Spruce Plastics Corp. has been fined $80,700 for failing to address number of safety hazards at its Granite City, Ill., facility.
The citation issued by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration states that Spruce Plastics failed to provide workers personal protective equipment, make fire extinguishers accessible, establish a written hazard communications program and train its workers on hazard communications.
The violations were announced Feb. 21 after OSHA conducted a follow-up investigation after its initial probe Aug. 21, 2001.
The initial violations OSHA cited included problems with trucks that were used at the facility, as well as the lack of training need by employees to operate the vehicles; balers at the site were not anchored to prevent walking or moving; the balers used at the facility were not guarded or interlocked to prevent employees fro opening the balers; the company failed to provide hand protection for employees; and it failed to have fire extinguishers located in readily accessible locations at the plant.
The company was initially cited by OSHA for the violations Nov. 27, 2001. The company also was cited during a second visit this past September.
Spruce Plastics bundles and processes used materials such as carpet padding and plastics for recycling and reprocessing.
The company has 15 working days from the receipt of the citation to comply, request an informal conference with the area director or challenge the citation and proposed penalties before an independent commission of OSHA.