U.S. Department of Labor | The U.S. Department of Labor has cited a concrete manufacturer for exposing workers to hazards after an employee suffered fatal injuries after entering the unprotected area of a concrete block cubing machine in July 2025.

The department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) cited Adonel Concrete Corp., operating as Adonel Block Manufacturing Corp., with nine serious violations for inadequate machine guarding, and for failing to ensure lockout/tagout procedures were used, electrical panels were marked and the locking mechanism operational, implement an effective hearing conservation programme for workers exposed to high-noise levels, and incorporate silica hazards into the company’s hazard communication programme.

OSHA assessed $58,604 in penalties.

Environment Agency | A prolific waste criminal has been ordered to hand over more than £1.4 million for illegally dumping in excess of 4,275 tonnes of waste across England.

A nationwide investigation by the Environment Agency uncovered a network of 16 illegal dumping sites, stretching from the northeast to the south coast. Farms, a historic manor house, and a nature reserve were among the locations trashed.

Varun Datta, 36, of Little Chester Street, London, must now pay £1.1 million, reflecting the financial benefit from his crimes, plus £100,000 in compensation and £200,000 in prosecution costs. He was also slapped with a prison sentence of four months suspended for 18 months, as well as 30 days’ rehabilitation and 200 hours of unpaid work.

The case, which concluded in Birmingham Crown Court, involved the prosecution of two other men, with one being fined and the other facing a suspended sentence, rehabilitation, and unpaid work. Warrants for the arrest of two other men are still active.

In 2018, the Environment Agency seized £131,520 in cash from Datta’s home address. In 2022, a restraint order was applied to two bank accounts ensuring that any future confiscation order could be paid. After pleading not guilty in 2023, Datta subsequently pleaded guilty in June 2025 to knowingly causing controlled waste to be deposited at sixteen sites. The total weight of the waste was around 4,275 tonnes, roughly the weight of 600 African elephants.

The offences were branded “reckless” by Judge Paul Farrar KC. No environmental permit or valid exemption was in place at any of the sites, which were spread across Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire, Lancashire, Kent, Surrey, Rutland and Middlesborough.

The court heard that Datta became a registered waste broker through his company, Atkins Recycling Ltd, in 2015. He acted recklessly by claiming the waste the company handled was being sent to a legal site at Kiveton Park, near Sheffield. However, the loads were actually diverted to unlicensed dumps around the country. It is alleged that an associate, Sandeep Golechha, 55, of Wheatley Close, London, helped to falsify weighbridge documents to cover up the illegal acts.

The £100,000 in compensation to be paid by Datta relates to the dumping at the former Sulzer Dowding Mills Factory site in Middlesbrough, as well as the Middleton Nature Reserve in Lancashire. Middlesborough Council will receive £70,000 towards the cost of the clean-up, while £30,000 will be awarded to the Lancashire Wildlife Trust for the future management of the Middleton Nature Reserve.

Washington State Department of Labor and Industries | A Puget Sound asbestos removal contractor is facing more than $200,000 in fines for knowingly exposing workers to extremely hazardous conditions while at the same time indicating to state inspectors that the site was perfectly safe.

A Puget Sound asbestos removal contractor is facing more than $200,000 in fines for knowingly exposing workers to extremely hazardous conditions while at the same time indicating to state inspectors that the site was perfectly safe.

The Washington State Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) cited Seattle Environmental Services LLC for ignoring more than a dozen safety rules concerning asbestos removal, putting workers at serious risk.

Asbestos is extremely hazardous and can cause fatal diseases like asbestosis, mesothelioma, and lung cancer. That’s why only certified abatement contractors who follow safety and health rules may remove and dispose of asbestos-containing building materials.

When L&I inspectors were called to a Bellevue home in September 2025, the company owner told L&I inspectors the job was just a general demolition project, that samples taken all tested negative for asbestos, and therefore, respiratory protection was optional.

However, Seattle Environmental Services couldn’t immediately provide evidence they’d actually tested the material they were tearing out of the home for asbestos, a fundamental first step to understanding what types of abatement measures have to be in place to keep workers safe. So, inspectors posted an Order of Immediate Restraint (OIR) to stop work.

Evidence at the jobsite showed the contractor was treating it like an asbestos removal project. Inspectors photographed multiple yellow bags specifically designed for asbestos waste filled with wallboard debris in the house. A negative air machine was operating on the main floor with exhaust tubing running through the sliding door. When the contractor produced the test results hours later, it was confirmed that almost 3,000 square feet of walls and ceilings contained asbestos.

By that time, three workers had removed all the toxic material without wearing proper respirators and without taking decontamination showers.

The employer eventually changed his story, saying he mixed up this abatement job with another. He then worked with inspectors to ensure the asbestos debris was properly removed. 

Seattle Environmental Services was cited for 10 willful serious, six serious, and four general violations for ignoring asbestos removal rules and providing inaccurate information to L&I. Violations are considered “willful” when the company knew or should have known the requirements but still failed to meet them. They are classified as serious when the hazard could lead to serious injury or death.

U.S. Department of Labor | A U.S. DOL investigation has found numerous safety hazards at a civil construction employer’s worksite following a trench collapse in Jefferson County.

The department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) investigators found CB&A Construction LLC workers removed and installed drain pipes for Jefferson County under a suspended load, without hard hats, and at the edge of an excavation that lacked protective restraints.

OSHA cited CB&A Construction with a willful violation and proposed $170,145 in penalties.

CB&A Construction LLC has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA’s area director, or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

United States Environmental Protection Agency | The EPA has reached a settlement with Home Market Foods, under which the company paid a $1.1 million civil penalty.

The company violated federal Clean Air Act (CAA) chemical safety requirements at its food processing plant in Norwood, Mass., and its cold storage warehouse in Norton, Mass. These violations involve the safe handling of anhydrous ammonia, a hazardous chemical used for cooling and refrigeration.

This enforcement action follows a chemical release at the Norwood facility on 19 December 2022. While contractors were working near refrigeration machinery, anhydrous ammonia was accidentally released, resulting in one contractor being killed and another badly injured. EPA inspected the facilities and reviewed the company’s risk management programme, finding that the company had not met several of the CAA’s accident prevention requirements.

EPA also found that the company did not quickly report the December 2022 release and another ammonia release in 2024 to the proper federal officials. Since the accident, the company has made significant safety improvements at both facilities.

In addition to the assessed penalty, the company completed several safety improvements under compliance orders issued in 2024 and 2025. Under the 2025 order, Home Market Foods is also required to hire an independent expert to check the condition and safety of key refrigeration systems at both locations.

U.S. Department of Labor | The U.S. DOL has ordered trucking company Balkan Express LLC to reinstate and compensate a worker who was terminated after reporting safety concerns, in violation of the Surface Transportation Assistance Act, which protects commercial motor vehicle safety complaints.

The department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) ordered Balkan Express to reinstate the employee and pay back wages, interest, compensatory, and punitive damages totaling more than $100,000.

OSHA’s Whistleblower Protection Programs enforces 25 whistleblower statutes that protect employees from retaliation for reporting potential violations involving safety, health, environmental protection, and other public interest concerns.

U.S. Department of Labor | An Idaho transformer producer has been cited for failing to correct hazards previously identified by federal inspectors and repeatedly exposing workers to serious safety hazards.

In June 2025, inspectors with the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) determined that Virginia Transformer Corp. exposed employees to hazards similar to those identified during two 2024 inspections involving cranes used to handle heavy loads with faulty brakes and switches.

OSHA cited the company for 53 serious and repeat violations, including failure to guard machinery, exposing workers to fall hazards, and failure to provide personal protective equipment. The company faces proposed penalties of $986,888.

The company has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA, or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

United States Environmental Protection Agency | The U.S. (EPA) has announced an agreement with American GreenFuels, LLC that resolves an alleged violation of the Clean Air Act at the company’s biodiesel production facility in Connecticut.

EPA found that American GreenFuels failed to properly operate its facility to adequately comply with CAA requirements over a two-year period beginning in August 2020.

American GreenFuels’ New Haven facility produces biodiesel with used vegetable oil, animal fats, methanol, sulfuric acid, and sodium methoxide.

Based on inspections of the facility and additional information provided by American GreenFuels, EPA found that the facility failed to control the release of certain air pollutants, including volatile organic compounds (VOCs), during system repairs and maintenance from August 2020 to August 2022.

American GreenFuels will pay a $143,000 penalty to resolve the alleged violation, and, to EPA’s knowledge, the facility is now in compliance with CAA regulations.

U.S. Department of Labor | The U.S. DOL has cited a Florida painting contractor for willfully exposing workers to fall and drowning hazards.

Investigators with the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) determined that on 7 April 2025, Seminole Equipment Inc. bridge painters were removing scaffolding from the southbound I-95 bridge on the Ogeechee River when one worker fell into the river and drowned.

The agency concluded that the Tarpon Springs, Florida-based employer failed to ensure employees used fall protection and life jackets while working on the bridge section.

OSHA cited Seminole Equipment Inc. for five willful and three serious violations and proposed $877,220 in penalties.

The agency also issued two serious violations to The L.C. Whitford Co. Inc., the controlling employer for the site, and proposed a penalty of $26,480.

The company has 15 business days from receipt of their citations and penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA, or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

U.S. Department of Labor | A Jacksonville roofing contractor has been cited with 10 safety violations for willfully exposing workers to fall hazards by not requiring them to wear fall protection while working at least six feet above a lower level.

On 18 March 2025, the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) initiated an investigation at an Elo Restoration LLC Jacksonville worksite, operating as Elo Roofing. Two weeks later, OSHA initiated a separate investigation at an Elo Roofing site in St. Johns after learning a worker sustained injuries and required hospitalization after falling through a residential roof while removing skylight fixtures.

The agency determined the worksite did not install guardrails, safety nets, or personal fall arrest systems, and employees were not provided with alternative fall protection measures.

Elo Restoration LLC was cited with four willful, three repeat, a serious, and two other-than-serious citations, totaling $752,846 in proposed penalties.

The company has 15 business days from receipt of their citations and penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA, or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

Consolidated Login

Comprehensive Login