feet to his death. The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited Newton-based Unicco Service Co. for alleged willful and repeat violations of safety standards. The company was cited for similar hazards following a double fatality in 2003, said Francis Pagliuca, OSHA's Middlesex and Essex counties director.

HARTFORD — The nation’s top workplace safety agency imposed $16.6 million in fines yesterday against companies involved in a power plant blast that killed six workers and injured 50 others. The fines, the third-highest imposed for a single accident, stem from 371 alleged safety and workplace violations at the Kleen Energy Systems natural gas power plant in Middletown. The companies “blatantly disregarded well known and accepted industry procedures and their own safety guidelines,’’ the Occupational Safety and Health Administration said in announcing the fines.

WASHINGTON - Labor Secretary Hilda Solis said yesterday she will move swiftly to correct problems highlighted in a new report on workplace safety that raises concerns about widespread underreporting of injuries and illnesses on the job. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is supposed to audit employer records in the most hazardous industries to keep tabs on accident and illness rates. But inspectors often don’t interview workers to verify what is in employer records, the Government Accountability Office report found.

WASHINGTON - The Occupational Safety and Health Administration yesterday imposed a record $87 million fine against oil giant BP PLC for failing to correct safety hazards after a 2005 explosion killed 15 workers at its Texas City refinery. The fine - the largest in OSHA’s history - comes after a 6-month inspection revealed hundreds of violations of a 2005 settlement agreement to repair hazards at the refinery. BP officials formally contested the fine. OSHA said the company also committed hundreds of new violations at the nation’s third largest refinery by...

HARTFORD — The nation’s top workplace safety agency imposed $16.6 million in fines yesterday against companies involved in a power plant blast that killed six workers and injured 50 others. The fines, the third-highest imposed for a single accident, stem from 371 alleged safety and workplace violations at the Kleen Energy Systems natural gas power plant in Middletown. The companies “blatantly disregarded well known and accepted industry procedures and their own safety guidelines,’’ the Occupational Safety and Health Administration said in announcing...

The Labor Department says it has reached a $600,000 settlement with adhesives manufacturer Bostik, Inc., over workplace safety citations related to a March 2011 explosion at its plant north of Boston. Four workers had nonlife-threatening injuries. Investigators said a valve had accidentally been left open, causing acetone vapors to fill the building and ignite. The explosion rattled a surrounding neighborhood, and damaged two buildings at the plant complex in Middleton. In announcing the settlement Thursday, the Labor Department said Bostik has taken corrective...

There are lots of musicals that inspire and stimulate. Only one makes you want to rush outside to buy a newspaper, join a union and hug someone from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Such is the effect after the relentlessly cheery "Newsies," a musical based on a film of the same name, which opened Thursday at the Nederlander Theatre with heart, soul and a lot of vests, caps and too-thick Noo Yawk accents. The musical is based on the 1899 true story of child newspaper sellers, or newsies, in turn-of-the-century New York who go on strike when the price of...

Amid a rising sea of addictions to prescription painkillers, Massachusetts' largest health insurer is launching a policy to curb abuse by significantly limiting the amount of pain medication most patients can receive without prior approval from the insurer. The program by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, scheduled to start July 1, will allow patients to fill a 15-day prescription and one additional 15-day supply of the most common opioid drugs, such as Percocet and Vicodin, before the insurer hits the pause button.

WASHINGTON - Labor Secretary Hilda Solis said yesterday she will move swiftly to correct problems highlighted in a new report on workplace safety that raises concerns about widespread underreporting of injuries and illnesses on the job. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is supposed to audit employer records in the most hazardous industries to keep tabs on accident and illness rates. But inspectors often don’t interview workers to verify what is in employer records, the Government Accountability Office report found.

WASHINGTON - The Occupational Safety and Health Administration yesterday imposed a record $87 million fine against oil giant BP PLC for failing to correct safety hazards after a 2005 explosion killed 15 workers at its Texas City refinery. The fine - the largest in OSHA’s history - comes after a 6-month inspection revealed hundreds of violations of a 2005 settlement agreement to repair hazards at the refinery. BP officials formally contested the fine. OSHA said the company also committed hundreds of new violations at the nation’s third largest refinery by...

BURLINGTON -- A cleaning contractor has been fined more than $150,000 by federal workplace safety regulators in a June 8 tragedy at a Burlington office building in which a window washer plunged 50 feet to his death. The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited Newton-based Unicco Service Co. for alleged willful and repeat violations of safety standards. The company was cited for similar hazards following a double fatality in 2003, said Francis Pagliuca, OSHA's Middlesex and Essex counties director.

A whistle-blower complaint before the Department of Labor reveals widespread mortgage fraud in the Massachusetts offices of Countrywide Financial Corp. in the years leading up to the housing bust and subsequent financial crisis. The fraud, which included forging documents and altering paperwork to manipulate borrowers' financial information, was so rampant that Countrywide, once the nation's largest mortgage lender, shut down six of its eight Massachusetts offices and fired 44 employees after the practices were uncovered in 2007, according to documents in the case.

While businesses bemoan the cost of regulations, a new study suggests that government enforcement of workplace health and safety rules can save lives without sapping a company's bottom line. The findings come from a decade-long look at hundreds of California work sites subject to random safety inspections. Researchers found that inspected companies reduced their injury claims by 9.4 percent compared to those not inspected, with no negative impact on profits or sales. Better yet, the same companies saved an average of 26 percent on workers' compensation costs in...