The agency issued a willful violation for the Dallas company's failure to institute an effective hearing conservation program, plus 10 serious violations for failing to protect workers from being struck by flying objects, the unexpected release of energy while servicing and maintaining equipment, and exposure to blood and hazardous chemicals, among other charges.
An inspection found that the company failed to provide adequate guarding on lathes, grinding, and other dangerous machines, and that it did not sufficiently develop and implement training on locking a machine's energy source and alerting others about the state of that power source.
According to DOJ and EPA, the company, which makes pipes, valves, fittings, fire hydrants, propane and compressed air tanks, and other similar products, emits pollutants such as particulate matter, VOCs, and mercury as a result of its manufacturing processes at various facilities.
Shortages and the exorbitantly high cost of labor for risky jobs such as mining, skyscraper construction, and rescue operations, among others, present a perfect opportunity for service robots to replace human personnel, says the report, which estimates a global bot market of $38.42 billion by 2015.
"These citations and sizable fines reflect the Postal Service's failure to equip its workers with the necessary knowledge and skills to safely work with live electrical parts," said Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA Dr. David Michaels. "The Postal Service knew that proper and effective training was needed for the safety of its workers but did not provide it."
Effective July 8, a new directive extends to Sept. 30 a yearlong NEP. It specifies programmed inspections in three regions and unprogrammed ones in the other seven OSHA regions.
All told, the inspections at four of the discount retailer's Connecticut locations resulted in seven repeat citations with $95,200 in proposed fines, 13 serious citations with $38,500 in fines, and 10 other-than-serious citations with $7,000 in fines, for a proposed total of $140,700.
An employee of one of the firms fell 20 feet when the second floor balcony he was standing on collapsed as he was attempting to jack up the third floor balcony. An inspection by OSHA's Manhattan area office found that the second floor balcony was overloaded, improperly constructed, and incapable of supporting its weight load.
The move marks the first time the department has sought enterprise-wide relief as a remedy.
As part of the settlement, the company agrees that it has corrected all deficiencies at both of its plants or will correct those deficiencies according to a set schedule. Originally, OSHA fined the company $8.8 million following the 2008 explosion that took 14 lives and seriously injured dozens of others at its plant in Port Wentworth, Ga.
The OSHA Combustible Dust Team's web chat with more than 400 stakeholders also gave some idea of the timetable for the combustible dust standard that will be developed.
The agency determined the state's 16-year-old plan allows companies to avoid certain federal clean air requirements by lumping emissions from multiple units under a single "cap" rather than setting specific emission limits for individual pollution sources at their plants.
All five of the facilities were investigated following complaints, and all ended up being fined for insufficient electrical safety practices. This latest fine brings OSHA's proposed penalty total against USPS to more than $1.3 million for the month of June alone.
The worker was fatally electrocuted when he grabbed the test leads on a shop-made cart the company used during the testing process of equipment the company manufactures.
An investigation found structural deficiencies on one of the crawler cranes the company maintained and operated, as well as electrical hazards throughout the shipyard; in all, the facility received 19 serious citations in areas of fall protection, machine guarding, plant maintenance, and fire safety, plus citations for repeat and other-than-serious offenses.
MSHA posted the guide June 24. It will help metal and nonmetal mine safety personnel comply with 30 CFR 56/57.14107, Moving Machine Parts, which is the most-cited standard for this part of the mining industry since 2005.
The July 7-8 event in Baltimore brings top DHS officials, including Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, together with leaders of the chemical industry to discuss security issues and solutions.
"It should not take an OSHA inspection and enforcement action to prompt an employer to complete necessary repairs that should have been made months, even years, ago," said Arthur Dube, OSHA's area director for western New York.
The revision currently on the drafting board represents a major departure from all previous pump test standards, according to the Hydraulic Institute, because it requires that the submersible pump be guaranteed and tested as a complete unit.
An inspection found that machine guarding was inadequate for dumpers or packing machines and that, in general, mechanical integrity throughout the plant’s refrigeration system was not sufficient to prevent equipment malfunctions.