Failure to Protect Workers from Silica Dust Leads to $1M Penalty

Federal safety inspectors became aware that a 31-year-old employee of a Chicago countertop manufacturer needed a double lung transplant after suffering accelerated silicosis ‒ an incurable lung disease – and the U.S. Department of Labor immediately alerted the company of the potential imminent danger and an inspection by OSHA found workers exposed to silica levels up to six times greater than permissible limits.

 

When inspectors arrived in February 2024 to conduct air sampling at Florenza Marble & Granite Corp., they found employees laboring in a haze of dust throughout the workspace and workers using required respirators improperly. They also determined the company had few controls in place to reduce silica exposure as employees cut engineered and natural stone countertops for residential and commercial projects.

 

OSHA learned that, in addition to the 31-year-old in need of a double transplant, his 59-year-old father and co-worker also awaits a silicosis-related lung transplant, and a 47-year-old employee has been treated for unresolved work-related lung disease for more than three years.

 

Further investigation found the company and owner Brad Karp did not develop a safety program to protect or monitor the health of its six employees, even though two workers compensation insurance carriers refused to insure the company in 2022 and 2024 for not providing air sampling or proving it protected its workers.

 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that the life expectancy for people diagnosed with silicosis is reduced by about 11 years and the chances of surviving 15 years after lung transplant are less than 11 percent.

 

"Our compliance officers found silica dust levels nearly six times higher than permissible levels and the owner made little or no effort to protect his employees from exposure," said OSHA Chicago Regional Administrator Bill Donovan. "To make matters worse, Karp was indifferent to his employees' suffering and refused to accept any responsibility for protecting them, even after two insurance carriers dropped the company for its egregious defiance of workplace safety standards."

 

OSHA cited Florenza Marble & Granite Corp. for eight egregious willful, four willful and 20 serious safety and health violations and proposed more than $1 million in penalties.

 

The two workers suffering from silicosis have limited English proficiency and received no information from their employer about the dangers of silica exposure or training in the use of personal protective equipment or precautions to protect their safety and health.

 

Specifically, OSHA found the following willful violations:

 

In addition, the agency identified 20 serious violations related to its lack of housekeeping, respirator deficiencies, lack of a silica exposure control plan or hazard communication program, not training employees in the use of compressed air and allowing its improper use.

 

 

The EPA recently announced a final settlement over alleged violations related to wastewater treatment plants with Manufactured Home Community (MHC) management company Horizon Land Management, LLC (Horizon), and four of the MHCs it manages located in Lothian and Harwood, Maryland. Horizon is the managing agent for over 170 MHCs across the country.

 

Through four administrative consent agreements with EPA, Horizon and the four MHCs—Boone’s Estates MHC, LLC, Lyons Creek MHC, LLC, Maryland Manor MHC, LLC and Patuxent MHC, LLC—will pay a combined total of $1,136,162 in penalties for alleged Clean Water Act violations associated with discharges from their wastewater treatment plants into local waterways, including suspended solids, nitrogen, dissolved oxygen and E. coli.  From January 2019 to October 2023, Boone’s had 194 exceedances of permit limits, Lyons Creek had 50 exceedances, Maryland Manor had 33 exceedances, and Patuxent had 38 exceedances.  These exceedances introduce illegal pollutants into the Patuxent River and its tributaries, negatively impacting water quality in those water bodies, which flow to the Chesapeake Bay.

 

The four MHCs are located in potential Environmental Justice Areas of Concern, and experience other environmental stressors from other industrial activity.  Maintenance of the wastewater treatment plants in each community was neglected for years.  In December 2023, EPA Region 3 entered into four Administrative Orders on Consent for Horizon and the MHCs to repair and improve the maintenance of each wastewater treatment plant to bring the plants back into compliance with their permits.

 

EPA Region 3 worked in conjunction with the Maryland Department of the Environment to address these cases.

 

This settlement also furthers EPA’s obligation to reduce significant noncompliance and improve surface water quality by addressing unauthorized discharges and other violations that may impact public health and the environment.

 

 

Following the EPA’s emergency suspension of the pesticide dimethyl tetrachloroterephthalate (DCPA or Dacthal), the agency is initiating a process to cancel all products containing DCPA. On Aug. 19, 2024, EPA received a letter from AMVAC Chemical Corporation (AMVAC) stating its intent to voluntarily cancel the remaining pesticide products containing DCPA in the United States, and subsequently announced it intended to cancel all international registrations as well.

 

“Today’s announcement is a critical step towards protecting unborn babies from the serious health risks of this dangerous pesticide,” said Assistant Administrator for the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention Michal Freedhoff. “AMVAC’s decision to voluntarily and quickly cancel their DCPA registrations is a huge win for public health and will ensure pregnant women are no longer exposed to a chemical that could cause their babies to experience irreversible lifelong health problems.”

 

The August 2024 emergency suspension was the first time in almost 40 years EPA has taken this type of emergency action, following several years of efforts by the agency to require the submission of data that was due in January 2016 and then assess and address the risk this pesticide poses. EPA took this action because unborn babies whose pregnant mothers are exposed to DCPA, sometimes without even knowing the exposure has occurred, could experience changes to fetal thyroid hormone levels, and these changes are generally linked to low birth weight, impaired brain development, decreased IQ and impaired motor skills later in life, some of which may be irreversible. For this decision, EPA relied on the best available science, which included robust studies that all demonstrate thyroid toxicity.

 

A registrant can cancel the registration of a pesticide product at any time under Section 6(f) of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act. Tomorrow, Aug. 29, 2024, EPA will publish a notice in the Federal Register to take public comments on the voluntary cancellation. At the conclusion of the comment period, EPA plans to publish the final cancellation order. Currently, all products containing DCPA are suspended following EPA’s temporary emergency suspension order announced on Aug. 6, 2024, and the action announced today will ensure that the registrations will be permanently cancelled.

 

The emergency suspension prohibits anyone from distributing, selling, shipping or carrying out other similar activities for any pesticide product containing DCPA. It also means that no person can continue using existing stocks of those products.  EPA is working closely with AMVAC, the sole manufacturer of DCPA, on a return program for existing DCPA products. AMVAC is developing a comprehensive plan designed to identify existing stocks held by distributors, retailers, and end-users, track any remaining DCPA products, and coordinate an effective and efficient collection process. EPA and AMVAC are regularly communicating on the status of the return program. AMVAC has shared preliminary information on a return program with EPA, including plans for regular communication with stakeholders and EPA. Distributors, retailers, and growers who hold existing product should contact AMVAC directly to determine the best options for managing existing stocks. 

 

Read the public inspection version of the Federal Register notice on the voluntary cancellation of DCPA.

 

 

The EPA announced a settlement with Cleveland Cliffs Burns Harbor, LLC in Burns Harbor, Indiana, for alleged Clean Air Act violations that occurred while the facility was operating as ArcelorMittal Burns Harbor, LLC. Under the terms of the settlement, the company will implement more pollution controls and pay $248,396 in penalties.

 

During unannounced inspections, EPA found that the company was allegedly emitting excessive amounts of particulate matter and hazardous air pollutants from its basic oxygen furnace shop used to create steel. The alleged violations occurred during the process of loading the furnace with molten iron, and when molten material overflowed the furnaces.

 

The settlement will require Cleveland Cliffs Burns Harbor to implement new process controls to ensure the furnaces are loaded slowly and to ensure the pollution control system is running at an acceptably high rate during furnace operation. The settlement also requires the company to react to problems before overflows occur and keep liquid metal ladles under pollution control device hoods. The facility will need to increase the monitoring of its basic oxygen furnace shop, report its activities to EPA in more detail, install a video camera to record the emissions from the shop and follow an optimization plan that better specifies the workings of the shop.

 

This large steel mill sits on the southernmost shores of Lake Michigan just west of the Indiana Dunes National Park. The settlement will reduce the emissions of hazardous pollutants to the air, improving air quality in the national park and nearby communities.

 

 

California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) cited nine employers in Sun Valley within the greater Los Angeles area following efforts to address the growing number of silicosis cases among stone workers in California.

 

As California faces an increase in silicosis cases among stone workers, Cal/OSHA continues ramping up enforcement efforts and today announced citing nine more employers, this time in Sun Valley. The safety violations include over $168,000 in fines.

 

Cal/OSHA cited the following employers:

 

The Van Nuys District Office conducted inspections and it was determined that all the employers were in violation of multiple Title 8 Safety and Health Regulations, including failure to use methods to effectively suppress dust and failed to provide their employees with full-face, tight-fitting power air purifying respirators.

 

Cal/OSHA’s workplace safety laws and emergency temporary standard are key components to ensure that workers are safe. Increasing awareness to employers and employees of the dangerous effects of inhaling respirable crystalline silica dust from tasks like grinding, drilling and cutting, can help save lives and avoid incurable health conditions like silicosis, lung cancer and kidney diseases.

 

With cases of silicosis increasing across the state, Cal/OSHA has intensified its enforcement and education efforts. In December of last year an emergency temporary standard was adopted to enhance existing guidelines for respirable crystalline silica hazards. The Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board (OSHSB) voted to readopt the emergency temporary standard at its August 15 meeting.

 

DIR and Cal/OSHA recently launched a bilingual public awareness and education campaign that offers employers and workers resources and information about the proper use of safety equipment and safe worksite practices. The campaign website, worksafewithsilica.org, also provides vital information for workers on workplace safety rights and how to report safety violations.

 

Since 2019, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) has confirmed a total of 176 cases of silicosis related to engineered stone, including at least 13 deaths and at least 19 individuals who have undergone a lung transplant. A total of 105 of the 176 cases occurred in Los Angeles County, with the remainder occurring in other parts of the state.

 

 

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