"were exposed to falling hazards when unjamming...."

Government safety organizations are mandated to ensure safe and healthful working conditions for workers by setting and enforcing standards and by providing training, outreach, education and assistance. Here is a recent story emphasizing the good work that government safety organizations do.

An aluminium company in the USA was found to have a serious safety violation after employees were exposed to falling hazards when unjamming a bale breaker last year. State inspectors found the company had not established procedures for energy control, such as shutting the equipment down.

From the OSHA Amended Safety Order and Notification of Penalty

Type of violation – Serious. Employees were exposed to falls when they used a 10 foot mobile ladder platform at the bale breaker with defects such as, but not limited to a missing leg propped up with wood.

Type of violation – Serious. Employees used a defective 10 ft mobile ladder platform without removing the ladder and tagging the ladder as defective. Structural defects may contribute or increase exposure to fall hazards.

Type of violation – Serious. Employees were exposed to struck-by and fall hazards when unjamming the (identification omitted) bale breaker. Energy control procedures were not developed, documented, or utilized.

We are glad that OSHA inspected this aluminum plant because if they did not we feel that these violations could have resulted in the incident.

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