Incident Report: OSHA Issues Six-Figure Fines for Fall Violations.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced a pair of six-figure penalties issued to two employers for fall violations, including citations for a fatal fall.
On June 21, the agency revealed it
cited a Strasburg, Pennsylvania, framing contractor for two willful and five serious violations, exposing workers to falls as high as 14 feet while working at a Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) facility.
OSHA proposed penalties of $247,269.
OSHA also announced the conclusion of its investigation into the fatal fall of a contract employee at a Robbinsville, New Jersey, frozen food manufacturer—an investigation that identified a wide range of potentially fatal workplace hazards.
The agency
cited CJ TMI Manufacturing America LLC with 36 violations and proposed $368,513 in penalties.
The agency reported that a contract employee suffered fatal injuries in December 2021 when the worker fell 11 feet while using a scissor lift to replace a freezer drain.
OSHA’s investigation found a damaged and inoperable snap hook on the lift’s safety chain and that the company did not inspect the lift before work began.
The agency said it also found the employer exposed workers to:
- Amputations and lacerations from unguarded or inadequately guarded machinery;
- Explosion hazards from accumulations of combustible flour dust on equipment, floors, and surfaces throughout the plant;
- Confined space hazards when entering a wastewater pit to service a water meter;
- Hexavalent chromium hazards during welding operations;
- Chemical burns from caustic chemicals due to inaccessible decontamination showers and eyewash stations;
- Being struck by forklifts operated by untrained employees; and
- Numerous electric shock hazards.
“The company must address and correct a substantial number of hazardous conditions identified during our inspection so that nobody else has to risk their life,” Paula Dixon-Roderick, OSHA’s Marlton, New Jersey, area director, said in an agency statement.
OSHA also placed CJ TMI in the agency’s severe violator enforcement program (SVEP). Employers placed in the SVEP are subject to mandatory follow-up inspections and increased agency pressure to abate cited hazards.
Ask Bob
Free technical support for all IVES Certified Trainers!
Question:
Hi Bob!
Is there any standard that says the equipment checklist has to be on the machine?
For example a scissor lift inspection. Is there anything stating that the inspection has to be physically on the equipment, or can it be filled out and then put in a jobsite binder so they are all in the same place?
Thank you!
Answer:
Thanks for checking in with us.
Pre-use inspections are not required to be kept on the machine, but I like your idea to keep them in a binder as long as operators know where that binder is and can access it as needed.
We suggest your company keep at least a rolling 6 months of them whether it be in an office or on the machine is adequate.
Bob
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