Recently, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has made an effort to prevent stylists and salon workers from being exposed to formaldehyde in their workplace.  Investigators have found that many salons and beauty schools continue to use products with formaldehyde in ways that violate OSHA’s formaldehyde regulations.

Formaldehyde is most often found in straightening and smoothing hair products.  Already this year, OSHA officials have cited 23 salons and beauty schools in Pennsylvania and 7 other states with formaldehyde violations.

The chemical first caught the attention of the federal workplace safety agency in 2010 when a stylist wrote them a complaint stating that she had suffered eye irritation, nosebleeds, and breathing difficulty after using a product called Brazilian Blowout.  The hair product, like many others, does not say it contains formaldehyde on the container, but identifies the chemical by other names like “methylene glycol,”methylene oxide,” “paraform,” “formic aldehyde,” and more.

Heath issues related to formaldehyde are most often are caused by absorbing the chemical through the skin and inhaling it in the air.  Formaldehyde exposure can lead to respiratory problems, eye and nose irritation, allergic reactions, and cancer.

To learn more about what to do if you or someone you know has become ill or injured as a result of  illegal workplace conditions, contact the Pennsylvania workers’ compensation attorneys of Lowenthal & Abrams, P.C. by calling 610-667-7511 today.

A man was injured as a result of a workplace accident that occurred on Friday at the Bazzini Nut Company.

According to police that were on the scene of the incident, the accident occurred when the man was working on a conveyor belt near the area where the belt wraps around three drums.

The employee’s arm became caught in the conveyor belt and it was severed below the elbow.  Workers recovered the man’s limb and put it on ice. The man was transported to the hospital in order to be treated. There has been no update on the man’s condition at this time.

Our thoughts are with the friends and family of the victim at this time.

A bottling company in Pennsylvania is now facing 24 safety and health violations from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

OSHA inspected the A-Treat Bottling Co. plant in January as a follow-up inspection and in order to check out a noise complaint. The proposed fine for the citations is $110,880.

The citations were given for failing to maintain records, conduct hearing conservation programs each year in order to train employees on being exposed to loud noises, conduct forklift operations, and failing to make sure that the machines had the proper guards. The plant was cited for similar citations twice before.

If you or a loved one has been working in unsafe conditions and this caused you to suffer a workplace injury, you need experienced representation on your side. Contact the Pennsylvania worker’s compensation lawyers of Lowenthal & Abrams, P.C., by calling 610-667-7511 today.

Employees at an Amazon plant in Pennsylvania’s LeHigh Valley have been hospitalized due to what an emergency room doctor called “unsafe conditions.”

Over the past two months there have been multiple complaints from employees that the heat and demands to work overtime have been unfair and frustrating. An emergency room doctor then called regulators claiming that these conditions were causing health issues.

The doctor stated that several employees from this Amazon warehouse were treated at the hospital for heat-related problems. Many employees have said that they suffered unbearable heat and were pushed to work at a speed that was nearly impossible to sustain. The hospital doctor’s said that some of the patients were pregnant woman who were working in the heat.

If you or a loved one has been working in improper condition and this has caused you to suffer an injury or illness, you need experienced representation on your side at this time. Contact the Pennsylvania worker’s compensation lawyers of Lowenthal & Abrams, P.C., by calling 610-667-7511 today.

An accident at an industrial plant left one worker injured. The accident occurred on Aug. 28 at the Pepsi-Cola plant in Tampa.

According to the rescue crew, the man was found pinned underneath a conveyor belt and it took nearly 90 minutes to free the man from the machinery. After he was freed, he was transported to Tampa General Hospital by helicopter.

It is unknown at this time how the man became trapped underneath the conveyor belt. Officials from the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration will be investigating the accident. This is the second accident at the Pepsi-Cola plant this year. Earlier this year, a Pennsylvania contract worker was killed when a storage and retrieval system fell on top of him.

Our thoughts are with the friends and family of the victim at this time.

A woman suffered life-threatening injury while working at a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga.

A co-worker has stated that the woman was injured when her glove got caught in an assembly line machine and caused the woman to lose her finger. The line was shut down immediately.

Emergency personnel responded to the scene to transport the woman to the hospital and begin an investigation into the accident. A reconstruction team is currently trying to figure out the order of events.

Workplace accidents can cause serious injury and cause a large financial burden. Our thoughts are with the friends and family during this difficult recovery time.

A recycling plant in Plainfield Township, Pennsylvania was destroyed after a fire broke out last week.

There were three employee inside the plant, Nicos Polymer Group, when the fire erupted. Luckily, all three managed to get out of the building without serious injury.

Nearly 200 firefighters responded to the scene in order to fight the flames that consumed the 180,000 square foot steel building. The black smoke rose high in the air and was reportedly seen for miles. The cause of the fire is unknown at this time and remains under investigation.

If you or a loved one has been injured in a workplace accident, these injuries may prevent you from working and providing for your family. Contact the Pennsylvania workers’ compensation lawyers today by calling 610-667-7511 and discussing your options.

A bill that proposes allowing volunteer and career firefighters who develop cancer as the result of their service as a firefighter to receive workers’ compensation benefits is awaiting a signature from Governor Rendell.

The bill, HB 797, was recently passed by both the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and Senate.  Governor Rendell received the bill on June 28th, but there is no time limit for him to consider or sign it.

If the governor signs the bill into law, cancer will be listed among other occupational diseases that make firefighters eligible for workers’ compensation.

The bill would require firefighters receiving workers’ compensation to have served continuous firefighting duties for at least four years.  In addition, the bill requires that firefighters applying for workers’ compensation have tests and records that they were cancer free before they began their firefighting duties.

If you or someone you love is seeking workers’ compensation benefits, contact the Pennsylvania workers’ compensation attorneys of Lowenthal & Abrams, P.C. at 610-667-7511 to learn more about how we can help you.

The husband of an obese New Jersey woman has been awarded worker’s compensation benefits after the woman died of  a blood clot that formed in her leg and moved to her lung.

She was working overnight to finish a project when she died. The worker’s compensation claim filed by her husband stated that the clot formed while she was working at her desk.

AT&T stated that the woman was obese because she weighed over 300 pounds and this is what caused her heart to enlarge. She also recently began taking birth control which can increase risk factors.

Blood clots in a person’s leg can occur when a person does not move around for a long period of time.  The appellate court decided that since the clot most likely occurred in the overnight hours when she was working, that her husband has ‘sufficient evidence’ for a worker’s compensation claim.

A Tennessee plant explosion left four workers injured. This is the third incident at the plant this year, in January, a worker was killed in an explosion and another accident occurred in March.

According to police, the accident occurred at the Hoeganaes Plant just after 6:30 a.m. on Friday. The plant makes metal powders that are used in industrial and automotive parts.

It is unclear at this time what the exact cause of the explosion was, but this is the third explosion this year. One worker has been killed and now five injured. The names of the victims have not been released at this time. Two of them were transported to Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville to be treated.

Our thoughts are with the workers and their families during their recovery.