Providing your employees with safe work conditions should be a given, yet some companies find themselves running afoul of such practices.
11 Serious and 2 Other-Than-Serious Workplace Hazards
Case in point recently, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited Texfab Inc. with 11 alleged serious and a pair of other-than-serious violations for exposing workers to falls and other workplace hazards at its manufacturing plant on Link Drive in Navasota. OSHA’s Houston North Area Office started the probe in March, this after receiving a complaint. Proposed penalties total $48,300.
The serious violations include a missing latch on a crane lifting hook and fall hazards into a pit and into dangerous machinery. The company also failed to ensure usage of proper personal protective equipment; supply at least grade D air in supply air respirators; equip air respirators with high temperature or carbon monoxide monitors; medically evaluate workers before they wear respirators; evaluate permit required confined spaces; provide a lockout/tagout program to control energy sources; periodically inspect a gantry crane; and provide machine guarding on point of operation for all machines. A serious violation occurs when there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known.
The other-than-serious violations involve failing to provide a respirator protection program and fit test respirators. An other-than-serious violation is one that has a direct relationship to job safety and health, but probably would not cause death or serious physical harm.
Official: Employers Must Recognize Workplace Hazards
“Employers must recognize the hazards that exist in their workplaces and then develop safety and health procedures to protect workers on the job,” David Doucet, OSHA’s area director at the Houston North Area Office, remarked.
Texfab specializes in the manufacturing of cylinders that are later manufactured into pressure vessels for the oil and gas industry, and employs about 10 workers at the Navasota location and about 70 at its Cypress facility.
Given the law, Texfab was allowed 15 business days from receipt of the citations to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA’s area director or contest the citations and penalties before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.
Author Michael B. Stack, CPA, Director of Operations, Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. is an expert in employer communication systems and part of the Amaxx team helping companies reduce their workers compensation costs by 20% to 50%. He is a writer, speaker, and website publisher. www.reduceyourworkerscomp.com. Contact: [email protected].
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