FedEx Freight Cited by Iowa OSHA for Mishandling Hazardous Materials
FedEx has been fined more than $24,000 following an employee complaint about hazardous materials.
A FedEx Corp. has has been cited by Iowa Occupational Safety and Health Administration following a complaint that employees were not given proper personal protective equipment after formic acid was spilled at a facility in Des Moines.
IOSHA investigated at FedEx Freight terminal N.E. 22nd Street and found that FedEx had four instances of violating hazardous waste and emergency training rules when handling formic acid, violated rules for emergency alarms in one instance involving formic aside and in one instance failed to eliminate hazardous conditions before employees returned to work.
IOSHA fined FedEx $24,578 and the company has contested the fines. An article from the Des Moines Register found that records from Federal OSHA show that FedEx as “abated” the condition four days after filing its protect.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rules require companies to notify local law enforcement, the DNR and the federal government's National Response Center when specified quantities of a chemical deemed "extremely hazardous" are released.
According to the Hazard Communication Standard, OSHA requires that all employees be trained on what hazardous materials are present in the workplace, how to respond if a spill happens and what kind of health effects the chemicals may have on those who were impacted by the spill.