OSHA Enforcement Roundup: Week of 11/20

The OSH Act of 1970 requires US employers to provide a safe, healthy workplace for every employee. Failure to comply with applicable OSHA health & safety standards can easily lead to preventable injuries and fatal accidents at workplaces of all types.

The enforcement actions highlighted below provide insight into how and why OSHA issues citations for workplace safety violations. All violations discussed are alleged only unless we say otherwise.

We withhold the names of organizations and individuals subject to enforcement to protect their privacy. Check out OSHA’s latest list of the 10 most-cited safety Standards here.

Two amputation injuries at a Wisconsin foundry led to an OSHA investigation and $234,385 in proposed penalties.

Two employees suffered fingertip amputation injuries that were allegedly related to machine guarding and energy control procedures. In both instances, the employee was using a grinder to trim parts during the casting process and had their finger caught in unguarded machinery.

OSHA cited the foundry for two repeat and six serious violations; the company was cited for similar issues in 2019 and 2021.

A prepared meal manufacturer faces $272,792 in proposed penalties following OSHA investigation.

OSHA opened an investigation of the facility after receiving an injury report concerning an employee at the company’s Barlett, Illinois manufacturing facility. The Agency cited the company for two repeat and eight serious violations.

Allegedly, the company did not make sure that employees followed energy control procedures while servicing and maintaining equipment, nor did the company perform and document annual inspections of machine-specific lockout procedures.

The Agency cited the company for violations related to lockout/tagout training, mechanical ventilation chemical storage areas, fall hazards, confined spaces, and machine guarding.

Three companies cited by OSHA for alleged cave-in and struck-by hazards at a worksite in Middleburg, Florida.

Investigators claim three employees were working in an unprotected (i.e., without a trench box) 8’ x 55’ x 9’ trench with spoil piles on the leading edge of the trench. According to OSHA's report, the project’s general contractor stood on the trench’s edge next to the owner of another company who was sat in an excavator, also on the trench’s edge.

OSHA proposed $131,704 in total—$65,182 for the general contractor, and $33,261 each for the other two companies.

Online Training: Get to Know OSHA's Rules

Lion’s 10 Hour OSHA General Industry Online Course introduces new safety managers to a wide range of the most common workplace health & safety standards for general industry: hazard communication, providing PPE, fire extinguishers, forklifts, fall prevention, and much more.