There’s no Lee Marvin or Charles Bronson. And there’s no Jim Brown, Donald Sutherland or Trini Lopez either. No, the new Dirty Dozen from the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH) is nothing like the classic 1967 action movie “The Dirty Dozen.”
The new Dirty Dozen is a list of employers that put workers at risk of workplace injuries with unsafe practices. The list was released as part of the observance of Workers’ Memorial Week, which remembers employees who lost their lives on the job, as well as employees who sustained workplace injuries and illnesses.
The Dirty Dozen of 2019 includes Georgia’s Beiza Brothers Harvesting, located about three hours south of Jonesboro in Moultrie. According to National COSH, a worker died on a farm while working for the company. The federal government’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) later cited the company for overexposing him to high temperatures and direct sunlight.
The Colquitt County company was fined more than $12,000, according to an OSHA report.
A more famous firm on the list: Amazon. Six of its workers died in just seven months and 13 have died since 2013. National COSH also criticizes the company over reports of workers being “left without resources or income after on-the-job injuries.”
Another of the Dirty Dozen is Genan, a rubber recycling company that operates in Texas and Denmark. A 26-year-old worker at their Sheldon, Texas, facility was on his fourth day on the job when he pulled into a tire shredder and killed. Genan was later cited and fined by OSHA.
While the article on the dozen companies is interesting, reading it won’t help you obtain Georgia workers’ compensation benefits after an on-the-job injury. Talk to an attorney experienced in workers’ comp appeals to learn about your legal options.