The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has filed a list of citations against Spartech Plastics LLC, based in Evanston, Ill. OSHA cited the company with 16 serious safety violations for exposing employees to unguarded machinery and electrical shock hazards as well as for failing to protect workers from fall hazards. Proposed penalties total $54,500.
The citations were publicized Sept. 21. The company had 15 days from receipt of citations to take action.
"There is simply no excuse for an employer to disregard the safety and welfare of its workers by not following OSHA regulations to prevent electrocution, falls and amputations," says Diana Turek, OSHA area director, in a release. "Those who ignore the OSHA standards and safe work practices are inviting tragedy into the workplace."
As a result of an inspection that began in March, OSHA issued the citations to Spartech for failing to provide proper training on lockout and tagout of energy sources, failing to conduct required inspections of forklifts, failing to provide required guardrails on work platforms and stairwells and failing to implement lockout and tagout procedures for electrical equipment.
Spartech Plastics LLC also received one non-serious violation for failing to have covers on electrical equipment openings.
In a separate, recent health inspection by OSHA, the company was fined $3,500 for allowing workers to be exposed to noise levels in excess of the permissible limit and for failing to maintain records on cases of employees who sustained work-related occupational hearing loss. The company paid the fine and abated the violations.
Randy Martin, chief financial officer for Spartech, says a number of the alleged violations brought up by OSHA were targeted by the plastics company when it performed its own safety audit of the plant last year. “Some of the recommendations already were completed and some we are working on right now.”
Martin also says the company’s track record is “exemplary,” with the reported incidents at the plant roughly half of the average for plastics and rubber manufacturing companies. “At this point these are just alleged findings. We will go through these items and ensure we are in full compliance,” he adds.
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