El Paso Employer Once Again Fined

With a history of safety violations dating back 15 years, an El Paso, Texas metal stamping plant is no stranger to warnings from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

OSHA issued 13 safety and health citations to D&D Manufacturing Inc. recently following a recent inspection prompted by a formal complaint.

The inspection identified 13 safety and health citations for exposing workers to amputations and other serious injuries from unsafe machinery; including a violation for ignoring the danger of allowing employees to work with a defective 500-ton metal press that the company knew had repeatedly dropped without warning.

Completed under OSHA’s National Emphasis Program on Amputations, the inspection resulted in $321,750 in proposed department fines for D&D. This inspection follows one in December 2014 that resulted in 36 federal citations for serious safety violations.

OSHA cited the company for four willful, one repeated, six serious and two other violations. In addition to allowing workers to use the defective press, D&D did not ensure that employees on the production floor wore appropriate eye protection, given the risk of flying metal particles blinding them.

Additionally, the company failed to make sure employees used hearing protection in areas where noise levels were above the acceptable limits. The repeated violation was for failing to have all illuminated exit signs lit.

Author Kori Shafer-Stack, Editor, Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. is an expert in post-injury response procedures and part of the Amaxx team helping companies reduce their workers compensation costs by 20% to 50%. www.reduceyourworkerscomp.com. Contact: [email protected].

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