OSHA Finds U.S. Postal Facility Failed to Maintain Working Fire Extinguishers

The discovery was made after investigating a July 3, 2016, grease fire.

  • Sep 21, 2016

OSHA announced it has cited a U.S. Postal Service's vehicle maintenance facility in St. Louis, Mo., for one repeated and two serious safety violations.

After reports of a grease fire on July 3, 2016, the agency determined workers were trying to put the fire out with at least two fire extinguishers that were not charged. Once they located a charged extinguisher, they were able to put out the fire. The agency cited USPS for failing to maintain charged extinguishers, train workers on extinguisher use, maintain a fire alarm system, and conduct monthly inspections of fire extinguishers.

"Workers responding to a fire emergency should never find uncharged and inoperable fire protection equipment," said Bill McDonald, OSHA's area director in St. Louis. "Fortunately, no one was injured and this fire was quickly contained. This could have very easily had a tragic outcome. The postal service needs to take immediate action to prevent such near misses in the future."

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