OSHA cites RV campground for electrical hazards

A New York campground is facing $187,000 in proposed penalties from federal workplace safety regulators for electrical hazards.

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued two willful and seven serious citations against Corinth, New York-based Alpine Lake RV Resort, a unit of Chicago-based Equity Lifestyle Properties Inc., for exposing employees to electrical hazards throughout the campground when they were required to work on outdoor electrical equipment, according to an agency statement issued on Thursday.

The hazards included not de-energizing and locking out electrical equipment when employees were required to test, operate, troubleshoot, replace and maintain such equipment, and a lack of appropriate personal protective equipment and safety training for employees working on live electrical equipment, according to the statement.

Employees were also required to repeatedly reset circuit breakers on electrical field boxes due to an undersized and inappropriately wired electrical service and were exposed to live electrical parts and damaged and rusting electrical field boxes with openings that allowed in rain, snow and wind, according to the statement.

“These employees were knowingly exposed to electrical hazards that could have burned, shocked, disabled or killed them,” Robert Garvey, OSHA's area director in Albany, New York, said in the statement. “They lacked the basic training, personal protective equipment and safeguards necessary to protect them. This employer must take prompt and effective steps to address and eliminate all these hazards before workers are harmed.”

A company spokesperson could not be immediately reached for comment.