Long ago one of the editors of the Aluminium Plant Safety Blog
started his career in the steel industry. He had one customer that was located
in a metropolitan city in the USA. This customer had been around for 50+ years
and while other heavy industry fled the city this company remained. Nearby the
city trained fire inspectors and on a regular basis this company would be
inspected. This company would be cited for the most minor and mundane
violations. Overtime the inspections grew and the new fire inspectors in some
ways became vindictive. The company found little respite in complaining to the
authorities. Eventually the company was forced to move out of the city. The 40
plus jobs were replaced by a few who took over the factory and made it a
warehouse. The APSB has seen over the past few years that some government safety
agencies have shifted toward a more adversarial relationship with industry. Here
is a recent story of an aluminium company that has been subjected to numerous
inspections.
The U.S.
Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
issued a an aluminum company with three citations and over $85,000 fine on
Sept. 23 stemming from two separate fingertip amputations and a thumb injury
this Spring.
OSHA initiated an
inspection of the aluminum company in late April following the amputation of a
worker’s fingertip while the employee was feeding aluminum pieces into a
roll-forming machine, the federal agency said in an Oct. 5 press release.
During the agency’s investigation, a worker suffered a thumb injury and another
incident resulted in the amputation of an employee’s fingertip.
The aluminium company
was cited for a lack of machine guarding and a failure to report the amputation
in the required timeframe. OSHA cited the company for similar violation in May
2012 and March 2016.
“In 2015, our
investigation found 44 safety violations at the facility including amputation
hazards related to the lack of machine guarding. This employer has taken no
action to protect its workers and serious and senseless injuries are the
result. This is unacceptable,” the director of OSHA’s area office said in a
statement.
The aluminium
company has 15 business days after the citation issue date to request a
conference with the OSHA area director, contest the findings before an
independent board, the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, or
comply with the penalties.
First and foremost
we chose to omit the company name and location regarding citations and fines
because the company has the right to argue against the citations.
Due to our extensive
travel schedule throughout the globe it is not unusual for us to post an
incident and have either visited that plant or will visit that plant in the
future. We have visited the plant in this post. We are taken aback by the tone
of the OSHA spokesperson’s quote. Especially, “This employer has taken no
action to protect its workers and serious and senseless injuries are the
result. This is unacceptable”. If given the opportunity I would ask the
spokesperson of what was their motivation to public shame (possibly slander) a
company after an incident? Because of our experience in this particular plant
we disagree with the “has taken no action” to protect its workers. We had
viewed numerous improvements
We do not know why
OSHA has changed long ago it seemed they cared about forging partnerships with
specific industries to address specific hazards. To now where OSHA is viewed
through an adversarial relationship.
The APSB
acknowledges the seriousness of the citations in this post. But we are
confident that the existing plant management and personnel are working diligently
to make a safe working environment.
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