Preliminary results from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ National Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries have been released. Findings show that the number of fatal work injuries in 2011 was slightly lower than final results from 2010. Last year, 4,609 workers died from work-related injuries, down from a final count of 4,690 in 2010. Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis issued the following statement in response to the census:
Today’s report shows a decline in the number of workplace fatalities. It’s a step in the right direction, but more needs to be done. We will continue to collaborate with employers, workers, labor leaders, and safety and health professionals to ensure that every American who clocks in for a shift can make it home safe and sound at the end of the day.
On average, 13 workers lose their lives each and every day, and that loss ripples throughout their communities. Children, parents, brothers, sisters, and neighbors all bear an enormous burden when a loved one dies on the job.
It’s clear that we must maintain our commitment to ensuring our workplaces are safer and healthier for every American. This is a challenge that must be undertaken not just by the government but by the entire country. We know how to prevent these fatalities, and all employers must take the steps necessary to keep their workers safe.
At the Labor Department, we take these challenges very seriously. Each and every one of us is committed to doing what we can so that every worker can return home at the end of the day in the same condition he or she left. The workers of our nation deserve nothing less.
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Warehouse Cited for Workplace Safety and Health Hazards
OSHA has cited Continental Terminals Inc., based in Jersey City, New Jersey, with 18 alleged safety and health violations at the company’s warehouse in Kearney, New Jersey. OSHA initiated an inspection upon receiving a complaint. Proposed fines total $162,400.
. A willful violation is one committed with intentional knowing or voluntary disregard for the law’s requirements, or with plain indifference to worker safety and health.
The violations also include failing to implement a hazard communication program, provide training or material safety data sheets to employees handling hazardous chemicals, have a continual and effective hearing conservation program for employees exposed to noise at 85 decibels or greater as a time-weighted average, have a noise monitoring program for employees exposed to 85 decibels or greater, have an audiometric testing program for employees exposed to noise, and provide auxiliary directional lighting on powered industrial trucks for areas where the general lighting was less than two lumens per square foot. The citations carry $64,400 in penalties.
One other-than-serious violation is failing to provide Appendix D of the respiratory protection standard to employees who voluntarily wear filtering face piece respirators. This citation does not carry a penalty.
Continental Terminals has 10 employees at its Kearny warehouse.
OSHA Cites Manufacturer for Continued Workplace Safety, Health Hazards
OSHA has cited Formosa Plastics Corp., USA with 16 alleged safety and health violations at its Delaware City, Delaware, site. A March investigation was a follow-up to two inspections opened in October 2009. Proposed penalties total $148,700.
Two repeat violations, with $66,000 in penalties, involve a failure to perform process equipment inspections and tests, inspect critical valves, and ensure that PVC dust did not accumulate on surfaces and the floor of a bagging area. A repeat violation exists when an employer previously has been cited for the same or a similar violation of a standard, regulation, rule, or order at any other facility in federal enforcement states within the last five years. The same violation was cited following a separate investigation in March 2010.
Fourteen serious violations include electrical hazards, a deficient process safety management program, incomplete emergency shutdown procedures, no machine guarding, a lack of training for workers participating in emergency response, and failing to periodically evaluate contractor performance. The citations carry $82,700 in penalties.
Formosa Plastics Corp., USA, headquartered in Livingston, New Jersey, employs 107 workers at its Delaware City site.
OSHA Cites OPC Polymers for Process Safety Management Program Deficiencies
The vapor cloud was caused by a copolymer reaction of flammable chemicals when over-pressurization occurred in the equipment. No injuries were reported.
Twenty-five serious safety violations relate to process safety management, including incomplete process safety information lacking maximum intended inventories, materials of construction, and accurate piping and instrument diagrams or design codes and standards. Violations specific to process hazard analyses include failing to address hazards of the process consequences to engineering and administrative control failures. Additionally, the violations include failing to implement written operation procedures and review and certify them annually, train workers on procedures, establish and implement written mechanical integrity and management of change procedures, conduct a compliance audit at least every three years, and respond to deficiencies found in compliance audits.
OSHA’s standards contain specific requirements for the management of hazards associated with processes using highly hazardous chemicals.
One other-than-serious violation was issued for failing to certify the completion of a personal protective equipment hazard assessment.
OPC Polymers employs about 190 people at the facility.
OSHA Fines Contractor More Than $136,000 for Fall Hazards
OSHA has cited Blade Contracting Inc., based in Staten Island, New York, with seven safety—including one willful—violations for fall hazards at a Jersey City, New Jersey, work site. The investigation was initiated after a worker with the masonry contractor was injured by falling from a sixth floor balcony while attempting to access a suspension scaffold. Proposed penalties total $136,290.
The willful violation reflects the use of makeshift devices on top of scaffolds to increase the level height for working and a failure to protect workers on scaffolds from fall hazards.
Two repeat violations involve unprotected workers on scaffolds and a sixth floor balcony. The same violations were cited in 2007 and 2010.
Four serious violations involve a failure to install cross bracing on the entire scaffold, ensure personal fall arrest systems were attached to a secure anchorage point and not scaffold guard rails, train workers to recognize and avoid hazards including falls, and ensure proper step ladder use.
OSHA Cites Omega Protein for 25 Safety and Health Violations Following Worker Fatality
OSHA has cited Omega Protein Inc., with 25 safety and health violations based on an April inspection of the company’s processing plant in Moss Point, Mississippi. OSHA initiated the inspection after the death of a worker who had been caught in a rotating screw conveyor.
Twenty-one serious violations involve failing to have employees affix personal lockout devices to a group lockout device, develop a written respirator protection program, develop and document procedures for controlling hazardous energy, obtain audiograms annually, provide training for forklift operators, conduct annual noise training, properly secure compressed gas cylinders, and provide a suitable facility for quick eye and body drenching or flushing. OSHA also identified fall and electrical hazards; a lack of equipment guarding on rotating drums, fan blades, and horizontal rotating shafts; and a lack of guarding on the belts and pulleys of the grinding screw and the hopper screw conveyor.
Citations have been issued for four other-than-serious violations that include failing to provide signage for the exit door in the mechanic shop, caution signage for a low overhead hazard, strain relief for a fan’s flexible cord, and a hazard warning label on ethylene glycol.
Proposed penalties for the serious violations total $79,200. Omega Protein produces omega-3 fish oil and specialty fish meal products. The company’s headquarters are in Houston, Texas, and it has additional processing plants in Cameron and Abbeville, Louisiana, and Reedville, Virginia.
Westlake Vinyls Cited for Multiple Process Safety Management Violations
OSHA has cited Westlake Vinyls Co., LP, in Geismar, Louisiana, for 10 serious safety and health violations, primarily related to OSHA’s process safety management standards. Proposed penalties total $67,000.
OSHA’s Baton Rouge Area Office conducted an inspection under the agency’s national emphasis program on process safety management for covered chemical facilities at the company’s facility on state Highway 73. OSHA found that employees were exposed to the potential of over-pressurized process equipment while conducting operations across the plant.
Ten serious violations include failing to provide accurate process safety information for piping and instrument diagrams, use the appropriate detection methodologies in the process hazard analysis, and properly complete emergency shutdown procedures, repair or maintain pressure-relieving devices, and conduct management of change while maintaining process equipment.
One other-than-serious violation is not having the design codes for the safety interlock systems used on process equipment.
The company, which is a subsidiary of Houston-based Westlake Chemical Corp., produces vinyl chloride monomer and polyvinyl chloride. It employs about 138 employees at this facility.
OSHA Cites Contractor for Fall and Other Hazards at Work Site
OSHA has cited Roger Shortridge Construction, based in Mt. Lookout, West Virginia, for one willful and two serious violations at a Tridelphia work site. OSHA initiated an investigation in March after a compliance officer observed fall hazards while conducting an inspection of another contractor at the work site. Proposed penalties total $47,400.
The willful violation is failing to ensure that employees use fall protection when working on a steep roof. The citation carries a $42,000 penalty.
The serious violations involve failing to initiate and maintain a safety and health program, as well as to ensure the use of eye protection. The citations carry $5,400 in penalties.
Utility Contractor Cited for Willful and Serious Safety Violations
. After receiving a complaint alleging hazards, OSHA initiated an inspection in March as part of the agency’s national emphasis program to reduce injuries at trenching and excavation construction sites. Proposed penalties total $43,400.
The willful violation involves exposing employees to struck-by and cave-in hazards by not using a protective shoring system.
The serious violations involve exposing workers to entrapment, struck-by, and cave-in hazards by not providing a ladder to enter and exit the excavation, and allowing equipment and debris to be placed within two feet of the trench.
Contractor Faces More Than $40,000 in Fines for Excavation Hazard at Chelsea Job Site
OSHA has cited Cavalieri Construction Co., Inc., for alleged willful and serious violations of safety standards at a Chelsea worksite.
OSHA found that workers were not protected from cave-ins or collapses while working in a trench greater than five feet in depth, with the deepest part of the trench reaching more than nine feet in depth. The proposed penalty is $38,500. OSHA cited the company with a willful violation because it was not the company’s first offense. A previous violation was cited in February for failing to protect workers in a trench at a Braintree worksite.
Additionally, a serious violation has been cited with a proposed fine of $2,200 for not keeping excavated materials away from the edge of the trench. OSHA requires that such material or equipment be kept at least two feet from the edge of excavations to prevent them from falling or rolling into the excavated area.
OSHA standards require that excavations five feet or deeper be protected against collapse.
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