Bushwick Metals bushwacked by OSHA, fined $109,000 for violations
The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited Bushwick Metals, Inc., a Bridgeport, CT, steel processor, for alleged repeat, serious and other-than-serious violations of the Occupational Safety and Health Act and has proposed penalties totaling $109,000.
The alleged violations were discovered during an inspection initiated May 4, 2000, in response to an employee complaint and encompass a cross-section of manufacturing hazards. OSHA previously cited the company for several of the violations in a 1998 inspection at the same location. Bushwick Metals Inc. processes, warehouses, and ships various steel products, including beams, bars, strips, sheets, plates, pipes, and tubing. Approximately 95 employees work at the Bridgeport foundry.
"Cited conditions included unguarded portions of band saws and metal shears, electrical parts that were not guarded against accidental contact, steel stock protruding into aisles where employees could walk into it, employees failing to wear helmets in areas where they might be struck by falling objects, improper storage of oxygen and compressed gas cylinders, inadequate training of fork truck operators, and an incomplete log of on-the-job injuries," said Clifford S. Weston, OSHA area director in Bridgeport.
"The inspection also identified deficiencies concerning hazardous energy control, also known as lockout/tagout, the means by which an employer shuts off and locks out various machines' power sources to prevent their accidental startup during maintenance," he said. "In this case, employees were found to be changing saw blades without first ensuring that the saws' power source was locked out."
Weston noted that the sizable penalty proposed in this case reflects the classification of eight of the citations as repeat violations. OSHA had previously inspected the plant in the fall of 1998 and subsequently issued citations for 26 serious and four other-than-serious violations with fines totaling $23,100.
"Of special concern is the reoccurrence of several types of hazards that were identified and cited during the earlier inspection," he said. "This means that employees are once again exposed to such potential hazards as lacerations, fractures, amputation, head injuries, electrocution and being injured by unexpectedly activated machinery, if these conditions are not corrected."
The citations and proposed penalties include eight alleged repeat violations, with $101,000 in penalties for:
- Employees not wearing protective helmets while exposed to injury from falling objects.
- Failure to conduct a workplace hazard assessment that would have identified hazards requiring employees to use such personal protective equipment.
- Failure to adequately train employees in the purpose and function of the hazardous energy control (lockout/tagout) program.
- Failure to ensure that all fork truck operators were competently trained.
- Unguarded nip and catch points on large horizontal band saws and metal shears.
- Unguarded points of operation on metal shears.
- Failure to properly locate or label disconnecting means for motors and appliances so that their purpose was evident to workers.
- Live parts of electrical equipment not guarded against accidental contact.
- An incomplete and uncertified OSHA 200 illness and injury log.
The company was issued four alleged serious violations, with $8,000 in penalties proposed, for:
- Steel stock protruding into and obstructing aisles where employees walk.
- Unsecured oxygen cylinders exposed to damage.
- Oxygen cylinders not separated from fuel-gas cylinders or combustible materials by a non-combustible barrier or by being stored at the proper distance.
- Electrical equipment exposed to damage due to inadequate enclosures or guards.
Bushwick Metals Inc. also received two alleged other-than-serious violations for having incomplete written energy control procedures and for failure to conduct periodic inspections of the hazardous energy control procedure.
Edited by Sandy Smith
Managing Editor, Safety Online
E-mail: ssmith@verticalnet.com