The Whole Story<\/h2>\n
Below are the complete federal OSHA and state plan lists of enforcement cases greater than $40,000 since January 20.<\/p>\nLarge OSHA Enforcement Cases Through June 9, 2017<\/h2>\n\n
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Press Release Drought Continues<\/h1>\nPress Release Drought Continues<\/h1>\nWhen Secretary of Labor Alex Acosta testified last month before the US Senate, he committed to citing employers who have the information about how to make the workplace safe, but don’t do what they need to do to provide a safe workplace. \u00a0Well, to their credit, OSHA continues to enforce the law. But all that enforcement stuff seems to embarrass them. They don’t want to talk about it.<\/p>\n
Why do I think they’re embarrassed? First, they continue to issue very few press releases. Second, even the press releases they do issue are tepid, to say the least, even when a worker has been killed. For example, OSHA issued a hefty\u00a0$714,142 citation against Arrow Plumbing, including\u00a0six\u00a0willful\u00a0and eight serious violations after the death of\u00a0\u00a0a 33-year-old employee died on Dec. 15, 2016, when a 12-foot trench collapsed at a home construction site. Even killing one of its employees apparently didn’t teach the company a lesson. OSHA issued more citations a month later for the same problems. One would think that the death of an employee in a trench over twice as deep as allowed, and the same violations a month later would generate a sense of outrage at OSHA (and certainly would have in the last administration.) Instead, the headline on the OSHA Press Release<\/a> reads “Missouri citations highlight importance of vigilance in preventing trench cave-ins, protecting workers.”<\/p>\n The “importance of vigilance?” How about something like: “OSHA Cites Employer After Worker Dies in Trench Collapse; \u00a0Employer Continued to Endanger Workers?”<\/p>\n Of course, maybe I should just be thankful that the agency issued any press release.<\/p>\n But not really. The fact that OSHA isn’t issuing more than a few press releases — or can’t develop a new press release policy is inexcusable. Out of over 400 enforcement cases that would have been eligible for press releases in the last administration, only seven — seven! — have been issued since inauguration day. Even if the agency went back to the press release policy of the last administration — only cases over $70,000, instead of cases over $40,000 — 181 press releases should have been issued by now.<\/p>\n OSHA’s failure to issue press releases is not only absurd, but it’s harmful to worker safety.<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n OSHA’s failure to issue press releases is not only absurd, but it’s harmful to worker safety. OSHA is a very small agency that can only reach a tiny number of workplaces every year. Employers need to comply with the law even if OSHA is unlikely to appear in their workplace, and the only reason that many employers make the investment to protect workers and comply with the law is if they fear they may be inspected. \u00a0If there are no press releases, no news about OSHA enforcement, more and more employers will assume that OSHA is not on the job, is even less likely to visit their workplaces, and they will be less likely to protect their employees.<\/p>\n And unless workers understand that OSHA is on the job, inspecting workplaces and issuing citations — even before someone is seriously injured or killed — they will be less likely or willing to file an OSHA complaint.<\/p>\n If Secretary Acosta is really serious about worker safety, if he’s really serious about enforcement (despite his emphasis on compliance assistance), then he will go back to publicizing major enforcement cases, or at least explain why he has radically changed the policy of every past administration.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Happily, despite OSHA’s failure to issue press releases, a few intrepid reporters have dug out enforcement information anyway. And some of the state plans, like Oregon and California, still issue press releases. \u00a0Here are some cases that have been in the news recently.<\/p>\n Mile Square Roofing Co. Inc<\/strong>. of Hackensack, N.J. was fined $30,675 for alleged safety lapses <\/a>at the Mount Kisco Commons shopping center for violating three worker safety rules, the biggest being for an alleged repeat violation related to scaffolding totaling $19,250.<\/p>\n American Fine Sinter Co. Ltd.<\/strong>, a Tiffin, Ohio automotive parts supplier has been fined$82,462<\/a> by the U.S. Department of Labor following an inspection that officials said revealed a number of potential safety issues, including several that the firm had been cited for three years ago. The company had not established proper procedures for cutting off power to equipment that was being serviced, did not use safety blocks when employees changed dies on mechanical presses, did not have proper guards in place on machinery being tested, and didn\u2019t have the proper controls in place to ensure press modes could not be changed without the operator\u2019s knowledge. The company \u2014 a subsidiary of Fine Sinter Co. Ltd. in Japan \u2014 was cited for all four of those issues in 2014.<\/p>\n Amsted Rail Company,\u00a0<\/strong>a manufacturer of steel rail parts in Groveport, Ohio has been fined $610,034 for exposing workers to machine hazards and harmful levels of silica<\/a>. OSHA found 30 workplace safety violations, including failure to implement engineering controls to lower silica exposures, failure to implement a respiratory protection program, and failure to affix locking devices to machinery during maintenance. OSHA inspected the facility after agency inspectors responded to the facility after a maintenance worker’s leg was crushed in a machine. Inspectors documented four incidents of workers exposed to silica above the agency’s permissible exposure limit (PEL). Amsted Rail has been placed in OSHA’s\u00a0Severe Violator Enforcement Program<\/a>. OSHA Press Release here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n The Brock Group<\/strong> was\u00a0fined more than $23,000 for the death of Jesus Ruiz<\/a> died December 1, 2016 while working at Western Refining in El Paso, Texas. \u00a0Ruiz was a paint-spray machine operator who put on his air-supplied hood and suffocated because of low oxygen. According to Western Refining, Ruiz was an employee of a contractor, the Brock Group, based in Houston. \u00a0OSHA has fined that company for two serious violations.<\/p>\n OSHA cited Arrow Plumbing LLC<\/strong> of Blue Springs, Missouri, for failing to provide basic safeguards to prevent trench collapse and did not train its employees to recognize and avoid cave-in and other hazards.\u00a0OSHA opened its first investigation of Arrow Plumbing after a 33-year-old employee died on Dec. 15, 2016, when a 12-foot trench collapsed at a home construction site in Belton. A second investigation began on Jan. 20, 2017, at a Kansas City work site where inspectors found the contractor\u2019s employees working in an unprotected trench at another residential work site. No employees were injured there. Overall, OSHA cited Arrow Plumbing for six\u00a0willful<\/a>\u00a0and eight serious violations of workplace safety standards and proposed $714,142 in penalties. OSHA Press Release here<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0The citations for the Dec. 15, 2016, fatality inspection may be viewed\u00a0here<\/a>. Citations for the Jan. 20, 2017, inspection can be viewed\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Environmental Remediation Services Inc.<\/strong> of East Syracuse, the employer of a demolition worker killed<\/a> at the Gap Inc. distribution center in Fishkill has been fined by the\u00a0Occupational Safety and Health Administration for violating regulations on the removal of steel construction. ERS was cited for one\u00a0“serious” violation and fined $8,149 in connection with the death of James Parisella,\u00a058, who died when a 100-foot\u00a0section of steel pierced the cab of his excavator on Dec. 10. He was helping take down a building at the Gap site that had been\u00a0destroyed by fire on Aug. 29.<\/p>\n Cal\/OSHA has cited\u00a0Pacific Scientific Energetic Materials Company,<\/strong> an explosives manufacturer, in Hollister for \u00a0$293,235 for multiple serious and willful accident-related workplace safety violations<\/a>. The citation resulted from an investigation of an\u00a0explosion at the company\u2019s Hollister facility<\/a>\u00a0after one of its female technicians was seriously injured on Dec. 1, 2016. Cal\/OSHA inspectors determined that Pacific Scientific failed to take the steps necessary to protect the worker from explosive hazards. \u00a0\u201cThis explosives manufacturer put employees at risk by failing to follow their own safety procedures, and unfortunately a worker was seriously injured,\u201d said Cal\/OSHA Chief Juliann Sum.<\/p>\n The Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division (Oregon OSHA)\u00a0announced<\/a>\u00a0June 19 that it has fined Jordan, Minn.-based Abhe & Svoboda Inc<\/strong>. $189,000 for nine safety violations that exposed employees to death or serious injury<\/a> during a project to restore the Ross Island Bridge in Portland. Two of the violations are classified as willful, according to Oregon OSHA, which issued the citations after investigating a Feb. 8, 2017, incident on a scaffolding system. Read the Press Release here<\/a>. (Confined Space wrote about safety problems on this project previously: “Hit the fu**ing Road Jack: Why we need a strong OSHA enforcement program<\/a>.)<\/p>\n Nitz Development and Construction LLC<\/strong>, a Virginia-based construction company, is facing alleged violations<\/a> and a fine of $12,675 from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in connection with\u00a0the death of a worker in Williston, North Dakota, earlier this year<\/a>. The company was issued citations for a training violation and a “struck by hazard” on June 12, Eric Brooks, director of Bismarck’s OSHA office, said, following the death on February 22 of Melvin Lyons who was hit by a dump truck that was backing up in a construction site. Lyons, 70, died of injuries to his legs.<\/p>\n KTI Utility Construction,<\/strong> of Wilton, Connecticut, has been cited by OSH for two serious violations<\/a> that resulted in the electrocution death of\u00a0Marcos Silva, 44, an employee of the drilling contracting\u00a0company,<\/span> last June 9 after replacing utility poles. KTI\u00a0was cited\u00a0<\/span>for failing to operate mechanical equipment at a safe distance from an exposed power line,<\/span>\u00a0and for not having a worker ensure that a safe distance was observed and to warn anyone operating too close to an exposed power line.\u00a0<\/span>KTI Utility Construction was originally issued a $2,800 fine, but reportedly settled on $2,000, according to an OSHA spokesman.<\/span><\/p>\n Fuyao Glass America<\/strong>, of Maraine, Ohio has been cited again<\/a> for alleged safety violations, according to the Cincinnati office of the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration.\u00a0\u00a0Last November, OSHA proposed $226,937 in penalties against Fuyao for 23 \u201cserious safety violations and one other-than-serious violation.\u201d The penalties were later resolved between Fuyao and OSHA and the fines were reduced to $100,000.\u00a0The company has now been cited for four new alleged safety violations, some of which are divided into multiple allegations. OSHA has proposed total fines of $37,843<\/p>\n<\/div>\n OSHA has cited Diamond Plastics Corporation<\/strong> of Macon, Georgia with two serious violations totaling $21,729 as the result of a death in 2016 after a man fell into a machine<\/a>. The first violation was for open sided floors and\/or platforms not guarded with standard railings and toe boards, while the second violation was for not providing standard railings on the open sides of exposed stairways. Over the last 10 years, OSHA has investigated two separate safety complaints at the Diamond Plastics Corporation in Macon.Com<\/a>plaints in 2009 and 2012 resulted in multiple serious violation citations with fines of $10,000 for exposing workers to possible amputations from unguarded machinery.<\/p>\n Atlantic Sales & Salvage,<\/strong> an East Brunswick, New Jersey salvage yard, where\u00a0an employee was crushed to death<\/a>\u00a0in December \u2014 was fined over $93,000<\/a> from the\u00a0Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>Universal Processing, LLC,<\/strong> which does business as Atlantic Sales & Salvage, sells used car parts to Africa and the Caribbean. At 10:30 a.m. on December 12, 2016, an employee was clearing a jam of cardboard in a compactor at the yard. The machine suddenly turned on. Alvaro Esteban, a 22-year-old Freehold man, was crushed to death and killed. Esteban was pronounced dead at the scene. After Esteban’s death, the site was investigated by OSHA, and the federal safety agency found at least a dozen serious safety violations on the property. The yard was issued several $8,000 and $12,000 fines for the improper servicing and maintenance of machines, which could start up and harm employees. (OSHA Citation here<\/a>)<\/p>\n The Vermont State OSHA Program issued three workplace violence citations<\/a> totaling $14,000 to the Vermont Psychiatric Care Hospital<\/strong> in Berlin \u201cfor what state inspectors say was a failure to protect front-line workers from patients who become dangerous.\u201d \u00a0The VOSH inspection was the result of a complaint filed by the Vermont State Employees\u2019 Association after discovering that there had been over 200 incidents at the hospital in 2015 and 2016.\u00a0\u201cThe majority of those were nominal, but there were some that required medical attention, even trips to the hospital,\u201d a union spokesman said. \u201cWe\u2019ve heard about it from employees for years. It\u2019s been an ongoing issue.\u201d<\/p>\n Michigan OSHA\u00a0issued seven citations to AJM Packaging Corp<\/strong>. in Taylor for failing to protect workers from amputation hazards. Three willful citations were issued for not utilizing machine lockout procedures and a fourth willful citation was issued for not providing employees with training on lockout procedures. MIOSHA inspections revealed a pattern of violations that have resulted in more than 10 separate incidents of finger and fingertip amputations from unguarded machines since 2012. Read the\u00a0news release<\/a>\u00a0for more information.<\/p>\n The\u00a0Virginia Occupational Safety and Health Program\u00a0issued $84,000 in penalties to Georgia Pacific<\/strong> in Big Island for safety violations discovered after a fatal incident in November. VOSH inspectors determined that the company had removed a nip roll guard from a floor opening, and six days later, a worker servicing a paper machine fell through the unguarded hole into a pulp tank and drowned. VOSH inspectors\u00a0issued citations<\/a>\u00a0to the company for two serious and one willful violations.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Below are the complete federal OSHA and state plan lists of enforcement cases greater than $40,000 since January 20.<\/p>\nRecent Enforcement Cases in the News<\/h3>\n
\n\n\n\n\nThe Whole Story<\/h2>\n
Large OSHA Enforcement Cases Through June 9, 2017<\/h2>\n\n