Latest Manufacturing Headlines

All the headlines from our Manufacturing Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Thermometer Factory Owner Gets Probation for Exposing Workers to Mercury

Dec 16 2024 // The owner of a New York thermometer factory was sentenced Friday to three years of probation for failing to protect workers who were exposed to hazardous levels of mercury after a spill at his plant.Robert Peyser, 66, of...

Texas Sues Chemical Manufacturers for Deceptive PFAS Marketing

Dec 12 2024 // Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit on Dec. 11 against manufacturers 3M and DuPont for misrepresenting the health risks of products made with forever chemicalsThe lawsuit alleges the companies for decades...

Faulty Gas Fitting Caused Deadly Chocolate Factory Explosion: Safety Board

Dec 12 2024 // Cascading failures involving a corroded steam pipe and a defective natural gas fitting caused a powerful explosion in 2023 at a Pennsylvania chocolate factory, killing seven workers when the company failed to evacuate, a...

Ohio Manufacturer Faces $182K Fine for Workers’ Amputations

Dec 9 2024 // U.S. Department of Labor inspectors found a Cleveland, Ohio bakeware manufacturer failed to prevent two workers from suffering injuries that resulted in amputations, incidents that could have been avoided with proper...

Ohio Manufacturer Faces $255K Fine After Worker Suffers Partial Amputation

Dec 3 2024 // The U.S. Department of Labor has cited a Portsmouth, Ohio hardwood floor manufacturer with a long history of federal safety violations after the company reported a 23-year-old worker suffered a partial arm amputation while...

Kentucky Factory Neighbors Cite Years of Odors Before Deadly Explosion

Nov 15 2024 // For years, neighbors who lived near a factory in Louisville, Kentucky, complained amongst themselves and to local officials about a variety of strange smells coming from the plant, which produces colorings for food and...

Rescuers Find Body of Final Missing Tenn. Factory Worker Swept Away by Flooding

Nov 5 2024 // ERWIN, Tenn. (AP) โ€” Rescue workers in Tennessee have recovered the body of the final person still missing after massive flooding from Hurricane Helene hit a plastics factory there.Rosa Andrade, 29, was one of six...

DOL Seeks Reinstatement, Back Wages From Pennsylvania Manufacturer

Nov 5 2024 // The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has filed suit against a York, Pennsylvania, manufacturing company alleging the company wrongly terminated an employee who raised safety concerns when directed to use a ladder to move...

Minnesota Aquarium Manufacturer Fined $226K for Alleged Pesticide Violations

Oct 29 2024 // The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced last month a settlement with Underwater Creations Inc. of St. Louis Park, Minnesota, to stop the sale of unregistered pesticide products. The settlement requires the...

Texas Manufacturer Faces $257K Fine for Workers’ Injuries

Oct 25 2024 // Federal workplace safety investigators have determined that a Temple, Texas manufacturer and designer of school furnishings could have prevented an employee’s serious and permanent hand and arm injuries by installing...

Illinois Manufacturer to Pay $1.3M After Plant Explosion

Oct 8 2024 // Chemical products manufacturer AB Specialty Silicones LLC will pay $1.3 million in penalties after an explosion and fire at its Waukegan, Illinois plant in May 2019 claimed the lives of four workers.The U.S. Department of...

Tennessee Investigating Plastics Factory Where Helene Flooding Killed 11 Workers

Oct 3 2024 // A Tennessee plastics factory kept workers going until it was too late to evacuate before Hurricane Helene flooding swamped the building, employees have said. Now, the company is likely facing liability lawsuits and...

Michigan Manufacturer Sued for Unlawful Termination of Employee Due to Disability

Sep 23 2024 // Navitas Systems, LLC., an Ann Arbor, Michigan-based company specializing in comprehensive energy storage solutions and battery manufacturing, violated federal law by using an unlawful company policy to deny a reasonable...

Washington Metal Fabricator Faces Felony in $340K Workers’ Comp Scam

Sep 19 2024 // A Washington man who claimed he was too injured to work while operating a metal fabrication shop faces a felony charge in an alleged $340,000 workers’ compensation scam.Travis Lee Johnson, 52, of Spokane Valley,...

Minnesota Ammunition Manufacturer to Pay $349K Over Clean Air Act Violations

Sep 16 2024 // The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced a settlement with Federal Cartridge Co. in Anoka, Minnesota, for alleged Clean Air Act violations.Federal Cartridge is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of...

Iowa Manufacturer to Pay $51K Fine For Alleged Hazardous Waste Violations

Sep 10 2024 // Hawkins Inc., a chemical manufacturer based in Camanche, Iowa, will pay $51,158 in civil penalties and purchase equipment for local emergency responders to resolve alleged violations of the federal Resource Conservation...

Ex-CFO Says Royal Bank of Canada Manufactured Workplace-Romance Case

Sep 6 2024 // Royal Bank of Canada’s former chief financial officer, fired over allegations she had an undisclosed personal relationship with another executive, said the bank was trying to “manufacture” a reason to get...

Oklahoma Manufacturer Sued For Firing Employees Over COVID Vaccine Exemptions

Sep 3 2024 // AG Equipment Company, a Broken Arrow, Oklahoma compressor packaging manufacturer, violated federal law when it fired 10 employees for failing to receive a COVID-19 vaccination because of their religious beliefs or medical...

Chicago Manufacturer Faces $1M Fine for Exposing Workers to Silica Dust

Aug 29 2024 // Federal safety inspectors became aware that a 31-year-old employee of a Chicago countertop manufacturer needed a double lung transplant after suffering accelerated silicosis โ€’ an incurable lung disease โ€“ and the U.S....

Massachusetts Resolves Disputes Worth $600M with Tobacco Manufacturers

Aug 14 2024 // The Massachusetts attorney general has reached a $600 million settlement with major tobacco manufacturers, resolving some of the state’s complaints over how much the tobacco companies owe it under a 1998 master...