Alabama Auto Parts Maker Faces $179,300 in Fines for Repeat Violations
Saehaesung Alabama has been cited for two willful violations for failing to develop, document, and utilize lockout/tagout procedures for energy sources, and to provide workers with the knowledge and skills necessary for safe usage and removal of energy control devices.
Saehaesung Alabama Inc. in Andalusia, Ala., has been cited for eight safety violations by OSHA. The citations, carrying fines of $179,300, were issued after OSHA conducted a follow-up inspection to evaluate the abatement of violations found during 2009.
Saehaesung Alabama has been cited for two willful violations with fines of $140,000 for failing to develop, document, and utilize lockout/tagout procedures for energy sources, and to provide workers with the knowledge and skills necessary for safe usage and removal of energy control devices.
OSHA also has issued the company one repeat citation with a $16,500 penalty for not providing training and information to employees on hazardous chemicals. This location was cited for the same hazardous communication violation in 2009.
Additionally, four serious citations with $22,800 in penalties were issued for allowing employees to work where exit routes were partially blocked, permitting alloy slings without permanent affixed identification for size, grade, rated capacity and reach, using worn and damaged alloy steel chain slings, and failing to use safety blocks while adjusting dies in the mechanical power press.
The company received one other-than-serious citation with no proposed penalty for not maintaining inspection records for the mechanical power press.
"The company's repeated failure to comply with OSHA standards has left employees at risk of serious injury or death," said Kurt Petermeyer, OSHA's area director in Mobile. "These hazards need to be eliminated from the workplace."
This case meets the criteria for OSHA's Severe Violators Enforcement Program. Initiated in the spring of 2010, the program is intended to focus on employers that endanger workers by committing willful, repeat or, failure-to-abate violations in one or more of the following circumstances: a fatality or catastrophe; industry operations or processes that expose workers to severe occupational hazards; exposure to hazards related to the potential releases of highly hazardous chemicals; and all per-instance citation (egregious) enforcement actions.