OSHA Enforcement Roundup: Week of 11/11

The OSHA Enforcement Roundup gives you insight into how and why OSHA assesses penalties for workplace safety & health noncompliance. Check out OSHA’s latest list of the 10 most-cited safety Standards here.

All violations or claims discussed below are alleged only unless we say otherwise, and we withhold the names of organizations and individuals to protect their privacy.

In Texas, a furniture manufacturer faces a $257,183 penalty due to 24 alleged serious workplace safety and health violations.

OSHA learned that, while an employee was using a garden hose to clean machine rollers at the facility, the hose was caught in the rollers and pulled the worker’s arm into the machine. The employee suffered “serious and permanent hand and arm injuries.”

Investigators determined that the manufacturer could have prevented the employee injuries by installing required machine guards. OSHA inspectors also alleged that the exposed workers to respirable crystalline silica hazards.

A New York roofing company must pay a penalty after allegedly exposing workers to 4-story falls and unsafe ladders.

Following investigation and litigation by the US Department of Labor, an administrative law judge ordered a Rochester-based roofing company to pay $16,782 in penalties. OSHA alleged that the company committed two serious fall protection and ladder safety violations:

• Failed to protect an employee from a 40-foot fall hazard as they stood near the edge of a roof to guide a crane’s operation.
• Allowed workers to use an unsafe ladder.

The company made the case that the violations stemmed from unpreventable employee misconduct, and that OSHA's inspection infringed on the company’s fourth amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizures.

In ordering the penalty payment, the judge noted that the employer had knowledge of the fall protection violations and that the inspector acted reasonably during the inspection.

An Illinois-based construction contractor was cited for eight alleged safety violations and faces $287,465 in proposed penalties.

Inspectors say they found employees framing a residential structure without required protections three times at three worksites in the same neighborhood in one month. The contractor was cited for:

• Allowing employees to work without protection at heights greater than six feet.
• Failing to certify they trained workers to recognize hazards or prevent falls.
• Did not ensure workers had certification needed to operate powered industrial vehicles.
• Allowed the unsafe use of ladders.
• Used damaged slings to hoist materials.

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.

Lion’s Fall Prevention for Construction training prepares workers to recognize and avoid fall hazards while working at heights, on platforms, or around holes in floors or walls. OSHA requires training for all employees who may be exposed to fall hazards.

Tags: fall protection, machine guarding, osha, OSHA Enforcement Roundup, OSHA training