Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C.

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) said it is notifying the owners and managers of about 15,000 workplaces that their rate of employee injury is exceedingly high compared to other similar companies. OSHA uses data, known as the DART rate (Days Away, Restrictions and Transfers) to determine which businesses have the highest number of illnesses and injury resulting in days away from work, restricted work activities, or job transfers.

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A Frankfort, Illinois man was killed while conducting pressure tests for Peoples Gas in Chicago Wednesday. According to Chicago Fire Department authorities, Mike Gryga, 41, and his fellow workers, also employees of Peoples Gas, were performing an air pressure test on a section of a 20-inch gas pipe in downtown Chicago below Jackson Boulevard and Wacker Drive at the time of the accident.

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The owner of two construction crane and rigging companies and a mechanic have been indicted on manslaughter charges after a 200-foot construction crane crashed onto a New York City apartment, killing 2 men and seriously injuring a third.

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When Joshua Brantner was 20 years old, he attended a party that changed his life forever. He arrived as a healthy, ordinary guy but left in an ambulance with a traumatic brain injury that severely impaired his mental and physical functions.

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Tekturna (aliskiren) tablets, a prescription medication used to treat high blood pressure, has updated its safety label to include a new black box warning about the risk of injury and death to developing fetuses when taken by women who are pregnant or become pregnant, according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

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The “Packinghouse Workers Bill of Rights,” passed by the Minnesota Legislature in 2007 as part of an effort to improve safety conditions for workers in the meatpacking industry, has failed to make any improvement, according to a report by Workday Minnesota. A recent survey conducted by the University of Minnesota’s Human Rights Program found that working conditions at meatpacking plants throughout the state actually have grown worse since the bill was passed.

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Toys, children’s furniture, clothing, home appliances, power tools, sports equipment – these are just some of the many products that the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission recalls every year to protect consumers from using potentially dangerous and life-threatening items. But while the CPSC’s safety alerts notify the public of recalls involving new and recently made products, millions of older, defective, once-recalled or banned products find their way into thrift stores every year.

In fact, the CPSC says that 7 out of every 10 thrift stores sell products that pose the risk of injury and death. If hazards abound in second-hand stores, what is the CPSC doing to improve public safety? And what can consumers do to protect themselves?

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The U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission, Health Canada, and Stork Craft Manufacturing, Inc. of British Columbia, Canada announced the largest crib recall in U.S. history today, adding fire to a growing push for the ban of drop-side cribs, which have been the cause of numerous safety recalls. The latest recall involves 2.1 million drop-side cribs manufactured under the Stork Craft label, including about 150,000 units bearing the Fisher-Price brand name.

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To help educate parents about toy safety, Consumer Product Safety CommissionChairman Inez Tenenbaum held a town-hall style meeting in New York City. Discussions centered on new federal safety rules that raise the standards for toys and help protect children from unnecessary harm.

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The federal government has launched a new section of its web site called the Drywall Information Center. The agency developed the section in an effort to field consumer questions and complaints about the influx of tainted Chinese-made drywall to the U.S. that occurred in 2006 and 2007 when domestic drywall supplies ran low.

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