Two company executives and three businesses face a criminal indictment because of alleged willful violations of Occupational Safety and Health Administration rules leading to the deaths of five workers in Colorado.

According to the indictment, the company executives did not evaluate the workplace to determine if there were “permit-required confined spaces”; did not inform exposed employees by posting danger signs or by other effective means, of the existence, location of and the danger posed by the permit spaces; did not develop and implement a “written permit space program” for the job; did not identify and evaluate the hazards of the area before their employees entered it; did not develop and implement procedures for rescuing entrants from permit spaces; did not evaluate a prospective rescuer’s ability to respond in a timely manner, considering the hazards identified; did not select a rescue team and service that had the capability to reach victims within a time frame that was appropriate for the permit space hazards identified and that was equipped for and proficient in performing the needed rescue services; did not inform any rescue services of the hazards they may confront when called on to perform a rescue at the site; did not provide the rescue team and service selected with access to all permit spaces from which rescue may be necessary so that the rescue service could develop appropriate rescue plans and practice rescue operations and supplied the job with equipment not rated to be used within classified locations, including lights, a sprayer, and power distribution centers.

In other news, OSHA has announced recent updates to its compliance assistance web page containing new or revised compliance assistance products, including QuickCards on how to protect yourself during a flu pandemic; Fact Sheets dealing with the flu pandemic and infection control; new posters, publications, safety bulletins, and electronic assistance tools.