OSHA has cited utility company Missouri American Water for two willful safety violations following the May 16, 2012, death of a worker. The worker suffered fatal injuries when a gas-powered saw kicked back while he and another employee were cutting sections of old cast-iron pipe. The work was part of efforts to reroute underground water lines in a residential neighborhood being rebuilt following the EF5 tornado that struck Joplin, Missouri, on May 22, 2011.
The violations involve exposing workers to struck-by hazards while they were cutting water pipe by failing to provide support in accordance with manufacturers’ instructions and company policies, and lack of training on pipe-cutting operations. A willful violation is one committed with intentional knowledge or voluntary disregard for the law’s requirements, or with plain indifference to worker safety and health.
Proposed penalties total $140,000.
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OSHA Cites Tank Cleaning Service for Confined Space Hazards at Lansing Facility
OSHA has cited Dedicated TCS, LLC, with 11 safety and health, including two willful, violations, primarily for failing to protect workers in confined spaces. OSHA opened an inspection of the company’s Lansing, Illinois, facility, which cleans tank trailers, upon receiving a complaint alleging hazards. Proposed penalties total $142,100.
OSHA’s permit-required confined space standard establishes procedures to protect workers who must enter, work in or exit spaces with configurations that hinder their activities. In addition, the configurations of such spaces may increase workers’ exposure to hazards such as entrapment, engulfment and/or hazardous atmospheric conditions, which can lead to serious physical injury, illness or death.
The willful violations, both safety, involve failing to provide a mechanical lifting device that could help rescue workers from confined spaces as well as an attendant to monitor the safety of workers operating within permit-required spaces.
Most of nine serious safety and health violations relate to the confined space standard. These include failing to test conditions; provide appropriate explosion-proof lighting; review entry operations; verify permit entries, such as required tests and procedures; sign permits to authorize entry; provide training for the safe performance of duties in confined spaces; and certify that training has been accomplished. The violations also include failing to provide hazard communication and personal protective equipment training for workers exposed to contact with corrosive chemicals. A serious violation occurs when there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known.
OSHA Secures Decision Affirming Fall Hazard Violation Against Bridge Painting Company
A decision from an administrative law judge with the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission upholds a citation issued by the OSHA to Campbell, Ohio-based M & J Painting Co., Inc., for failing to abate a safety violation first cited in 2010. The citation carries a $19,250 fine, which also has been upheld.
M & J Painting cleaned and painted the Charles M. Braga Jr. Bridge in Fall River, Massachusetts. In 2010, OSHA inspected the bridge work site and issued a citation encompassing six serious violations. One of the violations involved insufficient horizontal lines used by workers, which placed them in danger of fall injuries. M & J settled with the Labor Department and agreed to have a safety consultant qualified in fall protection systems design horizontal lifeline systems that would effectively protect workers from falls during bridge work.
OSHA inspectors commenced a follow-up inspection of the bridge site in 2011. During that inspection they were barred by company employees from accessing the property to photograph the horizontal lifeline system. Inspectors returned with a warrant and found that the horizontal lifeline system did not meet safety standards in that a qualified person had not designed, installed and supervised the use of the system, as M & J had agreed to arrange. As a result, OSHA issued the citation for the failure-to-abate violation.
M & J Painting then contested the citation and fine, and a three-day trial was held before the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. After hearing the evidence, the judge upheld the citations and penalties.
OSHA Proposes $75,000 in Fines to Minnesota Pipe Manufacturer
OSHA has cited Prinsco, Inc., for 14 alleged serious safety violations, including a lack of machine guarding, at its Chatsworth, Illinois pipe manufacturing facility. An inspection was initiated under OSHA’s Site-Specific Targeting Program, which focuses enforcement efforts on workplaces with high injury and illness rates. Proposed penalties total $75,000.
“Employers such as Prinsco that record a higher-than-average rate of days lost due to injuries demonstrate a need to re-evaluate their safety procedures,” said Tom Bielema, OSHA’s area director in Peoria. “It is the responsibility of every employer to know and correct safety and health hazards that exist in their workplaces.”
The violations involve failing to identify emergency exits; provide adequate guardrails and safe wooden ladders; properly list or label electrical equipment; close unused openings in circuit breaker boxes; and guard corrugating machines, belts, pulleys, and woodworking machines such as radial and table saws.
Willmar, Minn.-based Prinsco, which employs about 40 workers at its Chatsworth facility, manufactures high-density polyethylene corrugated pipe used for drainage purposes in the agriculture, landscaping and residential construction industries.
OSHA Cites B.W. Supply for 25 Health and Safety Violations
OSHA has cited B.W. Grinding, Co., doing business as B.W. Supply, for 25 safety and health – including three willful – violations at the company’s Lyons, Ohio, iron foundry. OSHA initiated an inspection May 7 upon receiving complaints alleging hazards, and the inspection later was expanded under the agency’s local emphasis programs on powered industrial vehicles and primary metals industries. Proposed penalties total $205,100.
Two willful health violations involve failing to implement a hearing conservation program for workers who perform grinding operations as well as a respirator protection program that includes medical evaluations for workers who are required to wear powered air-purifying respirators. One willful safety violation is failing to provide personal protective equipment for employees working around molten metal.
Twenty serious safety and health violations involve exposing workers to “struck-by” and crushing hazards from under-the-hook lifting devices and damaged safety latches on crane and hoist hooks, burn hazards from ladles, improper storage and labeling of flammable and hazardous liquids, a lack of railings, improper storage of respirators and operating a damaged skip hoist. Additionally, the employer failed to ensure that loads of molten metal were secured and stable for safe transport, perform daily inspections of powered industrial vehicles, remove damaged vehicles from service, provide safety guards on a wheel grinder, properly implement a respirator protection program that included fit testing, determine workers’ exposure to silica, and provide personal protective equipment for workers’ eyes, hands and faces.
Two other-than-serious health violations are failing to properly record injuries and illnesses in the company’s 2012 logs, and identify the names of workers who applied lockout devices. An other-than-serious violation is one that has a direct relationship to job safety and health, but probably would not cause death or serious physical harm.
OSHA Cites New York Contractor for Exposing Workers to Fall Hazards
RCP Services, Inc., of Saratoga Springs, New York, has been cited OSHA for nine safety violations while performing concrete work at a residential apartment complex on Big Island Drive in Jacksonville, Florida. An inspection was initiated in August after an OSHA inspector observed employees working without fall protection. Proposed penalties total $47,000.
One willful violation is for allowing employees to work on elevated surfaces without fall protection. The citation carries a $35,000 penalty.
Eight serious violations involve exposed and protruding rebar, a lack of eye and face protection, using a welding cable that required repair, using a damaged extension cord, exposing workers to falling objects, not maintaining fire extinguishing equipment and having unprotected holes in the floor that could cause workers to trip or fall. The citations carry $12,000 in penalties.
“Falls are the leading cause of death for workers in residential construction,” said Brian Sturtecky, OSHA’s area director in Jacksonville. “Employers must take responsibility for ensuring that workers have and wear proper equipment at all times.”
Texas Cabinet Manufacturer Cited by OSHA for Combustible Dust Hazards
OSHA has cited Carmen Creative Cabinets, LLC, with 32 serious safety and health violations for exposing workers to a variety of hazards, including combustible dust accumulations and amputations from unguarded saws. OSHA’s Austin Area Office initiated an inspection of the company’s cabinet manufacturing facility in Belton upon receiving a complaint alleging hazards. Proposed penalties total $64,800.
The safety violations include failing to provide a proper conduit for compressed air, train and certify forklift operators, install approved electrical equipment, properly guard saws, provide safety mechanisms for powered nail guns, and ensure clear access to fire extinguishers and electrical breaker boxes. The health violations include failing to provide adequate housekeeping and exhaust systems for combustible dust accumulations, implement a hazard communication program and training on the use of chemicals, provide personal protective equipment, maintain restroom facilities in a sanitary condition and provide first-aid supplies.
“By failing to find and fix workplace hazards, this employer is exposing workers to possible injuries or much worse. The lack of machine guarding and the accumulation of combustible dust are obvious hazards that Carmen Creative Cabinets should have addressed,” said Casey Perkins, OSHA’s area director in Austin.
OSHA Proposes More Than $61,000 in Fines to Roofing Contractor for Fall Hazards
Employees at a Michael C. Graham & Son Construction site in Liverpool were exposed to potentially deadly or disabling falls of up to 17 feet due to a lack of fall protection, resulting in citations issued by the OSHA for willful, repeat, and serious violations. The Syracuse-based roofing contractor faces a total of $61,600 in proposed fines following an inspection by OSHA’s Syracuse Area Office.
Inspectors found employees at the Oswego Road site exposed to falls while staging roofing materials and stripping shingles without guardrails, safety nets or personal fall protection equipment. These conditions resulted in citations carrying $24,200 in fines for two willful violations.
Citations carrying $33,000 in fines are for two repeat violations that involve failing to train workers on fall hazards and allowing workers to access a roof using a ladder that did not extend at least 3 feet above the landing surface for the required stability. 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. Similar violations were cited at work sites in North Syracuse in 2011 and 2012 as well as a site in Liverpool in 2008.
Citations carrying $4,400 in fines are for two serious violations that involve operating a circular saw and various other power tools that were connected to an ungrounded extension cord and receptacle, as well as using a ladder that was not equally supported by two ladder rails, which exposed employees to falls.
“Unfortunately, this is not an unusual situation. Too often, we encounter work sites where fall protection is inadequate or absent, exposing workers to the No. 1 killer in construction work,” said Christopher Adams, OSHA’s Syracuse area director. “To combat this reality, OSHA has launched a campaign to remind employers and employees alike of what they can do to eliminate fall hazards at their work sites. I’m calling upon employers in central New York to review their fall protection programs, provide effective fall protection and ensure that their employees are trained to recognize and address fall hazards.”
The page offers fact sheets, posters, and videos that vividly illustrate various fall hazards and appropriate preventive measures.
OSHA and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health are working with trade associations, labor unions, employers, universities, community and faith-based organizations, and consulates to provide employers and workers—especially vulnerable, low-literacy workers—with education and training on common-sense fall prevention equipment and strategies that save lives.
OSHA Cites Lawn Care Service for Violations Following Electrocution of Employee
OSHA has cited AAA Professional Lawn Care, Inc., for seven alleged serious violations of workplace safety standards in connection with the July 30 death of a worker who was performing tree trimming work at 5 Country View Drive in Johnston, Rhode Island. The worker was fatally shocked when the aluminum pruner he was using came into contact with an energized 7,200-volt overhead power line.
An investigation by OSHA’s Providence Area Office found that the employer failed to de-energize or ground the power line before the work was begun, as well as to provide protective shields, barriers, or insulating materials to protect workers from shocks, burns, or other electrical-related injuries. In addition, the pruner was not insulated and was used within 10 feet of the power line, the employee lacked both proper training and protective gloves, and the employer did not institute work practices to reduce the electrical hazard.
“This worker’s death could have been prevented had AAA Professional Lawn Care ensured that the power line was de-energized or otherwise properly protected,” said Patrick Griffin, OSHA’s Rhode Island area director. “Further, the company should have provided ensured the use of proper equipment, training and work practices to minimize this deadly but avoidable hazard.”
OSHA and Massachusetts Contractor Reach Settlement Over Cave-in Hazards
As part of a settlement with the US Department of Labor, P. Gioioso & Sons, Inc., a Hyde Park contractor with a long history of violating excavation safety standards, has agreed to pay a $200,000 fine for exposing its employees to cave-in hazards. The contractor also will significantly overhaul its safety practices to minimize trenching hazards and enhance worker safety.
P. Gioioso & Sons, Inc., which primarily works on underground water and sewer mains, has been cited nine times since 2000 by OSHA for violations of OSHA’s trenching and excavation safety standards, most recently in 2011 at work sites in Cambridge and Framingham.
OSHA found employees working in unprotected trenches at both locations and issued citations carrying $354,000 in proposed fines. Gioioso contested the citations. The department’s regional solicitor’s office crafted the settlement agreement, which goes beyond simple correction of the cited hazards.
“The company will be paying a hefty fine, but more importantly, it will be investing heavily in the safety and health of all of its workers through a very significantly ramped up safety and health program,” said Christine Eskilson, OSHA’s counsel in the department’s Regional Office of the Solicitor in Boston. “This company has now committed itself to entirely re-engineering its safety and health processes, and we intend to hold the company to that commitment.”
In addition to paying the fine, Gioioso will notify OSHA of all excavation jobs to be undertaken by the company in the next three years, and allow OSHA inspectors free access to enter and inspect the work sites without a warrant, as well as provide documents related to the work being performed at the sites. Gioioso also will develop and put into effect a comprehensive safety and health program that includes an annual audit by an independent, qualified safety and health consultant. Finally, the company will develop and implement a permit system for all of its excavations that will identify and evaluate the hazards of each operation prior to digging, and specify the means by which those hazards will be controlled.
OSHA Establishes Partnership with Black & Veatch Construction for Work on Columbia Energy Center
OSHA has established a strategic partnership with Black & Veatch Construction, Inc., to reduce workers’ exposure to hazards and the likelihood of serious injuries at the Columbia Energy Center Air Quality Control Systems Project site in Pardeeville, Wisconsin. The Wisconsin On-Site Occupational Safety and Health Consultation Program, which is operated by the state but funded by federal OSHA, also is participating in the partnership.
The partnership’s goals include increasing the number of safety and health programs and best practices implemented among subcontractors, increasing the number of workers who have completed relevant safety training, and maintaining participant data for self-evaluation of the partnership’s overall success.
Black & Veatch Construction will implement a site-specific safety and health program. Other major contractors involved in the project site may choose to participate in this partnership, but the agreement is not contingent upon their participation. Approximately 600 workers are anticipated to be on-site at the peak of the project.
OSHA Establishes Safety Partnership to Protect Workers Building Cleveland Medical Mart and Convention Center
OSHA has established a strategic partnership with construction contractors and state and local agencies to protect workers building the Cleveland Medical Mart and Convention Center from hazards and the likelihood of serious injuries.
OSHA’s partners include the Turner Construction, Co., Ozanne Construction, Co. and Van Aukin Akins Architects, LLC, as well as the Cleveland Building and Construction Trades Council and the Ohio Bureau of Worker’s Compensation Division of Safety and Hygiene Cleveland Service Office.
“This voluntary strategic partnership is focused on identifying and controlling safety hazards, improving safety and health programs, promoting a cooperative relationship between labor and management, and encouraging employee participation in achieving a safe and healthful workplace,” said Howard Eberts, OSHA’s area director in Cleveland. “It aims to meet these goals through increased training, implementation of best work practices and compliance with applicable OSHA standards and regulations.”
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