The US Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Olivet Management, LLC for $2,359,000 for safety violations relating to asbestos and lead hazard exposure. According to OSHA, the company exposed its own employees, as well as employees for 13 contractors, to asbestos and lead during cleanup operations of the Harlem Valley Psychiatric Center in the Wingdale section of Dover Plains, NY.

“Olivet knew that asbestos and lead were present at this site, yet the company chose to ignore its responsibility to protect its own workers and contractors,” said U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez. “The intolerable choice this company made put not only workers, but also their families, in danger.”

In total, Olivet was cited for 45 willful violations and 1 serious violation. Of the 45 willful violations, 24 address instance-by-instance exposure of workers to asbestos and lead hazards.

As you can see, lead and asbestos violations can quickly compound, leading to serious fines. If you work in an industry that involves asbestos, lead, or any other toxic substance like these, it is imperative you have sound procedures in place for the dissemination of policy, employee education, and adequate testing. If you do not have procedures in place, or if you have not reviewed them recently, it might be time to consider updating your safety and health management plan. And if you are going to go through this process, it is usually advisable to consult an occupational safety and health advisory firm.

If you have any questions about establishing procedures for asbestos or lead management, please contact us. If you have anything to add about these citations or about asbestos and lead exposure, please leave a comment.

The US Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration proposed $217,000 in fines for Dollar Tree Stores, Inc., following an inspection performed at a location in Missoula in November of 2013. OSHA cited Dollar Tree with four violations, which were comprised of three willful and one repeat violation. These fines come on the heals of three other citations in April, which carried penalties of $143,000.

“This employer’s extensive history of ignoring basic safety standards establishes a clear pattern of intentional and complete disregard for employee safety,” said Jeff Funke, OSHA’s area director in Billings. “Employers have an obligation to keep their workers safe, and Dollar Tree keeps failing to do that.”

The history of citations for Dollar Tree comes from inspections held at different stores all across the country, showing that retailers need to be cognizant of conditions and standards at every location. If you have multiple locations, they can, and will, be inspected by OSHA, and if they are not all following proper procedures, your company can, and will, be heavily fined.

If you have recently been through an inspection at one of your retail locations, it is important that you have all of your facilities audited by a qualified third party, and that you review the entirety of your health and safety procedures, to ensure you will not be dinged in a follow up inspection.

If you have any questions about how retail inspections work, or if you need help updating your procedures, please contact us and we will help you. If you have anything to add about the importance of maintaining all retail stores under your company’s ownership, please leave a comment.

The Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspected the Somerset, NJ facility of Rasi Laboratories, Inc. in August of 2012. In October of 2013, OSHA came back to review the progress of the required changes from the initial inspection. Inspectors found that many of the problems uncovered in 2012 were not yet fixed. This inspection led to proposed penalties totaling $210,000.

“This employer continues to endanger its workers by failing to correct hazardous conditions and failing to implement an injury and illness prevention program,” said Robert Kulick, OSHA regional administrator in New York. “Such disregard for worker safety is unacceptable.”

In August of 2012, OSHA issued seven serious violations totaling $23,100 in fines. When OSHA inspectors returned, they found that the company had failed to abate hazards relating to implementing a continual and effective hearing conservation program for workers exposed to noise above 85 decibels. It also failed to develop and implement a lockout/tagout program to protect workers from dangerous machinery during servicing or maintenance and train employees on proper procedures.

What we can learn from this is that if your company is audited by OSHA, it is important to properly implement any corrective actions deemed necessary by OSHA. If you are having difficulty doing this or if you have any questions about the efficacy of any plans you have put in place, it might be a good idea to consult a qualified occupational safety and health auditing firm to assist.

If you have any questions about updating your safety and health programs at your facility, please contact us. If you have anything to add about this case or about working with occupational safety and health consulting firms, please leave a comment.

The US Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Olivet Management, LLC for $2,359,000 for safety violations relating to asbestos and lead hazard exposure. According to OSHA, the company exposed its own employees, as well as employees for 13 contractors, to asbestos and lead during cleanup operations of the Harlem Valley Psychiatric Center in the Wingdale section of Dover Plains, NY.

“Olivet knew that asbestos and lead were present at this site, yet the company chose to ignore its responsibility to protect its own workers and contractors,” said U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez. “The intolerable choice this company made put not only workers, but also their families, in danger.”

In total, Olivet was cited for 45 willful violations and 1 serious violation. Of the 45 willful violations, 24 address instance-by-instance exposure of workers to asbestos and lead hazards.

As you can see, lead and asbestos violations can quickly compound, leading to serious fines. If you work in an industry that involves asbestos, lead, or any other toxic substance like these, it is imperative you have sound procedures in place for the dissemination of policy, employee education, and adequate testing. If you do not have procedures in place, or if you have not reviewed them recently, it might be time to consider updating your safety and health management plan. And if you are going to go through this process, it is usually advisable to consult an occupational safety and health advisory firm.

If you have any questions about establishing procedures for asbestos or lead management, please contact us. If you have anything to add about these citations or about asbestos and lead exposure, please leave a comment.

The US Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Schwan’s Gloal Supply Chain, Inc. for 32 serious health and safety violations due to issues found at their Atlanta facility. During OSHA’s September investigation, inspectors also found 18 safety and health violations relating to temporary employees of Adecco USA, Inc. and maintenance workers of Cimco Refrigeration, Inc. Most of these violations related to employees handling and working with ammonia, and focused around inadequate training and personal protective equipment. The fines for these citations total $264,360.

“All workers, whether full-time or temporary, deserve the same commitment and access to a safe workplace. Schwan’s, Cimco Refrigeration and Adecco are not providing that for their employees,” said Bill Fulcher, director of OSHA’s Atlanta-East Area Office. “OSHA standards are there to protect workers from predictable and preventable injuries and deaths. These standards were disregarded at the expense of worker safety.”

As you can see in this example, OSHA held multiple companies liable for the same offenses. This is important to keep in mind if your company ever hires on temporary employees or if your employees ever work off site; in either situation, you could be liable for any OSHA violations. If you do have a situation like this, even if you simply hire on contract or seasonal employees, it is important to have a qualified third party safety and health organization review your safety standards to ensure your employees, and any temporary employees, are safe at your facility or another facility.

If you have any questions about how to ensure the safety of your employees or temporary employees who work at your facility, please contact us. And if you have anything to add about this OSHA investigation, please leave a comment.

OSHA initiated an investigation against Custom Rubber Products, LLC in September of 2013. At that time, OSHA was notified of an incident where a machine operator’s arms were crushed. On Thursday, OSHA released a report citing Custom Rubber Products for eight willful, egregious violations surrounding a lack of machine guarding. Theses violations come with proposed penalties totaling $560,000.

“In an instant, moving machine parts can crush workers or amputate fingers or limbs,” said Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational and Health Dr. David Michaels. “Safeguards are essential to protect workers from these preventable injuries. Employers must ensure that guards are functioning on machines that can cause these injuries, and there is no excuse for failing to provide them.”

The eight willful violations were cited for failing to provide one or more methods of machine guarding to protect the operator and other workers in the machine area from hazards created by rotating parts while operating seven manual lathes and other equipment. A proper inspection of plant safety could have prevented this horrible injury and saved this company from a very hefty OSHA inspection.

If you have machinery in your facility, it is important to ensure your machine guarding is properly in place and that all guarding is up to code and properly functioning. If you have not reviewed your machine guards recently, or have not recently reviewed your policies surrounding machine guards, it is advisable to contact a third party safety and health auditing firm to review  your facility and your procedures.

If you have any questions about machine guarding, please contact us. If you have anything to add about the recent fines for Custom Rubber Products or about the importance of machine guards, please leave a comment.

Pressed Paperboard Technologies, LLC has been cited by the US Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration for nine safety and health violations. These violations consist of two willful violations, five serious safety violations, and two serious health violations. OSHA has proposed $81,450 in fines as a result of these citations.

“Pressed Paperboard Technologies has a responsibility to protect workers from electrical hazards at work,” said Kim Nelson, OSHA’s area director in Toledo. “These hazards expose workers to the dangers of arc flash, electric shock and electrocution. Employers must train workers to work safely with electricity.”

The two willful violations resulted from a lack of adequate training for employees working on energized electrical equipment and a lack of adequate personal protective equipment.

The five serious safety violations include failing to develop machine-specific procedures to prevent accidental startup or movement of machine parts that can cause injury; not training workers in lockout/tagout procedures when conducting maintenance on machinery; failing to disconnect electrical panels from all energy sources prior to conducting maintenance work; inadequate machine guarding on milling machines; and failing to test electrical personal protective equipment every six months.

The two serious health violations involve exposing workers to explosion and fire hazards while working near an indoor dust collector that lacked a means of explosion protection, and failing to establish and implement a written respiratory protection program.

As you can see, these violations cross several fields from lockout/tagout to arc flash to respiratory protection. When OSHA comes to audit a facility, the auditor does not focus in only on the incident which prompted the audit. The auditor will do a full facility audit, and will find every safety violation in your facility. For this reason, it is important to implement routine third party safety audits to ensure there are no vulnerabilities in your safety and health management system.

If you have any questions relating to third party safety audits or your safety and health management system, please contact us so that we can help ensure your company is up to code with all things OSHA. And if you have anything to add about this OSHA investigation or about third party safety audits, please leave a comment.