Federal OSHA has cited the Allen Family Foods Inc. poultry processing facility in Harbeson Delaware for exposing workers to a variety of workplace safety hazards. Proposed penalties total $182,200.

OSHA initiated an investigation on Sept. 9, 2009, in response to a referral made by Maryland Occupational Safety and Health after numerous serious and willful violations were issued at a similar processing facility in Maryland.

OSHA has cited the company with 45 serious violations and proposed a penalty of $182,000, and two other-than-serious violations with a proposed penalty of $200. The serious violations address hazards with industrial trucks, falls, personal protective equipment, machine guarding, electrical hazards, process safety management, respirators and emergency response.

“It is vital that the company abate these hazards as quickly as possible to ensure that safety and health of workers at that facility are not at risk,” said Domenick Salvatore, director of OSHA’s Wilmington, Del., office.

The Maryland inspection netted three proposed “willful” violations involving Lockout/Tagout and machine guarding.  Proposed penalties of $109,750.

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Federal OSHA is proposing $217,500 in penalties against Hearthmark LLC, doing business as Jarden Home Brands, for safety violations at its Birmingham Alabama location.

The inspection began in July 2009, after an employee was burned when hot wax he was transferring from a railcar erupted. The investigation, including an evaluation for combustible dust, was expanded to all areas of the Birmingham facility when inspectors observed a number of safety hazards during their initial walk through.

OSHA has cited the company with two willful violations with a proposed penalty of $110,000 for failing to develop and use specific lockout/tagout (of accidental energy start-up) procedures for workers engaged in servicing and performing maintenance activities and housekeeping issues related to the accumulation of combustible dust.

The company is also being cited for 31 serious safety violations with $107,500 in proposed penalties. The violations include failing to establish and implement procedures for employees transferring wax from railcars to holding tanks, unguarded platforms, fixed stairs not having standard guard rails, lack of machine guarding, numerous electrical hazards (including unapproved electrical equipment being used in areas containing combustible dust), not filling required permits for confined spaces, belts, pulleys and shafts not being guarded, and failing to utilize restraint systems on powered industrial trucks.

“OSHA determined that this company is fully aware of the deficiencies it has in its safety program and what needs to be changed to provide safe work conditions for employees but hasn’t acted to correct those deficiencies,” said Roberto Sanchez, director of OSHA’s Birmingham Area Office.

Hearthmark LLC is headquartered in Dareville, Ind., and has facilities in North Carolina, Texas, California and Ontario. The company manufactures fire logs under the Pine Mountain, Java-Log and StarterLogg brands.

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Federal OSHA has proposed $97,500 in fines against C&S Wholesale Grocers for alleged repeat and serious violations of safety standards following inspections of company warehouses in Windsor Locks and Suffield, Conn. The bulk of the citations and fines address the recurrence of hazards cited during a 2008 OSHA inspection of the Windsor Locks warehouse.

“Unfortunately, several of the hazardous conditions cited in 2008 have returned, again putting workers at risk of serious injuries or death from electrical and crushing hazards,” said Robert Kowalski, OSHA’s acting area director in Hartford. “The sizable fines proposed here reflect both the gravity and recurring nature of these hazards. This employer must implement effective and continual corrective action to eliminate these hazards at all its locations, now and in the future.”

The current OSHA inspection found damaged storage racks, an ungrounded energized dock light, an energized wall outlet box lacking a knockout plug, and unguarded moving machine parts at Windsor Locks; no auxiliary lighting for powered pallet jacks at Suffield that were operating in areas where the dock lights were not in working order; and exposed energized electrical conductors on loading dock lamps at both locations. Since OSHA cited the company in July 2008 for similar hazards, these latest conditions resulted in the issuance of seven repeat citations with $82,500 in proposed fines.

Three serious citations, with $15,000 in fines, were issued for allowing the use of man basket lifts on powered industrial trucks without first obtaining the manufacturer’s approval, exposed live electrical parts and exposed electrical conductors.

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Federal OSHA issued three Mueller Industries Inc. subsidiaries in Fulton Mississippi 128 citations for allegedly exposing workers to safety and health hazards. The privately-held corporation headquartered in Memphis, Tenn., owns and operates 20 facilities located in eight states and two foreign countries.

OSHA began its investigation in July 2009 after a maintenance worker employed by Mueller Copper Tube Co. Inc., a subsidiary of Mueller Industries, was killed, and two other workers were injured when naphtha, a flammable liquid of hydrocarbon mixtures, leaked from an electric pump and ignited.

“Mueller Industries subsidiaries’ dangerous practices exposed workers at their facilities to a variety of hazards that ultimately took one worker’s life,” said Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA Dr. David Michaels. “The significant fines of $683,000 cannot replace this worker’s life or bring peace to the family, but they will go a long way in letting this employer know disregarding worker safety and health will not be tolerated.”

Mueller Copper Tube has been issued willful, repeat and serious citations. A willful citation with a penalty of $40,000 alleges the failure to repair a corroded live electrical disconnect, which exposed workers to electrical shock. Ten repeat citations with penalties of $150,000 allege failure to guard machinery; unsafe electrical equipment and practices; and failure to label hazardous chemicals. Sixty-nine serious citations, with proposed penalties of $223,500, allege unsafe cranes; fall hazards; unsafe ladders; blocked and inadequate exits; unsafe flammable liquid and compressed gas use and storage; locking out hazardous energy sources during maintenance and service; a lack of machine guards; unsafe electrical equipment and practices; and failure to establish a respiratory protection program.

The initial safety inspection at Mueller Cooper Tube was expanded to include Mueller Fittings LLC and Mueller Packaging LLC, two additional subsidiaries of Mueller Industries. Mueller Fittings has been issued 22 serious citations, with penalties of $64,000, alleging the failure to lock out energy sources, unsafe propane storage and handling, overexposure to noise, unsafe material storage, and the likelihood of exposure to bloodborne pathogens. Eight repeat citations also have been issued, with penalties of $102,500, alleging a lack of machine guarding, electrical hazards and the inadequate labeling of hazardous chemicals.

Mueller Packaging has been issued 12 serious citations, with penalties of $28,000, alleging unsafe crane operation, failing to lock out sources of hazardous energy, hazardous chemical exposures, and overexposure to noise; five repeat citations, with penalties of $75,000, alleging an unsafe forklift modification, electrical hazards and inadequate labeling under the hazard communication standard; and one other-than-serious violation, with no penalty, for an electrical deficiency.

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OSHA has cited International Masonry Inc. in Columbus Ohio with proposed penalties totaling $140,800 for alleged serious and willful violations of federal workplace safety standards after investigating the death of a worker.

International Masonry Inc. has been cited with three willful violations. The proposed penalties of $112,000 are for allegedly modifying the manufacturer’s designed outrigger brackets on scaffolding, not ensuring scaffolding was properly secured to prevent tipping and not ensuring bracing was installed according to manufacturer’s recommendations.The company also has received citations for seven serious violations, with proposed fines of $28,000. Some of the violations address the company’s failure to ensure that power industrial-truck operators were properly trained; failure to repair or replace damaged scaffolding components; guardrail not properly installed; and ladders not used as required, according to safety standards. The company also received an other-than-serious violation with a fine of $800 for not maintaining proper recordkeeping logs.

“Fatalities and injuries of workers due to falls from scaffolding are very much preventable if proper safety procedures are adhered to,” said Deborah Zubaty, OSHA’s area director in Columbus. “OSHA will use all legal measures to ensure that employers that willfully ignore OSHA safety regulations come into compliance. We want workers to return home, safe and healthy, at the end of every shift.”

OSHA conducted their inspection in July 2009 following the fatality of a worker who fell approximately 37 feet after the scaffolding he and two other workers were on collapsed. The family owned company, which employs approximately 100 people, specializes in masonry and stonework construction and has had 59 previous OSHA inspections resulting in 41 violations since 1973, including a fatality inspection in 2002.

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Cranesville Aggregate Co., doing business as Scotia Bag Plant, Scotia, N.Y., faces a total of $509,000 in proposed fines from OSHA. The plant, which bags cement and asphalt, has been cited for 33 alleged willful, repeat and serious violations of workplace safety and health standards following comprehensive OSHA inspections over the past six months.

OSHA representatives felt workers have been needlessly exposed to potentially disabling or fatal respiratory illness, falls, crushing injuries, burns, lacerations, amputation and electrocution.

OSHA found that plant employees who bagged cement were exposed to excess levels of cement dust without adequate ventilation, respiratory protection, personal protective equipment and training. In addition, the plant did not evaluate and identify respiratory hazards, train forklift operators or prevent an employee from working under a suspended load. As a result, OSHA has issued the plant six willful citations, with $375,000 in fines.

Seven repeat citations, with $75,000 in fines, have been issued for conditions similar to those cited in earlier OSHA inspections of Cranesville facilities in Kingston, Glens Falls and Fishkill, N.Y. These included an unsanitary workplace, unlabeled containers of hazardous chemicals, and fall and electrical hazards. Twenty serious citations, with $59,000 in fines, have been issued for ineffective respirator training, a lack of personal protective equipment, a lack of emergency eyewashes, obstructed exits, unguarded machinery, and additional forklift and electrical hazards.

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Heberle Disposal Service Inc., a Rochester, N.Y., solid waste collection company, faces an additional $304,200 in fines from Federal OSHA for failing to correct hazards cited during a 2008 inspection and for new and recurring safety hazards at its Alvanar Road worksite.

OSHA had cited the company in June 2008 for 12 serious violations. A 2009 follow-up inspection found that five of the 12 cited hazards remained uncorrected: improper transfer of flammable liquids; not ensuring employees were competent to operate powered industrial trucks; not informing and training employees about the hazardous chemicals in their workplace; allowing spark-producing equipment near flammable paint spray areas; and not determining an employee’s medical fitness to wear a respirator. These uncorrected conditions resulted in the issuance of five failure-to-abate notices carrying $288,000 in proposed fines.

“The sizable fines proposed here reflect the gravity of this employer’s ongoing failure to correct clear and recognized hazards that could result in burns, crushing injuries or death for its employees,” said Arthur Dube, OSHA’s area director in Buffalo, N.Y.

The company also has been issued three repeat citations, with $8,400 in fines, for new hazardous conditions similar to those cited in 2008: an unguarded disc grinder, an improperly adjusted work rest on a bench grinder and an ungrounded flexible power cord.

Two serious citations, with $6,000 in fines, have been issued for improper storage and dispensing of flammable liquids. Finally, the company has been issued one other-than-serious citation and fined $1,800 for not posting the OSHA citations issued from the previous inspection.

“One means by which employers can prevent the occurrence and recurrence of serious workplace hazards is through an effective safety and health management system in which they work with their employees on a continual basis to actively identify, analyze and eliminate hazardous conditions,” said Robert Kulick, OSHA’s regional administrator in New York.

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A recent bulletin published by OSHA highlights a lesser known hazard of some stand-up model forklifts. The issue is called “under-ride”. It occurs when a stand-up forklift which is not equipped with rear guard or corner posts backs up toward a storage rack or similar hazard. The body of the forklift passes under the storage rack horizontal crossbar and enters into the operator’s compartment causing crushing injuries to the operator. In the U.S. at least nine employees have been killed in this manner. What to do? First evaluate your facility to determine if “under-ride” hazards exist when operating stand-up forklifts.

Here are some recommendations to minimize this risk:

1. Make modifications to the shelving system.
2. Install a barrier such as a curb or floor level shelf for the forklift to strike instead of under-riding occurring.
3. Contact your forklift manufacturer to determine if rear post guards or equivalent protection is available for installation on your lifts. Any modifications and additions which affect the safe operation shall not be performed by the customer or user without the manufacturer’s prior written approval (29 CFR 1910.178 (a) (4)).
4. Evaluate your control methods to ensure they are effective and do not create any additional hazards.
5. Train your employees to operate forklifts safely. This includes being aware of recognized hazards.
6. When replacing forklifts, purchase stand-ups which prevent this event from occurring.

Click here for more details on this Safety and Health Information Bulletin

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OSHA has cited El Dorado Metals with 26 serious safety and health violation and has proposed penalties of $69,500.

The alleged failure to protect its employees from potential safety and health hazards followed an inspection at the company’s worksite on Pellizzari Place in El Dorado, Arkansas.

“Failure to implement OSHA’s standards and regulations to prevent potential hazards associated with lead exposure is unacceptable,” said Carlos Reynolds, OSHA’s area director in Little Rock. “We are hopeful that corrective action will be taken immediately to prevent injuries or accidents.”

El Dorado Metals employs about 26 workers, 10 of whom were present at the time of the inspection.

OSHA’s Little Rock area office began its investigation Feb. 9 as part of OSHA’s National Emphasis Program on Lead and found 26 alleged serious violations.

The serious violations include failing to ensure employees are not exposed to lead levels greater than the permissible exposure limit, provide medical evaluations for employees exposed to lead levels greater than the permissible exposure limit, develop and implement a written compliance program to reduce employee exposure to lead, ensure medical evaluations were performed on employees required to wear respirators and provide training for forklift operators.

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OSHA has proposed more than $1.1 million in penalties to Milk Specialties Co.

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