A scientific panel is recommending that U.S. offshore drilling companies take a more systematic approach to offshore safety in order to prevent a disaster like the BP oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico last year.  The recommendations were made by the National Academy of Engineering and National Research Council. In a new report, the two ag...

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Royal Dutch Shell is trying to defend its offshore safety record, after attacks by environmental safety groups over a leak from a Shell platform in the North Sea. Shell has confirmed that it has managed to plug the leak from its Gannet Alpha platform which is located just 112 miles off Aberdeen, Scotland.  The leak resulted in more than 200 ton...

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An explosion at a fuel storage and intermodal terminal near the Port of Galveston about 7 p.m. Thursday was heard across the island and into parts of the Galveston County mainland. Firefighters responded to the 3-alarm fire that shut down the road to Pelican Island and left Texas A&M University at Galveston students on lockdown. There were abou...

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No blanket ban on texting while driving for all motorists, poor laws against drunk driving - these are just 2 of the reasons why a national safety group has ranked Texas at the bottom of the pile for highway safety. Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety conducts an annual review of all 50 states and the District of Columbia, based on whether th...

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A new report by the Governor’s Highway Safety Association indicates that there has been little reduction in the number of speeding-related fatalities over the past three decades. This is in spite of the fact that automobiles are much safer, and seatbelt usage rates are higher than ever before. High-speed accidents are high-impact accidents that...

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A 27 year-old recreational diver went missing Sunday, July 24, 2011, off the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts.  The diver was part of a group aboard the dive charter vessel John Jack.  The dive group was exploring the wreckage of the Andrea Doria.   The Andrea Doria lies in about 200 feet of water.  It is an Italian luxury vessel which sank a...

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Back in 2004, a paint inspector found black residue inside the drinking water tanks on two cruise ships operated by Norwegian Cruise Line, the Norwegian Dawn and Norwegian Star. He believed that the residue was the result of the paint on the potable water tank leaching a chemical called acrylonitrile into the water. This chemical is believed to ...

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The Christmas holiday cruise season will soon get underway, and thousands of vacationers across the country will set off on a dream vacation on the sea. It is the right time for passengers to understand that there are dangers on a cruise vacation that they may not always be aware of.  MSNBC has a timely report on an increasing number of inciden...

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According to a new report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the numbers of food poisoning outbreaks on cruise ships were at their lowest in years in 2010.  The agency reported that in 2010, it recorded just 11 outbreaks of food poisoning on cruise vessels, compared to 14 outbreaks the previous year. In 2006, the cruise ship ind...

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Research reported Monday shows a drop in child car accident deaths, particularly among 6- and 7-year-olds, as most U.S. states have enacted laws requiring booster seats for children who have outgrown traditional carseats. The booster seats position older children correctly so that seatbelts go across the shoulder (not the neck) and the lapbelt ...

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BP’s safety record is not exactly a secret to the maritime law lawyers at our firm. However, the company’s less-than-stellar record will not be admitted into court during the Deepwater Horizon trial.  The trial will apportion blame for the oil explosion in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010, which killed 11 workers. But, the court has disallowed ...

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The California sailboat racing community has been shocked by two fatal accidents just weeks apart. While the first accident occurred when a rogue wave swept several crewmembers off a boat killing five people, the second occurred just off the Mexican coast a few days later. Investigators with the US Coast Guard believe that the second boat, whic...

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Three seamen have filed an $11.5 million lawsuit against their employer, Dredge Operators Inc., claiming they suffered brain and lung injuries after being exposed to epoxy and acid. The lawsuit was filed Aug. 3 in federal court in New Orleans. The men said they suffered brain injuries and permanent disabling injuries to their lungs and other bo...

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The Justice Department on Thursday announced that a settlement of $1.4 billion had been reached with Transocean for civil and criminal claims concerning the Deepwater Horizon oil rig blowout in 2010. An explosion at the oil rig, owned by driller Transocean, left 11 men dead and millions of gallons of oil flowing into the Gulf of Mexico.  Transo...

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From commercial fishing vessel crew members to offshore oil rig workers, all kinds of maritime workers may be at risk of head and brain injuries.  These are some of the most serious injuries, and can leave a person with long lifelong consequences.  A new study confirms yet another one of those long-term effects of a brain injury.  The study sugg...

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After a law passed last September, Texas boaters born on or after Sept. 1, 1993 were required to have boater safety education when operating personal watercraft, vessels with 15 or more horsepower or wind-powered vessels longer than 14 feet. Until recently, the boater had to pay out of pocket for such a course, which started at about $20. Howeve...

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In Texas, boating accident fatality numbers per 100,000 registered boaters are more than twice the national average.  It is these statistics that have resulted in the drafting of legislation that would require mandatory boater education. A new piece of legislation that has been proposed by Representative Dan Parker, Republican-Flower Mound, wou...

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The Coast Guard published plans to implement a new inspection process for towing vessels last week.  In the 76th volume of the Federal Register released on August 11, the Coast Guard posted their proposed rules.  They plan to finalize the regulations in four public meetings this fall.  The new system will have two options for obtaining safety ce...

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BP on Saturday completed a subsea mission to determine whether the Deepwater Horizon site is again leaking oil, the U.S. Coast Guard announced today, but the results of the search have yet to be released.  As of Friday, no leak had been found, according to the Coast Guard’s on-scene coordinator, Capt. Duke Walker. Walker said the remotely opera...

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Despite underwater inspections at the site of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion, BP has failed to identify the source of a persistent oil sheen in the Gulf of Mexico, officials announced Tuesday. Recent inspections confirmed that the Macondo well is secure, both BP and the U.S. Coast Guard said. The well, which blew out in 2010 and poured mi...

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A California man is the sole confirmed fatality in a deadly fishing boat accident off Baja California.  At least seven people are still missing.   The missing tourists were part of a fishing expedition in Mexico, when their vessel overturned in the early hours of Saturday morning.  The Mexican Navy and the US Coast Guard are continuing efforts t...

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The captain of a Malta-flagged cargo ship was charged with negligent operation of a vessel last week, after he was found operating a vessel with several times above the allowed limit of alcohol in his system. The captain of the MV Laconia was arrested after the Coast Guard inspected the vessel, and found him under the influence of alcohol. Earl...

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More high-ranking federal administration officials are throwing their weight behind a proposal to establish an offshore safety institute that would keep pace with growing developments in deep water drilling, and the risks arising from such drilling.  Offshore injury lawyers acutely felt the need for a strong body that would be up to speed with ...

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If lobbying efforts by the trucking industry and shipping groups are successful, highways in several states, including Texas, could see heavier tractor-trailers plying their roads. A piece of legislation that is being supported heavily by the trucking industry would increase the weight limits on commercial trucks, making for bulkier and heavier ...

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A new study finds that up to 30% of the American workforce is sleep deprived. Maritime attorneys believe that the situation is not much different on water. Seamen are at a high risk of suffering injuries when they are forced to work continuously without sufficient breaks.  The study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates th...

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Booster seats substantially reduce children's risk of injuries in a car accident. However, those risks may not be affected at all if the seat does not come with a proper safety belt fit. According to a study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, close to 50% of children's car booster seats available in the market do not come with a good...

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The International Maritime Organization has released data to mark 12 months of battling piracy. According to the statistics, the number of vessels held captive by Somali pirate gangs has dropped from 33 ships in February to 13 at the beginning of December. Further, the number of seamen being held captive by Somali pirates has dropped from 733 in...

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Rough weather, including gale-force winds and high waves, prompted Statoil ASA to evacuate by helicopter 336 people from a housing platform in the Norwegian Sea, the second time oil workers have faced serious safety issues since September. The platform offers temporary accommodations for offshore workers. The helicopters evacuated workers 15 at...

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The maritime lawyers at our firm are no strangers to Transocean's sorry safety record. Now, offshore petroleum safety regulators in Norway have also criticized the company for its frequent violations of regulations.  The Norway Petroleum Safety Authority has ordered Transocean improve its maintenance oversight. The order came after an audit, ca...

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The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has announced the publication of a final rule for shipyard worker safety.  The final rule has been published in the May 2 Federal Register, and is meant to be an update to earlier shipyard regulations that have been left unchanged for decades. Shipyard worker safety rules were established back...

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A contract worker died last week after a construction-related accident in a Galveston shipyard. The man was operating a backhoe from outside the cab at Southwest Shipyard when he was pinned by the boom.A crew was working on digging a hole at the time of the incident. The worker had gotten off the backhoe and was standing behind it when he went t...

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An investigation by the NSW Office of Transport Safety has found several breaches of safety regulations at Australia's Capt. Cook's Cruises. These breaches include failure to record passenger injuries properly, and poor maintenance of vessels. Inspectors with the NSW Office of Transport Safety began investigating the Sydney-based fleet of 14 cr...

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High-ranking offshore industry officials claim that a shortage of top-quality offshore safety training in the Gulf of Mexico could place workers at a real risk of injuries or fatalities. According to these reports, the demand for specific offshore safety training programs, including those that are related to water survival and emergency manageme...

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A final set of federal safety regulations were issued last week for offshore drilling. The rules are a fine-tuning of the emergency measures enacted after the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion and subsequent oil spill. The rules deal with how wells are designed and the testing of the cement and barriers that are used to secure them. The go...

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An important piece of offshore safety legislation that would have clearly defined how drilling safety plans in US waters should progress, is currently left hanging after lawmakers disagreed over revenue sharing payments to states.  The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee was debating legislation that would enhance offshore drilling sa...

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BP has agreed to plead guilty to felony charges, as well as pay $4.5 billion in penalties, in relation to the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion that left 11 workers dead and resulted in a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.The oil giant announced it would plead guilty to 11 felony counts of “misconduct or neglect of ships officers” in ...

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The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited a shipbuilder for safety violations that contributed to the death of one worker last August. The company Jeffboat LLC is one of the country's largest inland ship builders. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration launched inspections of the company's barge building facilities,...

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Offshore safety regulators in the United Kingdom have made what offshore injury lawyers believe is a major mistake, under pressure from drilling companies. The Health and Safety Executive, which is responsible for safety regulations in the North Sea has lightened the rules for reporting of offshore oil and gas drilling accidents. The announceme...

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The International Maritime Bureau on Monday reported a 54 percent drop in maritime piracy in the first six months of the year. The group attributed the decline to anti-piracy operations by international navies off Somalia, increased vigilance, and the use of armed guards by private ships. The new numbers show that 177 attacks were reported worl...

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A crew member has been reported killed in a deadly fire that raged through a tugboat near Prince Edward Point, Ontario. According to earlier news reports, the man, a chief engineer on the vessel, had sustained serious injuries. He has now succumbed to those injuries. At the time of the accident, there were six people on the vessel, including th...

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A seaman his filed suit in a New Orleans federal court, claiming he sustained disabling injuries from a fall after slipping on a vessel’s wooden floor. The Jones Act lawsuit accuses Big R Towing Inc. of negligence for failing to maintain the vessel and her appurtenances in a safe and reasonable state of repair.  The lawsuit also claims the defe...

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The US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board is conducting an investigation into the BP explosion and oil spill last year. The investigation is being conducted at the request of Congress. The investigation is still on, but according to the New York Times, the board has found that lax federal offshore safety regulatory standards were re...

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The European Council on Monday approved launching a civilian mission to support anti-piracy efforts in the Horn of Africa and Western Indian Ocean. Maritime piracy lawyers know these waters as some of the most dangerous for pirate activity. The two-year mission, EUCAP Nestor, aims to train and equip coast guard services and improve maritime sec...

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A judge’s approval of $7.8 billion class-action lawsuit against BP for damages from the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill is being appealed by more than 10,000 individuals and businesses. The company agreed in March to a settlement of an estimated $7.8 billion for most private plaintiff’s claims of economic loss, property damage and injuries stemmi...

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A bill introduced in the US House of Representatives would require rescue boats to be stationed within three nautical miles of offshore oil and gas drilling rigs.  The measure has been sponsored by Louisiana Rep. Jeff Landry, R-New Iberia. According to him, the proposal aims to find a common sense approach to the safety problems facing the offs...

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Offshore oil industry workers in Canada now have access to greater and more improved helicopter crash survival training. The Marine Institute has announced newly improved facilities for workers in the country's offshore industry. The Offshore Safety and Survival Center located in Foxtrap, Canada has invested in new survival equipment that is me...

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Researchers in Hawaii have confirmed that a massive floating island of tsunami debris from Japan is likely to hit the Hawaiian coast by the year 2013. Researchers are currently conducting more studies to more accurately predict exactly when the debris is likely to hit shore. In September, a Russian ship sailing in the Pacific Ocean found the ts...

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When it comes to the use of personal flotation devices, most crabbers agree that these devices can be the only thing that saves their lives if they're unlucky enough to fall overboard. However, many crabbers avoid wearing personal flotation devices because these are seen as uncomfortable. The National Institutes of Occupational Safety and Health...

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Five crewmembers were killed and three injured during a safety drill when a lifeboat from a cruise ship fell upside down into the sea earlier this month. The British-operated vessel was in port when the accident occurred, with about 1,400 passengers onboard. When emergency crews arrived on the scene, the small lifeboat could be seen capsized al...

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The Jones Act allows a maritime worker to file a claim against a vessel owner, if he has been injured by unsafe work conditions on a vessel. These claims are called unseaworthiness claims, and are filed only against the vessel owner, not the employer. However, in some cases, the vessel owner may be the employer of the worker, in which case, he m...

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A coalition of environmental groups from five states filed a lawsuit Monday in federal court claiming the Environmental Protection Agency rules on chemical dispersants used in oil spill cleanups do not adhere to clean water standards. The lawsuit says the EPA has not published regulations on acceptable use of such dispersants in response to oil...

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Russian authorities are promising tough action against a riverboat operator after a deadly boat accident in the Volga River that has left more than 100 people dead.     The boat capsized on Sunday.  73 people have been confirmed dead.  Dozens more, including children are still missing.  Hopes for more survivors have been dimming.   The dead ...

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If you have sustained a maritime injury, knowing where to turn can be quite difficult. This is especially true for individuals who are not familiar with maritime injuries, as trying to learn more about this type of injury and how it might affect you can be easier said than done.The most important thing after suffering an injury is to have a stro...

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Maritime piracy lawyers know attacks are on the rise in the Gulf of Guinea off Togo, as evidenced by the seizure of a Greek-run oil tanker, the MT Energy Centurion.  Pirates stole 3,000 tons of fuel from the ship then released it, officials said. They also took jewelry and money from the crew. The pirates escaped Thursday in a lifeboat taken fr...

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The cruise industry has undertaken a major overhaul of its safety procedures and policies, since the fatal Costa Concordia disaster earlier this year. Cruise organizations have announced a number of changes to their safety policies, and this month, the 3 major cruise associations announced yet more changes. The Cruise Lines International Associ...

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Documents, obtained from a suspected terrorist who was questioned by police in Berlin, reveal plans by the terrorist group Al Qaeda to attack cruise vessels. The documents, which have now been obtained by CNN, have been retrieved from the terrorist, an Austrian man, who was questioned by police. Investigators found digital storage devices and s...

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BP is beginning the fifth day of a subsea mission, under U.S. Coast Guard supervision, to search for possible oil leaks from the site of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, according to reports. The oil rig explosion in 2010 killed 11 workers and leaked more than 7 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico over three months before it was finall...

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Oil and gas exploration company Apache Corporation has announced that it managed to prevent a possibly disastrous well blowout in the Gulf of Mexico recently.  According to the company, it identified an “abnormally pressured gas zone” during drilling operations conducted in the shallow water Main Pass 295 in the Gulf Of Mexico. The problem was ...

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American lawmakers recently approved a plan that would cut as much as $50 million in highway safety grants made by the federal administration to states. That translates into significantly reduced funds for important highway safety campaigns, including those targeting drunk driving, motorcycle safety as well as distracted driving. The National H...

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Tug boat pilot, Matthew Devlin, pled guilty to an involuntary manslaughter charge on Monday, August 1, 2011.  Two tourists died from the accident on July 7, 2010, when a barge crashed into a duck boat that was stalled in the Delaware River.  The operator did not receive notice that the duck boat was stopped in his path because he had turned his ...

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After a string of safety incidents in the Gulf of Mexico, the federal administration is urging offshore oil and gas drilling companies drilling in the region, to increase their focus on safety and oversight of their operations. The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement has released a policy statement, in which it claims that it will mo...

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One of the factors that ultimately contributed to the deadly Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion last year was the lack of adequate inspection and oversight by the federal administration.  Currently, lone inspectors are sent for inspections of oil rigs.  That could soon change, with the federal administration announcing that from now on, teams o...

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The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement has been strongly focused on increasing offshore worker safety and preventing accidents like the Gulf of Mexico BP explosion last year.  The agency has had its work cut out for it, as it struggles to deal with years of ineptitude, negligence and inappropriate relationships between...

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For years, it has been one of the biggest mysteries in the cruise industry. 26-year-old George Smith disappeared from his vacation on a Royal Caribbean cruise liner back in 2005. His body was never found, and speculation about his disappearance has continued since. Now, new details have emerged about his disappearance.  According to the New Yor...

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A crane collapsed while loading equipment onto a work boat, according to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement report.  On Tuesday, August 16, 2011, the boom hoist cable failed, killing one worker on the site in the Gulf of Mexico.  The platform, owned by Energy Resource Technology, is now the site of an investigation...

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A commercial diver who was working 242 feet underwater in the North Sea survived for 38 minutes on just his emergency air tank after his air supply line was snagged and severed. The diver, Chris Lemons, had fallen unconscious by the time colleagues found him and pulled him to safety. He was revived and made a full recovery after decompression t...

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The Centers for Disease Control cited enough violations during a surprise inspection to give the cruise ship Veendam a failing grade, an uncommon occurrence in the industry. Holland America, which owns the vessel, said the score was an “aberration.” Inspectors noted multiple sanitation violations during the Aug. 19 visit, including a fly on the...

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The cruise industry has been working hard on developing stronger safety standards in the wake of the deadly Costa Concordia cruise ship accident off the Italian coast. The world’s largest cruise industry group has now announced that it is implementing new rules that will achieve substantial improvements in safety standards. Cruise Lines Interna...

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The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration and BP announced a partial settlement stemming from safety violations the company’s Texas City refinery was cited for in 2009. BP was fined $87.4 million in 2009 due to a series of safety violations, mostly stemming from changes not made at the plant after a fatal 2005 explosion. BP will pa...

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Millions of pounds of unexploded bombs deposited in the Gulf of Mexico after World War II are posing a threat to offshore drilling, Texas oceanographers say. The United States and other governments disposed of munitions and chemical weapons in the oceans until the practice was banned by federal law and international treaties in the 1970s. Now, ...

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The National Transportation Safety Board has released its final findings after an investigation into the 2009 boating accident in the San Diego Bay that killed a young boy.  According to the report, the accident was the result of excessive speeds by the Coast Guard boat involved in the accident as well as lack of oversight by the Coast Guard. T...

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Japanese researchers have successfully used stem cells derived from tooth pulp to treat damaged spinal cord cells. The research has been conducted on rats, and clinical trials on humans are still a long way off, but the results have been encouraging enough for researchers to be optimistic about the results in humans, too. The stem cells were e...

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As expected, there have been a number of questions raised about workplace safety in Texas in the wake of the West fertilizer plant explosion. Fifteen people were killed in the fertilizer plant explosion, and hundreds more injured. A number of public safety organizations have begun raising questions about workplace safety in Texas. According to ...

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Russian transportation city officials are blaming errors made by the captain as the reason for the sinking of an Indonesia-flagged vessel in the Sea of Okhotsk. Russia's Far East transport department says that one of the main reasons for the capsizing of the Ginga was the violations of safety regulations by the captain of the vessel. The Ginga ...

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Federal workplace safety regulators have cited a Mississippi shipyard for 50 safety violations, including failure to prevent slip and fall hazards, and improper storage of inflammable materials. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Huntington Ingalls Industries with a total of 50 safety violations and proposed penalties t...

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A local barge company has been cited for 40 safety violations following an April flash fire that left two employees dead at its Freeport facility. The Occupational Health and Safety Administration cited Texas Barge & Boat Inc. with one willful and 39 serious violations, as well as penalties of about $220,000, after inspectors investigated the i...

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The Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday that BP is suspended from entering into new contracts with the United States government for its actions during the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.  "EPA is taking this action due to BP's lack of business integrity as demonstrated by the company's conduct wi...

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