Safety Inspection

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will perform a special structural safety inspection of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant, which was rocked by last week's magnitude 6.5 earthquake along the Central Coast. No damage was found after inspections by operator Pacific Gas and Electric Co. and two NRC inspectors on site at the time of the Dec. 22 quake. But the federal agency is sending a structural engineering expert next week to conduct further inspections. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.

WASHINGTON - The former president of a Massey coal mine in West Virginia was charged with conspiracy to violate federal mining safety laws Wednesday, and federal authorities said he was expected to plead guilty in a widening criminal investigation that began after a 2010 explosion killed 29 miners. David C. Hughart, former president of Massey's Green Valley Resource Group, was charged in U.S. District Court in Beckley, W.Va., with a felony on allegations of tipping off mine officials in advance of federal safety inspections.

Reacting to a series of explosions, fires and accidents at Mobil's oil refinery in Torrance that have killed three people and injured at least 12, federal safety officials have launched a comprehensive safety inspection of the refinery. The safety inspection, which began this week, will involve three Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspectors and last four to six weeks, said OSHA Regional Administrator Frank Strasheim.

Foxconn Technology Group, the maker of Apple Inc.'s iPhones and iPads, has shut down the plant where an explosion Friday killed three workers and injured 15 others. The company said that within a week, it expects to complete a safety inspection of the facility in the southwest Chinese city of Chengdu before resuming operations. It said suspending operations for a week would not affect supply of the Apple devices because it has a week's worth of inventory. Preliminary findings suggested that the blast was caused by combustible dust in one of the facility's polishing workshops, the company said in a news release.

The Federal Aviation Administration lifted an order Thursday that called for a safety inspection of 25,000 Piper aircraft primarily used by private fliers. Last April, the FAA directed owners of Piper PA28s and Piper PA32s to inspect the single-engine aircraft's wings after reports that they might be susceptible to cracks. About 450 of the planes have been inspected so far and two of them showed cracks, agency officials said.

The contractor that maintains Whittier's trolley-style buses has passed a follow-up safety inspection, easing city concerns over previous safety violations. Transit contractor ATE/Ryder earned a satisfactory rating for safety and maintenance as a result of a surprise Aug. 19 inspection by the California Highway Patrol.

Federal investigators who have just completed an intensive six-week safety inspection of Mobil's troubled Torrance refinery intend to cite the oil company for a significant number of safety violations next week, authorities said. The inspection, which began Sept. 13, was triggered by two unrelated incidents on the same day--an explosion and a fire July 15--that killed one worker and seriously injured four.

State investigators on Wednesday combed the wreckage of a giant crane at Los Angeles International Airport, and reached a tentative conclusion that the crane collapsed and killed a passer-by on Tuesday because steel girders it was lifting weighed too much. "We're still trying to put the pieces together. We don't have anything definite at all," said Bob Garcia, regional manager for Cal/OSHA. "The preliminary indication seems to be that probably the load was maybe too heavy to do what it did."

You affectionately named your car Old Squeak and are willing to put up with its idiosyncrasies--like having to push the power window button to turn on the radio or hit the dash to change stations. But when it comes to safety on a long trip, Old Squeak probably needs a checkup. The best way to take care of a car is by keeping up with a regular maintenance schedule, as recommended by the car's maker.

With the city threatening to tear down the two 72-foot antennas that loom above his Rose Avenue home, ham radio operator Herbert Koch has agreed to do the dismantling himself--but not until the Fourth of July. City Atty. Furman Roberts said he granted Koch the additional time in the hope that the city wouldn't have to hire someone to do the work--estimated to cost about $900--and place a lien on his property for payment.

The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday fined the American Red Cross $16 million, alleging that the organization had been slipshod in the collection and manufacture of blood products. It was the latest in a string of multimillion-dollar penalties for failure to meet blood safety standards. Despite the most recent violations, there is no indication that patients or the blood supply were endangered, "and the blood supply is believed to be safe," the FDA said in a statement.

The Deepwater Horizon oil rig that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico was built in South Korea. It was operated by a Swiss company under contract to a British oil firm. Primary responsibility for safety and other inspections rested not with the U.S. government but with the Republic of the Marshall Islands — a tiny, impoverished nation in the Pacific Ocean. And the Marshall Islands, a maze of tiny atolls, many smaller than the ill-fated oil rig, outsourced many of its responsibilities to private companies.

Four months after a fatal commuter plane crash that pointed to holes in pilot competency, the federal government Tuesday launched an investigation of the nation's smaller airlines. The Federal Aviation Administration's vow to step up inspections of how regional airlines train -- and work -- their pilots was issued under the pressure of congressional hearings that begin today. The hearings will explore pilot workforce issues at regional carriers and the FAA's scrutiny of airline safety standards.

Southwest Airlines Co., accused of operating planes that had missed key safety inspections, said Tuesday that it had placed three employees on leave and hired an outside expert to review its maintenance procedures. The Dallas-based airline also said it had promised federal regulators that it would fix any shortcomings in its system of tracking maintenance work. Last week, the Federal Aviation Administration proposed a $10.2-million civil penalty -- the largest ever against an airline -- after finding that Southwest had missed safety inspections for dozens of planes, then kept flying some of them before they could be examined.

Mexican authorities said Sunday they had halted flights by regional airline Aerocalifornia because of safety concerns after inspections showed serious deficiencies. The transport ministry said Aerocalifornia operations were suspended after inspections showed it had failed to make improvements ordered under a review 15 months ago.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will perform a special structural safety inspection of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant, which was rocked by last week's magnitude 6.5 earthquake along the Central Coast. No damage was found after inspections by operator Pacific Gas and Electric Co. and two NRC inspectors on site at the time of the Dec. 22 quake. But the federal agency is sending a structural engineering expert next week to conduct further inspections. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.

For students at Lincoln Elementary School, Monday was a good day to ride their bicycles to the Ventura campus. An official from the Automobile Club of Southern California was on hand for a bike safety inspection, and dozens of students brought their bikes in to take advantage of the opportunity.

Dear Street Smart: Our hours of travel to and from work are at peak traffic times, and since the time change in October, the time to travel home is during dark hours. We notice many cars with only one headlight, burned-out taillights, maladjusted headlights, headlights on high beam or turn signals not working. Isn't it time that California had an annual automobile safety inspection? The states that require safety inspections require it annually before new licensing is issued.

Last week's recall of 19 million pounds of hamburger exposed major weaknesses in the U.S. Department of Agriculture's inspection program, according to politicians and consumer groups, who are now seeking reform of federal meat inspection regulations. The recall, the second-largest of its kind in U.S. history, was ordered after E. coli-tainted meat from a ConAgra Foods Inc. plant in Colorado sickened at least 28 people in seven states.

Several dozen American Airlines pilots have asked the airline to ground 34 Airbus jetliners like the one that crashed in New York after its tail broke off. The pilots contend that the visual inspections ordered after the crash by the Federal Aviation Administration are inadequate to determine whether the A300 airliners are safe.