Amputation leads to $125,200 in proposed fines
Amputation leads to $125,200 in proposed fines
Cove Four Slide and Stamping Corp. of Freeport, NY, is facing proposed penalties of $125,200 for two alleged willful and 24 alleged serious violations of federal safety standards after an accident that cost an employee several fingers.
The company manufactures metal products such as pail handles and hanger hooks. The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) investigated the company between Oct. 16, 1998, and April 14, 1999, following an accident on Oct. 15, 1998, in which an employee’s fingers were amputated while doing maintenance on a wire-forming machine.
Serious problems in lockout/tagout program
The investigation disclosed serious deficiencies in the company’s lockout/tagout program, which is intended to prevent accidental start-up of the wire-forming machines, OSHA reports. The inspection also disclosed other alleged machine guarding hazards with the potential for amputation — a condition that has been targeted for reduction nationally under OSHA’s strategic plan.
OSHA alleges that the company willfully violated OSHA’s lockout/tagout standard by failing to have a program of procedures, including employee training, and periodic inspections, to lock or tag machines to prevent their accidental start-up during servicing or repair. The alleged willful violation carries a proposed penalty of $44,000.
The other alleged willful violation, which carries a proposed penalty of $35,500, stems from the firm’s failure to properly guard the point of operation on wire-forming machines to ensure that operators did not place their hands in the danger zone.
The alleged serious violations for which the employer was cited include:
• failure to provide an adequate railing system on stair platform;
• failure to keep an exit door unlocked and unobstructed;
• failure to inspect an automatic sprinkler system;
• failure to minimize spills and leakage of mineral spirits;
• failure to properly align liquid petroleum gas cylinder on a forklift vehicle;
• failure to keep the amount of LP gas stored in the workplace from exceeding an appropriate level;
• failure to train forklift vehicle operators;
• failure to provide a brake monitor and control system and establish an inspection program on a power press;
• failure to guard belts, pulleys, blades, chucks, and other moving parts of machines;
• failure to ensure that oxygen and acetylene cylinders were not stored together or next to an exit;
• failure to have a written hazard communication program and provide training to employees in the hazards associated with materials in the workplace;
• failure to have a hearing conservation program.
The serious violations carry a total proposed penalty of $45,700.
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