Four-alarm fire in one of the dorms at Purchase College, NY displaces 24 strudents

The approximately two dozen students displaced have been temporarily relocated.



(Photo: Frank Becerra Jr./The Journal News)





Purchase College: Dorm fire wasn't suspicious
Mark Lungariello, mlungariel@lohud.com 12:28 p.m. EDT September 5, 2016

PURCHASE, NY - Purchase College officials said a four-alarm fire that burned through a dorm Sunday night and displaced two dozen students does not appear suspicious.

“We’ll have the full report in a couple of weeks…until then there is no reason to think it’s suspicious,” Betsy Aldredge, a spokeswoman for the college said.

Approximately two dozen students were displaced as a result of the fire at a building on the campus’ “K-Street.” Firefighters from at least eight departments knocked down the fire after more than an hour. No one was injured.


The displaced students have been temporarily relocated and the SUNY college is looking for permanent quarters for those affected, Aldridge said.

Administrators are planning to hold an information session for the displaced students and their parents that will be closed to the public A clothing and food drive for the displaced students is also being organized, she said.

Purchase firefighter Sam Bornstein on the scene Sunday night told a Journal News/lohud.com reporter that when firefighters arrived heavy flames were already visible from outside. Using three water lines, firefighters fought back the flames in the apartment where it originated and the apartment above it, according to the firefighter.

The extent of the damage to the building was still being assessed.

“We’re just grateful there are no injuries and everyone is accounted for,” Aldridge said. “That’s the most important thing.”


Purchase firefighters with help from several central Westchester departments battle a 4-alarm fire in a dormitory at Purchase College SUNY Sunday night Sept. 4, 2016. All the students living in the dorm were able to escape uninjured. Frank Becerra Jr./The Journal News

 Christopher J. Eberhart, ceberhart@lohud.com 10:17 a.m. EDT September 5, 2016



Firefighters from several central Westchester departments assisted the Purchase fire department in battling a 4-alarm fire at Purchase College Sept. 4, 2016. (Video by Frank Becerra Jr./The Journal News)



(Photo: Frank Becerra Jr./The Journal News)


PURCHASE, NY - For more than an hour, firefighters from at least eight fire departments wrestled with a four-alarm fire in one of the dorms at Purchase College late Sunday night.

Purchase firefighter Sam Bornstein, who was one of the first firefighters on scene around 10 p.m., said there was a report of an explosion and heavy flames when they arrived.

Firefighters blasted the fire with water from three lines and were able to contain the fire to the apartment where it originated and the apartment above it, Bornstein said. There were no injuries to students or firefighters.

The cause is still undetermined and remains under investigation.

School officials at the scene declined comment until they had more information.

The North Carolina Department of Labor says CMPD is partly responsible for a cadet's death during training this summer. CMPD cadet Jeremy Moseley, 29, died in July while conducting state-mandated physical fitness

Dept. of Labor fines CMPD $7K in cadet's death

The North Carolina Department of Labor says CMPD is partly responsible for a cadet's death during training this summer.
WCNC 6:52 PM. EDT September 02, 2016












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CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The North Carolina Department of Labor has fined Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police after a workplace assessment found several violations involving the CMPD Training Academy.

According to the DOL’s Occupational Safety and Health Division, CMPD “failed to furnish each of its employees conditions of employment and a place of employment free from recognized hazards that were causing or were likely to cause death or serious injury or serious physical harm.”

CMPD cadet Jeremy Moseley, 29, died in July while conducting state-mandated physical fitness. The Medical Examiner determined that Moseley’s pre-existing medical condition played a critical role in his death and that he had a medical history significant for asthma. The Medical Examiner also determined that Moseley had been taking dietary medications.

As a result of the DOL’s findings, CMPD has been hit with a $7,000 fine and has agreed to make changes at the CMPD Training Academy.

CMPD says the following changes include: 

CMPD Training Academy training staff will be provided OSHA “Using the Head Index: A Guide for Employers,” which will be reviewed by staff for a thorough understanding of employer responsibilities under hot and humid conditions.
CMPD will begin to use a planning checklist provided by OSHA to brief recruits on the relevance of safety and health issues.
The academy staff will immediately begin to monitor the OSHA safety phone application relevant to temperature and heat index.
CMPD will immediately begin following guidelines in OSHA’s publication specific to acclimating recruits to warmer temperatures and humidity.
Academy staff will be re-trained on the recognition of signs and symptons of heat-related illnesses.

CMPD says over 1,000 officers have successfully completed and met the standards required to graduate from the CMPD Training Academy since 2005.

In a statement released Friday, CMPD announced they are contesting portions of the assessment and are submitting additional records to the DOL regarding Moseley's medical condition.

CMPD Citation and Notification of Penalty by Hank Lee on Scribd

Flagger with Flaggers Inc. working as subcontractor for CDOT dies after being hit by semitrailer in Firestone

By John Bear

Staff Writer
Posted: 09/01/2016 04:16:41 PM MDT
Updated: 09/02/2016 06:27:34 AM MDT



The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the death of a flagger who was struck by a semitrailer at a Colorado Department of Transportation project on Colo. 119 in Firestone on Friday.

"We have been there a few days," OSHA spokesman Herb Gibson said. "We conducted an inspection on Monday, and we are investigating and determining the causal factors in this tragic incident."

Gibson said that his office is looking into whether the contractor was using proper traffic control.

The Weld County Coroner's Office identified the man as 29-year-old Charles Quigley of Cheyenne, Wyo. Quigley, on his second day back at work with Flaggers Inc., was directing traffic near Colo. 119 and Weld County Road 5 on Friday afternoon when he was struck by a semitrailer, according to a news release.

Quigley survived the crash but died shortly after arriving at Longmont United Hospital, according to the coroner's office.

Firestone police spokeswoman Kristi Ritter said the case remains under investigation. She would not release any information other than to say a flagger was struck by a gravel truck and died.

CDOT spokesman Jared Fiel said Quigley was working for the contractor on a construction project on Colo. 119 east of Longmont, and his department had a safety stand down on Monday.

"Any time we have an incident like this, we have a safety stand down," Fiel said. "We go over what happened and how it can be rectified. Obviously, the folks who were there were pretty shaken up by this."
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Flaggers Inc. owner Andy Willems said that Quigley worked for the company in 2014 and had recently become employed with the company again.

"This was his second day back," Willems said. "We knew him well."

Willems said, "(The) Flaggers Inc. family have heavy hearts with the passing of Charles Quigley. The incident is under investigation, and we hope to have answers from the police very soon.

"Until then, our focus is on the well being of his family," she added. "Our thoughts and prayers are with them."
=========

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Flaggers, Inc. is a Certified Women-Owned Enterprise, certified with the Denver Chamber of Commerce and the Colorado Department of Transportation, and is a certified Small Business Enterprise with the Colorado Regional Transportation District.

Flaggers, Inc. has built a reputation as one of the preeminent traffic control flagging companies in the Rocky Mountain region, and can handle any size job.

MISSION STATEMENT:
  At Flaggers, Inc., we believe that we exist to make a difference and that what we do matters. This isn't just a corporate statement – it's words we live by. Whether on-site or at one of our dispatch offices, our entire team walks the walk when it comes to operating with integrity, leadership, trust and respect.
For our clients, this means that you can count on us to:

• Be on time, ready to work. Our crews have a 99.4% on-site on-time performance and are always striving for 100 percent. They arrive on site equipped with the tools they need to do their job, including hard hats, safety vests, paddles and more.
• Dispatch only the best trained people. Our flaggers are trained and certified in the latest MUTCD and DOT standards and undergo the industry’s most rigorous training through Flagger’s Inc. Academy. They’re trained by the best, too; our on-staff trainers are and/or State DOT Certified Instructors.
• Operate your work zone by-the-book. Our crews know work zone safety practices and regulations inside-and-out. With a wealth of practical training and interactive learning experience, they’re prepared to handle every day and emergency situations.

Flaggers, Inc.

Providing CDOT Certified Workers to the Denver area since May 2007

• We provide the best quality service with the most qualified workforce available
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• Not only are all Flaggers Inc flaggers certified, but they are given additional training during orientation

Federal prosecutors in northwest Louisiana unsealed a 32-count indictment against Explo Systems Inc. owners and officials accused of leaving 7,800 tons of potentially explosive artillery propellant at a Louisiana National Guard facility.

Feds indict 2 Explo Systems owners, 4 officials

By JANET McCONNAUGHEY Associated Press

  NEW ORLEANS, LA

Federal prosecutors in northwest Louisiana unsealed a 32-count indictment Wednesday against owners and officials of a company accused of leaving 7,800 tons of potentially explosive artillery propellant at a Louisiana National Guard facility.

The indictment names Explo Systems Inc. owners David Perry Fincher, 68, of Burns, Tennessee, and David Alan Smith, 61, of Winchester, Kentucky, and four company officials from northwest Louisiana: William Terry Wright, 62, of Bossier City, Charles Ferris Callihan, 66, of Shreveport, and Kenneth Wayne Lampkin, 64, and Lionel Wayne Koons, 57, both of Haughton.

The indictment includes allegations that they lied to get and keep a military contract to "demilitarize" the M6 artillery propellant, and that they stored the propellant unsafely and obstructed inspections at Camp Minden.

All six are charged with criminal conspiracy. Callihan is also charged with one count of lying to a federal agency. The other five face six counts each of wire fraud and more than 20 counts each of making false statements.

Attorneys who represented Smith, Fincher, Koons and Wright in a related state court case could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday evening. It was not immediately clear who represents Lampkin and Callihan.

The indictment was handed up last week, said Henri LeJeune, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Shreveport.

The false statement count against Callihan accuses him of telling the Occupational Safety and Health Administration that the M6 was stored only in magazines when he knew that wasn't true.

Louisiana State Police began investigating the company in 2012, after an explosion in one of Explo's leased bunkers shattered windows 4 miles away in Minden and created a 7,000-foot mushroom cloud. They found the M6 and 160 tons of clean-burning igniter and the M6, much of it in bags in the open.

Explo Systems, which leased space from the National Guard's industrial site at Camp Minden, went bankrupt in August 2013 and abandoned the site.

False statement counts against the other five accuse them of submitting government forms claiming they had sold large amounts of demilitarized M6 to various purported buyers. One of those companies was falsely described as buying nearly 3.3 million tons in 17 installments ranging from 114,000 to 278,500 pounds, according to the indictment.

The wire fraud charges accuse them of emailing those forms to the U.S. Department of Defense's Joint Munitions Command.

Explo's contract required it to sell or otherwise dispose of M6 within a year of getting it out of the artillery rounds, the indictment said.

Koons is accused separately of lying to the Joint Munitions Command by emailing a request to stop sending propellant to Camp Minden because of an annual audit by state police and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. The real reason, according to the indictment, was that state police were searching the premises and had ordered Explo to stop accepting propellant because it was out of storage space.

CARRIER HEATING & COOLING MOVING TO MEXICO WHERE THEY CAN FREELY POLUTE MEXICANS WITH LEAD: IOSHA detected lead at Carrier's Indianapolis, plant; levies fines

Carrier lead report

Carrier lead findings

David MacAnally

WTHR.com staff

 

Published: 09/01/16 02:15 pm EDT.

Updated: 09/03/16 04:35 pm EDT.

 

INDIANAPOLIS (WTHR) - State inspectors from the Indiana Occupational Safety and Health Administration carried out an inspection at Carrier after employee complaints about lead surface contamination.

280 micrograms per 100 cm² was found on top of a column barrier and 180 micrograms per 100 cm² was found on top of a box in storage at Carrier's warehouse.

Sources tell Eyewitness News that the inspections came after employees reportedly complained about breathing in lead dust while at work.

"We go the results back today that they found there is a serious lead exposure risk in the warehouse," said Carrier employee TJ Bray.

IOSHA tested the facility and has levied fines against the air conditioning giant, giving the company 15 days to respond to its findings. If Carrier fails to respond in the allotted time frame, then fines starting at $1,700 kick in.

"We're very concerned for the workers there and the previous ones that worked there. We've got some that have retired and gotten very sick. We have some now on dialysis. Lung issues, breathing problems, so they're scared," said Rob James vice president of United Steelworkers Local 1999.

The steelworkers union, which represents Carrier workers, says it not only wants a clean up, James says "whatever's wrong, the members need to be tested so that they can come up with a clean bill of health or know what's going on with them. I think they're entitled to that."

Carrier says it periodically evaluates its facilities for exposures including lead. The company also said the IOSHA test "did not find any detectable levels of lead in personal air samples, which assesses potential airborne exposure."

But employees told Eyewitness News it's the dust on those surfaces that bothers them. Their union says it's happened before and was cleaned it up before. They suspect a plant nearby is emitting the lead dust. 

"Find out where the lead is coming from, because we don't make anything with lead in it," Bray said.

Carrier has an outside expert drawing up a "compreshensive remediation plan" and says it will search for the root cause of the lead dust.

There is a notice to employees about a September 7, 2016 informal conference being held to give workers information on this matter.

• RELATED: Read the safety order here.

Carrier issued this statement:

"Our top priority is the health and safety of our employees. As part of our Industrial Hygiene program, Carrier periodically evaluates our facilities for industrial exposures, including lead.

The testing conducted by the Indiana Occupational Safety and Health Administration (IOSHA) did not find any detectable levels of lead in personal air samples, which assess potential airborne exposures. However, IOSHA surface testing indicated detectable levels of lead in two locations in the warehouse.

As a result, we have implemented additional measures to clean the site. We are also working with outside experts to put in place a comprehensive remediation plan in cooperation with IOSHA and conducting a root cause review as none of our processes at this facility produce lead."

Carrier became the focus of the presidential campaign when it announced earlier this year that it would be moving operations to Mexico and laying off around 1,400 Indiana workers.

The company had to return $1.2 million in tax incentives to the City of Indianapolis.

It reached an agreement with the United Steelworkers Union in July concerning severance pay and medical insurance.

These companies are pretty smart.  They always avoid  protecting the workers to the extent they can go undetected; and they certainly move to countries where the worker protection and environmental laws are far inferior to the ones in the United States.