labor lawAdivision of labor law center

Here are several dramatic stories about Texas worker safety.

If you have any doubt that OSHA saves lives, here’s proof. In a dramatic rescue, Worker Safety Inspector Robert Dickinson shouted, “Get out of the trench” to a worker in El Paso, Texas. Dickinson’s boss had noticed the unsloped, unsafe trench on the side of the road while driving. He dispatched Dickinson and Elias Casillas to conduct an inspection. Just 30 seconds after the employee got out, the trench walls collapsed. Had the worker remained in the trench, he would likely have been seriously injured or even killed.

Here’s another incident in the Texas worker safety file. In Houston, on August 8, two window washers were suspended from an 11-story building at Greenway Plaza when their scaffold broke, leaving them dangling high above the ground. Fortunately, both men were hooked to the proper safety equipment. They remained aloft, dangling by their harnesses, until rescued by firefighters. If the two men had tied their safety harness to the scaffold – a common OSHA violation – they would surely have been killed. Instead, their separate safety equipment kept them safe.

OSHA safety precautions do pay off.  Last September, a worker at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin slipped from a steel beam six stories above the ground. The employee of National Riggers and Erectors, in Michigan, was wearing full safety protection including a fall harness. A fall from such a height is almost always fatal, but this worker didn’t suffer a scratch. He was back at work shortly after being rescued. Less than 2 months later, on the same project, a second worker slipped from a beam. He, too, was saved by his safety protection equipment. OSHA regulations for the project required 100% use of fall protection above a height of 6 ft. Strict enforcement by OSHA likely saved these two worker’s lives. 

Our Texas Labor Law Board provides a great deal of information to those of us that own a business in this state. There are many benefits that the Department of Labor can provide to us across the board, even though we may not realize it. Although this is the department that many will go to for unemployment help, it is also a tool to be used for the business owner in the great state of Texas as well. The Texas Labor Law Board is a key aspect to the everyday well being of the state.

One aspect that this department provides for business owners in the state of Texas is help in providing for employees. They set laws that govern virtually all aspects of safety within the business. They help to provide for safety laws in the workplace so that it can be safe and fair to those that are working there. In this realm, the standards in place can help to lower the risks of worker’s compensation claims as well as improving the overall satisfaction of the employees and therefore increasing and maintaining low turnaround numbers.

In addition to this, the Texas Labor Law Board also provides for necessary information such as the minimum wage in the state, child labor laws within the state and other such employee related laws here. For example the minimum wage currently in the state of Texas is the federal rate which is set at $5.15. Rules governing this amount, salaried workers and overtime pay can be obtained through this department.

The Texas Labor Law Board is a key department in the well being of those that work in the state of Texas as well. In many ways, it provide aid to them through training, education, application and enforcement of laws within the state and in providing insurance and financial assistance to those that do not have work.