Electrical Wire Recalled by Cerro Wire due to Fire Hazard

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntary recall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed. It is illegal to resell or attempt to resell a recalled consumer product.

Name of Product: THHN Electrical Wire

Units: About 1,000

Manufacturer: Cerro Wire Inc., of Crothersville, Ind.

Hazard: While the actual electrical wire has “14 gauge” printed on it, the packaging incorrectly labels the electrical wire as 12 gauge. If used as a 12 gauge wire, it can overload, posing a fire hazard to consumers.

Incidents/Injuries: None reported.

Description: This recall involves THNN electrical wire labeled on its packaging as 12 gauge solid white 100′ UPC 48243982721 and 12 gauge stranded red 50′ UPC 48243229215. The actual wire has “THHN Cerro Wire 14 gauge” printed on it. The UPC number and 12 gauge is found on the plastic wrap and on a label at the bottom of the reel.

Sold at: Home Depot & Menards stores in the following states: Colo., Iowa, Idaho, Ill., Ind., Kan., Ky., Mich., Minn., Mo., Mont., N.D., Neb., Ohio, Ore., Pa., S.D., Utah, Wash., Wis., Wyo. from December 2009 through April 2010. The 50-foot wire spools were sold for $9 and the 100-foot spools for about $16.

Manufactured in: United States

Remedy: Consumers should immediately stop using any switches, outlets or electrical devices using this wire and contact Cerro Wire for instructions on returning the product for a refund. Any contractor or subcontractor who used this wire should inspect their work to see that their work meets local electrical wiring code.

Consumer Contact: For additional information, contact Cerro Wire toll-free at (866) 572-3776 ext. 269 between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET Monday through Friday or visit the firm’s website at www.cerrowire.com

To see this recall on CPSC’s web site, including pictures of the recalled products, please go to:

http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml10/10319.html

Brigade Hickory Handle Sledge Hammers Recalled by White Cap Construction Supply Due to Risk of Injury

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntary recall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed. It is illegal to resell or attempt to resell a recalled consumer product.

Name of Product: Hickory handle sledge hammers

Units: About 15,000

Importer: White Cap Construction Supply Inc., of Costa Mesa, Calif.

Hazard: The head of the sledge hammer can loosen and detach, posing a risk of impact injury to consumers.

Incidents/Injuries: None reported.

Description: This recall involves Brigade sledge hammers with a hickory wood handle. There are 11 models included in this recall, ranging in size from 2 to 20 lbs. A green and white label with the word “Brigade” and the model name is affixed to the head of the sledge hammer, and “Genuine Hickory” is printed on the handle. Model and UPC information are printed on the label.

Model / UPC / Part Description
444BR10675 / 847044060535 / 8LB 36 double Face Sledge Hammer
444BR10677 / 847044060559 / 12LB 36 Double Face Sledge Hammer
444BR10685 / 847044060634 / 4LB 16 Engineers Hammer
444BR10678 / 847044060566 / 16LB 36 Double Face Sledge Hammer
444BR10679 / 847044060573 / 20LB 36 Double Face Sledge Hammer
444BR10688 / 847044060665 / 4LB 10-1/2 Drilling Hammer
444BR10687 / 847044060658 / 3LB 10-1/2 Drilling Hammer
444BR10674 / 847044060528 / 6LB 36 Double Face Sledge Hammer
444BR10676 / 847044060542 / 10LB 36 Double Face Sledge Hammer
444BR10686 / 847044060641 / 2LB 10-1/2 Drilling Hammer
444BR10684 / 847044060627 / 3LB 16 Engineers Hammer

Sold at: White Cap Construction Supply distributors nationwide from April 2009 through May 2010 for between $12 and $47.

Manufactured in: India

Remedy: Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled sledge hammers and return the product to White Cap Construction Supply for a full refund or exchange.

Consumer Contact: For additional information, contact White Cap Construction Supply toll-free at (877) 281-4831 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. PT Monday through Friday or visit the firm’s website at www.whitecap.com

To see this recall on CPSC’s web site, including pictures of the recalled products, please go to:

http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml10/10320.html

Worker Fatalities Fall 17% on Decline in Construction Deaths

By Inyoung Hwang
Bloomberg News
Aug 19, 2010

U.S. workplace deaths fell 17 percent in 2009 to a record low on a decline in construction fatalities, as unemployment surged to the highest level in a quarter century.

There were 4,340 deaths across all industries, compared with 5,214 a year earlier. Fatalities among private construction firms dropped 16 percent in 2009, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said today in a statement.

Workplace injuries have been falling for more than a decade, according to the National Council of Compensation Insurance. Workers’ compensation insurers that are facing lower sales and rising medical costs may benefit from a decline in job-related accidents as U.S. payrolls shrink. New claims for unemployment jumped 500,000 in the week ended Aug. 14.

“Economic factors played a major role in the fatal work injury decrease in 2009,” the bureau said in the statement.

Construction spending dropped 15 percent in 2009, the worst performance on record, signaling an industry at the forefront of the economic crisis will be slow to rebound.

Construction has “fallen off a cliff,” said Ed Priz, president of Riverside, Illinois-based Advanced Insurance Management LLC, a consulting firm, in an interview on Aug. 11. “It reflects a shift in the kind of work Americans are doing. There are a lot less hazardous jobs.”

Workplace deaths among blacks declined 24 percent last year to 407 from 533 in 2008. There was a 16 percent decline for whites to 3,059 and a 17 percent drop for Hispanics to 668.

Homicides, Suicides

Homicides at work fell 1 percent to 521 deaths in 2009. That marked a decline of more than 50 percent from the high of 1,080 in 1994. Shootings made up about 80 percent of the homicides last year, which includes the 13 victims of the November massacre at Fort Hood Army post, according to the bureau’s statement.

Workplace suicides declined 9.9 percent to 237 last year from a record 263 in 2008.

In New York State, 184 workplace deaths occurred, compared with 213 a year earlier. Job-related fatalities in New York City fell to 63 from 90 in 2008.

Transportation accidents were the most frequent cause of worker deaths for the second straight year. The number of fatalities involving cars, trucks, airplanes, trains, and other vehicles was 1,682, compared with 2,130 in 2008. About 20 percent of the deaths were on highways.

Fatalities in agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting fell to 551 from 672 a year earlier. Deaths in crop production dropped to 278 from 304.

Falling Sales

Liberty Mutual Group Inc. was the largest workers’ compensation insurer in the U.S. by 2009 policy sales, according to data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, followed by American International Group Inc., Travelers Cos. and Hartford Financial Services Group Inc.

U.S. workers’ compensation insurance, an industry tied closely to payrolls, posted sales that fell for the third straight year as the economic slump curbed employment, according to the NCCI. The jobless rate was 9.5 percent in July.

“Any decline in fatalities indicates that element of workers’ compensation costs is continuing to moderate,” Priz said. “The rapid decline in employment — that’s got to be a factor.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Inyoung Hwang in New York at ihwang7@bloomberg.net.

1 Worker Killed in NYC Scaffold Collapse

1 Worker Killed in NYC Scaffold Collapse
August 19, 2009
by The Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — A construction worker fell five stories to his death when part of a scaffold collapsed in Brooklyn, police said.

The worker had been resurfacing bricks on an apartment building’s facade in the Park Slope section when the accident occurred at about 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Police identified the victim as 42-year-old Henyrk Siebor, an employee of Nova Restoration, Inc., of Brooklyn.

Siebor was moving from one scaffold to another one occupied by two other workers when the second scaffold collapsed, Buildings Department spokeswoman Carly Sullivan said.

Siebor fell and the other two workers clung to the tilted scaffold where firefighters eventually pulled the workers through the building windows to safety.

The Fire Department one of the workers at the site was taken to a local hospital for minor injuries. Two other workers refused medical attention.

Nova Restoration did not immediately respond to a call for comment left on its answering machine Tuesday evening.

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