OSHA Cites Appliance Manufacturer for Willful Machine Safety Lapses
Haier US Appliance Solutions faces OSHA penalties after a supervisor's fatal injuries exposed ongoing machine safety violations.
- By Robert Yaniz Jr.
- Jan 22, 2025
OSHA has proposed $193,585 in penalties against Haier US Appliance Solutions Inc., the manufacturer of GE-brand appliances, for multiple safety violations following a fatal workplace incident in July 2024.
According to a recent release, a 58-year-old supervisor at the company’s Decatur, Alabama, facility suffered fatal injuries while attempting to service a door molding machine. OSHA investigators found that the company allowed workers to bypass safety doors and failed to use lockout/tagout procedures designed to de-energize equipment during servicing.
“Haier US Appliance Solutions could have avoided this tragedy but put production schedules and profit ahead of employee safety,” OSHA Area Office Director Joel Batiz in Birmingham, Alabama, said in a statement. “This company’s troubling history of safety failures in its manufacturing process has posed a significant risk to the more than 1,500 workers at its Decatur location who rely on a safe and healthy workplace.”
The Decatur facility has a history of safety violations. OSHA noted that this latest incident marks one of many safety lapses at Haier facilities, including a 2019 fatality at its Louisville, Kentucky, plant, where similar violations were found. Since 2016, OSHA has conducted 40 inspections at Haier’s two primary U.S. manufacturing facilities, uncovering repeated machine safety issues.
"Our organization, and the Decatur facility in particular, has a strong safety record," Julie Wood, senior director of corporate communications for GE said in an email to OH&S. "Our Decatur facility was a part of OSHA’s highly regarded Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) from 1996 to 2024. The plant underwent seven extensive on-site reviews by OSHA VPP teams during that time, during which OSHA performed an in-depth review of the facility’s documentation, conducted employee interviews and performed a wall-to-wall inspection of the plant. As you know, last year there were fewer than 1,200 U.S. work sites possessed this respected designation, which was an explicit recognition by OSHA of the excellent safety program present at Decatur."
In this latest case, OSHA issued the company one willful violation for failing to enforce lockout/tagout standards and two serious violations for allowing employees to bypass safety interlocks and neglecting annual procedure inspections. The proposed fines represent the maximum penalties OSHA can recommend. Wood says Haier intends to contest OSHA's findings.
"GE Appliances has always been and remains deeply committed to safety, and there is no issue we take more seriously as a company," Wood told OH&S. "We cooperated fully with OSHA on the incident investigation, but we disagree with OSHA’s conclusions. It is against company policy and company training to bypass machine safeguards and enter equipment without de-energizing and locking out the equipment."
About the Author
Robert Yaniz Jr. is the Content Editor of Occupational Health & Safety.