OSHA fines businesses for death, amputation injuries
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An investigation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration following the death of a 19-year-old worker at an industrial facility in Claremore, Oklahoma, found the company failed to use proper rigging equipment and perform inspections and maintenance on cranes.
Omaha, Nebraska-based Valmont Coatings Inc., a provider of hot-dip galvanizing and applied coating services, was cited for one willful and five serious violations with $202,000 in proposed penalties, after the incident in which the worker was attaching multiple small steel I-beams to a large lifting fixture when the entire assembly fell on him.
OSHA this week also announced $136,532 in fines for Chicago-based Tootsie Roll Industries LLC after a worker at one of its manufacturing plant suffered a partial finger amputation after their employer allowed bypassed safety locks on a machine’s access doors that enabled a bag sealer to close on an employee’s finger.
The agency’s investigation into the incident found that the worker reached into an unguarded machine to remove stuck paper debris when the bag seal’s jaws closed, leading investigators to cite the company for one willful violation for failing to guard machines.
Also announced this week, two complaints of unsafe working conditions at a Verona, Missouri, nutrition production plant led federal safety and health inspectors to investigate allegations of worker exposure to multiple safety and health hazards, including toxic substances, combustible dust and moving machinery parts.
OSHA found 24 serious safety violations and proposed $300,759 in penalties to BCP Ingredients Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Balchem Corp.
The companies could not immediately be reached for comment.
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