"inspection uncovered more than 40 violations...."

 

We have reported on incidents occurring in specialized foundries in the past. These specialized foundries range from academia, high end art, too local art studios. For a myriad of reasons these workplaces lack safety standards common throughout our industry. Here is a recent example emphasizing no matter the size of your workplace. All workplaces are required to follow the pertinent government safety regulations.

 

World-renowned, contemporary fine-art workshop faces nearly $100,000 USD in fines after a state Department of Labor & Industries inspection uncovered more than 40 violations of health and safety regulations.

 

The Foundry was cited for a variety of problems including a general lack of planning for hazard assessments and “serious failures to provide required safety equipment or training to workers,” according to the release Tuesday, April 12.

 

The (government safety agency) also cited the company for not properly cutting power supplies to dangerous equipment to prevent machinery from being accidentally or unintentionally turned back on.

 

Accidents can occur when power supplies are not completely shut off, and machinery unexpectedly gets powered up causing injury or damage, according to the release.

The Foundry was also dinged for not properly supervising work activities in confined spaces.

 

The (government safety agency) defines a confined space as one large enough and arranged so that a worker can fully enter it and work, has limited or restricted entry or exit, and is not designed for someone to be inside continuously.

 

Of the 40 violations that the foundry was assessed, 29 were considered serious by the (government safety agency).

 

The violations include a lack of eye-wash stations, employees not wearing proper eye and face protection and no emergency rescue plan in place to contact authorities in the case of an accident.

 

The Foundry’s leaders have filed an appeal. They released a statement to the (local news media) on Tuesday saying: “The (name omitted) Foundry prioritizes employee safety and is committed to a work environment that is safe and healthy. We have been working with a safety consultant to ensure that we are fully compliant with (government safety organization) requirements. This is the first (government safety organization) citation the (name) Foundry has received in its 42 years in business.”

The local art business was founded in 1980 to facilitate the creation of art sculptures through bronze casting and fabrication, according to the Foundry’s website.

 

It is one of the largest arts foundries in the world and has earned its reputation as one of the premiere fine-arts casting facilities in the United States, (name omiited) staff state on the site.

We are thankful that the government inspection that resulted with the monetary fine in this story did not come in response to an incident involving an injury or a fatality. In our experience this foundry probably has said “we are safe, we have never had an incident.” This is a common quote but many companies upon receiving a safety fine. They fail to realize that they did not have a (serious) incident because of luck. Not because of their processes. We can make that statement because the circumstances are very similar to a workplace that has a false safety belief. Which occurs over time where a task or procedure is deemed safe in great part that an incident did not occur in the past. When (not if) an incident occurs. During the investigation the task or procedure that was deemed safe is determined to be actually unsafe. It was only because of luck an incident did not occur beforehand.

In our opinion many incidents occur because of false safety beliefs. How to prevent them from your workplace? Its rather simple. Ask why “we do that?” a lot. If an answer is “because that is always how we have done it.” Investigate because that answer can lead one to a false safety belief.

Please comment.