OSHA fines plastics recycler $164,000 following worker’s fatal fall

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration said Tuesday that it has fined a Toccoa, Georgia-based plastics recycler $164,000 after a worker fell to his death late last year.

OSHA said Scrap Masters Inc. had installed “some” fall protection on the platform from which the 56-year-old worker fell but that it failed to meet federal safety standards.

The agency cited the company, which recycles plastic automobile gas tanks, for eight serious and five repeat violations, only one of which was related to fall protection: failing to equip stairs and platforms with guardrails to prevent falls.

Among the other citations were not mounting and marking fire extinguishers and failing to develop and use specific procedures for employees performing service and maintenance on machines, exposing them to amputation hazards.

Scrap Masters has undergone OSHA inspections five times over the past five years, with four of the inspections resulting in citations, including the most recent.

The company could not immediately be reached for comment.