Workplace Safety 2024 Report

An Occupational Safety and Health Administration proposal requiring employers to develop plans to control heat hazards in the workplace is getting pushback from business groups that call it overreach but support from labor groups that say it's long overdue.

OSHA released a proposal on July 2 that the agency said would require employers to implement requirements for drinking water, rest breaks and controlling indoor heat, as well as having training and procedures in place for handling heat emergencies.

"Workers all over the country are passing out, suffering heat stroke and dying from heat exposure from just doing their jobs, and something must be done to protect them," said Doug Parker, OSHA head and an assistant secretary of labor, in an OSHA news release.

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 "Pinned and in great pain"

A clear picture of Todd Shaffer's painful death in a thermoforming press at an Encore Plastics plant has emerged from both a lawsuit filed by his family and a government safety review.

The 38-year-old married father of three was at work in November 2021, clearing a jam inside a machine making plastic paint trays, when the conveyor belt suddenly activated, pinning his upper body.

"As Mr. Shaffer was clearing a plastic part, stuck in the eject conveyor, the conveyor activated, rose and began running, trapping Mr. Shaffer's head and neck," a lawsuit filed by his family in state court alleges. "Mr. Shaffer's breathing was restricted, his throat was crushed, and he went into cardiac arrest. Mr. Shaffer was found pinned and in great pain."

Shaffer, a production manager, was stuck for 18 minutes before emergency responders and fellow employees at the Cambridge, Ohio, plant could free him.

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