OSHA fines Atlanta plastics recycler

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has issued citations to Atlanta-based Nemo Plastics for 21 serious and three other-than-serious safety and health violations.

The Dec. 22, 2016, inspection was initiated after the agency received a complaint.

OSHA issued the serious citations, with proposed penalties of $133,443, for:

• exposing workers to explosion and fire hazards by allowing combustible dust to accumulate;
• failure to provide employees personal protective clothing;
• failure to implement a hazardous energy control program to prevent machinery from starting up during maintenance and servicing;
• failure to evaluate spaces such as silos to determine if they were permit-required confined spaces;
• exposing workers to amputations hazards due to missing machine guards; and
• failure to develop a noise monitoring program.
  

The other-than-serious violations include exposing workers to electrical hazards, not providing Appendix D for employees using respirators and failing to post combustible dust warning signs to inform employees of the fire and explosive hazards associated with combustible dust.

“Nemo Plastics is responsible to assess workplace hazards and ensure measures are taken to protect employees,” says William Fulcher, OSHA area director in the Atlanta-East office. “Workers should not have to risk their lives or health to provide for themselves and their families. The hazards identified during this complaint inspection are preventable by taking basic safety precautions such as providing personal protective equipment, performing routine housekeeping and guarding machines so that a worker doesn’t get injured or killed.”

The citations can be viewed here. 

Nemo Plastics receives scrap cardboard and plastics for recycling and ships the material to further processing companies to be reused. The employer has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and proposed penalties to comply, request a conference with OSHA’s area director or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

A call to the company’s main line results in a now-disconnected number, while a message has been left at its Gainesville, Georgia, office.