E.N. Range Inc. in Miami, Fla., has been cited for more than $2 million for exposing workers to lead and other hazards.

 OSHA has issued citations to E.N. Range Inc. in Miami, Fla., alleging the company knowingly neglected to protect employees who clean gun ranges from serious overexposure to lead. It also provided, without medical supervision, non-FDA-approved treatments for lead exposure. The company was cited for more than 50 violations of the lead standard and others, with total proposed penalties of $2,099,600.

“This company was well aware of what it needed to do to protect its workers from a well known hazard. It not only failed to provide that protection, it misled employees - most of whom had limited knowledge of English - into believing that it was providing them with appropriate medical treatment,” said Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis. “Such a blatant disregard for the health of workers will not be tolerated under this administration.”

E.N. Range has been cited for 42 willful and serious violations of the lead standard with proposed penalties of $1,884,000. OSHA’s lead standard requires employers to protect their workers from lead exposure which can cause many serious health issues including brain damage, paralysis, kidney disease, and even death.

OSHA’s lead standard also addresses the use of chelating agents, which are medicines intended to reduce blood levels that can have significant adverse side effects. The standard prohibits the use of these agents prophylactically, and permits their therapeutic use only under the supervision of a physician in an appropriate clinical setting. Willful citations were issued alleging that E.N. Range violated this provision by giving its workers non-FDA-approved chelating agents without medical supervision.

“This is an egregious situation where the employer deliberately refused to provide the necessary protections to keep workers safe from overexposure to lead,” said Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA Dr. David Michaels. “The company even knew its workers suffered from lead poisoning, yet avoided proper medical attention in favor of providing an unapproved and potentially unsafe treatment.”

The citations allege that E.N. Range did not use engineering controls to prevent overexposure to lead, perform air sampling to determine the extent of its workers’ exposure, provide showers for workers who had been exposed to lead, or provide blood testing to exposed workers every six months, all of which are required by the lead standard.

The company was also found in violation of the respiratory protection standard for failing to provide medical evaluations and fit testing for respirators. Additionally, the company is being cited for failing to abate a previously-cited violation discovered during an inspection in February 2009. That failure-to-abate notice charges that the employer had neglected to implement a job rotation schedule to reduce lead exposures. The company is also being cited for additional serious violations, including a spliced electrical cable and failure to ensure the blades of a box fan were adequately guarded.

Cincinnati Contractor Very Familiar to OSHA Hit with More Fines for Exposing Workers to Lead

OSHA levies $321,000 in fines against bridge and tower painter UCL Inc. in Cincinnati for exposing workers to lead

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited bridge and water tower painter UCL Inc. in Cincinnati with alleged willful, egregious and serious violations of federal workplace safety and health standards for exposing workers to lead. Proposed fines total $321,000.

OSHA began its inspection in May where UCL was abrasive blasting paint from two bridge overpasses on I-75 near Middletown, Ohio. The inspection revealed nine alleged willful and two serious violations.

Hazards identified as willful allege a variety of violations of the federal lead in construction standard, including a lack of appropriate respirators and protective clothing, failing to maintain eating areas free of lead contamination and failing to remove lead dust from equipment before workers entered designated eating areas.

Four of the willful violations, relating to the employer’s failure to provide clean protective clothing to workers on a daily basis, are also classified as egregious. By designating violations as egregious, OSHA can assess penalties for each time the violation occurs, rather than proposing a single penalty for all violations of a specific agency regulation.

The two serious violations address an inadequate lead compliance program and failing to provide adequate hand washing facilities for employees.

“Few Americans are aware of lead’s deadly effects or the fact that lead taken home on clothing and work tools can infect an entire family,” said OSHA Area Director Richard Gilgrist in Cincinnati. “The cost of employee and family health is far too great a price to pay for anyone to ignore this hazard. All of us want to see working men and women go home safe and without carrying toxic substances into their homes at the end of every work shift.”

While UCL has been in business since 1999, the company owner previously owned United Painting Co., a business that according to OSHA has been cited repeatedly for lead standard violations. UCL also has received numerous citations, many of which were for violations of federal lead standards. An Aug. 27 fatal accident at another bridge painting worksite of UCL, along the same I-75 construction corridor, is still under investigation.

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