Public Agencies Fined $121K under New Safety Law
- Maryland Occupational Safety and Health has issued $121,150 in fines to public employers since the Davis Martinez Public Employee Safety and Health Act took effect in October 2025. Before the law, civil penalties were not issued for workplace safety violations by public employers.
- Between Oct. 1, 2025, and May 31, the agency conducted 40 enforcement inspections of public employers, seven of them state agencies, and closed 30 cases. It issued 229 citations in 31 of the cases, 71 of them serious. The most frequently violated standards involved personal protective equipment, hazard communication, electrical hazards, walking-working surfaces and machine guarding.
- Assistant Commissioner Chris Williamson told a legislative committee Wednesday that hazard abatement has increased significantly since the law took effect, which he attributed to the fines and the risk of costs piling up from repeat violations.
Excavator Operator Killed After Machine Overturns
- A longtime employee of Gorham, Maine-based Shaw Brothers Construction was killed Oct. 5. when the excavator he was operating overturned on a steep slope in the town of Gray, according to the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office.
- Workers with Shaw Brothers Construction and utility company Unitil were working on a pipeline at the time.
- The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating.
- The Sheriff’s Office said it does not appear alcohol was a factor, and the excavator sustained minor damage.
DOL Renews Charter for OSHA National Advisory Committee
- Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling has renewed the two-year charter for the National Advisory Committee on Occupational Safety and Health, a 12-member panel that advises the secretaries of labor and health and human services on workplace safety and health.
- Eight of the committee’s 12 seats are vacant, and the terms of the other four members expire Jan. 16. A call for nominations could appear in the Federal Register soon.
- Congress established NACOSH in the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970. It supposed to consist of four public representatives, two management representatives, two safety representatives, two labor representatives and two health representatives. The health and human services secretary selects two of the public representatives and both health representatives, and the labor secretary selects the rest.
- The Federal Advisory Committee Act requires the charter to be renewed every two years.