That’s what happened to Sims Bark Co. and Sims Stone Co. in Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi.

OSHA received a complaint about safety at one of Sims’ locations and determined that similar hazards might exist at its other locations.

Result: $576,750 in OSHA fines after inspectors visited six Sims facilities.

Willful citations were issued for:

• allowing workers to service, unjam and clean machinery without procedures to ensure they wouldn’t be caught in or struck by equipment or burned by machines’ heat strips, and
• exposing workers to dangers associated with being caught in fast moving machinery.

OSHA issued serious citations for:

• lack of employee training
• exposure to electric shocks
• lack of fall protection
• lack of machine guards
• exposure to noise hazards
• struck-by dangers, and
• accumulation of combustible dust.

Sims also faces other-than-serious citations for failing to keep injury/illness logs according to OSHA rules.

The company has 15 business days to comply with or contest the citations.

Thedford Construction Co., Inc., faces $133,000 in OSHA fines in connection with the Feb. 18, 2009, death of 21-year-old Hector Moran.

An underground power line was damaged while the company was digging in front of a pad-mounted transformer.

Moran, a Hispanic employee of Thedford, was unaware and uninformed that the power line was energized and began repairing the line. That’s when he was electrocuted.

OSHA’s investigation revealed that Moran was wearing a glove with a hole in the index finger that hadn’t been tested for insulation qualities.

“All workers, regardless of whether or not they speak English, deserve a safe workplace,” said Stephen Boyd, OSHA’s area director in Dallas.

OSHA cited Thedford for two willful violations for failing to electrically test rubbed-insulated gloves at least every six months and failing to ensure that workers don’t come within two feet of energized electrical equipment.

The company also faces 10 serious violations, including failing to:

• train workers on the dangers of electrical hazards
• provide prompt medical treatment in the event of serious injuries
• issue a valid certificate to an employee to perform first-aid treatment
• provide PPE, and
• determine the exact location of underground installations.

Thedford has 15 days to accept or challenge the citations.

Georgia-Pacific fired supervisor Ezra Brady for instructing an employee to use an improper lockout procedure. The plant manager claimed the result was that an energy source wasn’t isolated and employees were at risk. The company said Brady willfully violated company policy.

The company had safety rules in its employee handbook that spelled out lockout requirements.

Brady filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), alleging that he’d been fired as a result of racial discrimination. Brady says he was fired for a first offense, while two white employees were only suspended for three days for the same offense.

When the EEOC found reasonable cause that Georgia-Pacific had racially discriminated against him, Brady filed a lawsuit against the company. G-P asked to have the case thrown out.

The court agreed to throw out Brady’s lawsuit because he didn’t prove that his employer gave preferential treatment to another employee under nearly identical circumstances.

In one situation in which a white employee was suspended, the worker was making repairs on a conveyor and reached far enough into it to have required a lock-out. The plant manager said this employee was only suspended for three days because he didn’t put any other employees in danger. The court found this didn’t qualify as a nearly identical circumstance.

In the second case, a manager and two other employees were conducting an inspection. One employee turned off a breaker to a machine. None of the three had a lock for the breaker, and the manager decided one wasn’t needed because he was supervising the situation. That manager also received a three-day suspension. Management said this case was not a willful violation of company policy because the manager thought he was doing the right thing. Once again, the court said this didn’t qualify as a nearly identical circumstance.

The take-home: Companies can enforce policies that call for firing employees for certain safety infractions. They just need to be careful that disciplinary measures are applied equally.

What does your company policy say about penalties for safety violations? Has your company ever fired someone for safety reasons? Let us know in the Comments Box below.

Have you ever fired someone for violating a company safety rule? In this case, a company did just that and then found itself in court on a charge of racial discrimination.

Georgia-Pacific fired supervisor Ezra Brady for instructing an employee to use an improper lockout procedure. The plant manager claimed the result was that an energy source wasn’t isolated and employees were at risk. The company said Brady willfully violated company policy.

The company had safety rules in its employee handbook that spelled out lockout requirements.

Brady filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), alleging that he’d been fired as a result of racial discrimination. Brady says he was fired for a first offense, while two white employees were only suspended for three days for the same offense.

When the EEOC found reasonable cause that Georgia-Pacific had racially discriminated against him, Brady filed a lawsuit against the company. G-P asked to have the case thrown out.

The court agreed to throw out Brady’s lawsuit because he didn’t prove that his employer gave preferential treatment to another employee under nearly identical circumstances.

In one situation in which a white employee was suspended, the worker was making repairs on a conveyor and reached far enough into it to have required a lock-out. The plant manager said this employee was only suspended for three days because he didn’t put any other employees in danger. The court found this didn’t qualify as a nearly identical circumstance.

In the second case, a manager and two other employees were conducting an inspection. One employee turned off a breaker to a machine. None of the three had a lock for the breaker, and the manager decided one wasn’t needed because he was supervising the situation. That manager also received a three-day suspension. Management said this case was not a willful violation of company policy because the manager thought he was doing the right thing. Once again, the court said this didn’t qualify as a nearly identical circumstance.

The take-home: Companies can enforce policies that call for firing employees for certain safety infractions. They just need to be careful that disciplinary measures are applied equally.

What does your company policy say about penalties for safety violations? Has your company ever fired someone for safety reasons? Let us know in the Comments Box below.

Ameriwood Industries, Inc., in Tiffin, OH, faces $108,700 in OSHA fines as the result of a January inspection. The company has 15 days from receipt of the citations to challenge them.

OSHA issued six repeat and six serious citations, including failure to:

• install and maintain spark detection and suppression equipment in dust collectors, and
• ensure workers were adequately protected when maintaining electrical equipment.

OSHA said the inspection came as a result of a complaint from an employee and the agency’s inspection emphasis program on combustible dust hazards, according to The Toledo Blade.

Ameriwood’s Tiffin facility has been inspected five times in 14 years and has been cited 35 times during that same period.

You can read more about OSHA’s inspection emphasis program on combustible dust here.

Anderson Power Products® (APP), a leader in high power interconnect solutions, announces a new addition to the Finger Proof Family of products with the release of the SBS®75x Connector.

The patented connector provides power contacts rated up to 110 amps and the touch-safe design provides protection to the user by eliminating finger contact with live circuits per UL1977, section 10.2. The SBS®75x is recommended for use with hazardous DC voltages in systems operating from 50 to 600 volts, where risk of shock can be health threatening.  In addition, the housing accepts up to four auxiliary contacts for applications requiring signal capability. The male signal contacts (6.4 mm to 9.3 mm) are available in four lengths for when sequencing is required and provide a make last/break first connection in relation to the power contacts. The SBS®75x utilizes APP’s Flat Wipe Contact Technology for the power contacts allowing it to be rated for circuit interruption (hot plugging) under load when no auxiliary contacts are used

The SBS®75x’s slim, ergonomic design is contoured to fit the operator’s grip, allowing for greater ease during connection/disconnection.. Molded side grooves allow secure panel mounting for panel thickness of .048 to .062 inches (1.22 to 1.57 mm), while using minimal real estate.

About Anderson Power Products

Anderson Power Products is a leader in developing high quality, low cost, power interconnect solutions for several industries, including: Back Up Power Systems, Electrical Recreational Vehicles, UPS Systems, Telecommunications and High-Technology Devices. Headquartered in Sterling, MA, Anderson Power Product’s facility is ISO 9001:2000 certified and uses automated manufacturing to offer uncompromising quality. In addition, APP operates a distribution and assembly facility in Warrington, England to provide support for their European customers, as well as three Asia Pacific facilities: Shenzhen, China, Shatin Hong Kong and Taichung City 407, Taiwan (R.O.C.).

APP connectors are available through their authorized distributor network or direct from the factory. For further information about the company and its products, call 978-422-3600 or visit their web site at www.andersonpower.com.

That’s the on-screen message at the end of each of the safety videos on YouTube. Warning: They’re disturbing.

Each short story addresses different safety topics in a variety of workplace settings:

1. Restaurant: Slip-and-fall and burn hazards.
2. Construction: Falls from heights and combustible materials.
3. Factory: Forklift and storage safety.
4. Retail: Ladder safety.
5. Electricity: A dead worker speaks from a coffin.

That’s the case with Phenix Lumber Co. in Phenix City, AL. OSHA has proposed $293,700 in penalties for 36 safety and health violations there.

For failing to correct five violations identified during a previous inspection, OSHA issued fines totaling $202,500. Those citations include failure to obtain audiograms for employees exposed to noise hazards, not implementing specific lockout/tagout procedures and lack of machine guards.

The other fines totaling $91,200 in penalties are for six repeat, seven serious and one other-than-serious violation. These include poor housekeeping of combustible dust, lack of safety signs, and using incorrect electrical and forklift equipment.

The company has 15 days to decide if it wants to contest any of the citations.

The driver of a tractor trailer was electrocuted in Tulsa, OK, after the vehicle’s load got tangled with overhead utility lines.

The truck was transporting a large heat exchanger which was too high to go under a cable TV line. The driver, 26-year-old Robert Young, climbed on top of the heat exchanger to try to move the cable TV line when the exchanger touched an electric line energized with 4,200 volts.

The Tulsa Fire Department used a bucket truck to remove Young from the top of the heat exchanger, but he was already dead, according to KOTV-TV.

The Oklahoma Department of Public Safety is checking into whether the escort vehicle was equipped with a required pole to check for wires that would interfere with the load.

The transport company, Stone Trucking, specializes in moving oversize loads.

Here are some reminders you can give employees if a vehicle they’re driving comes in contact with power lines or if they come upon fallen lines:

• Treat all downed power lines, and anything in contact with them, as energized.
• Keep people and vehicles at least 10 yards away from fallen lines.
• If a power line has fallen on your vehicle, stay inside it until help comes. Try to drive the vehicle away so it’s no longer in contact with the lines.
• Call the power company immediately, and
• Don’t approach fallen lines until power company representatives confirm it’s safe.

Workers were installing a metal flag pole at a shopping center in Dalton, GA, when the pole began to fall over.

Employee Glenn Stone was electrocuted when the pole contacted high-power lines, according to the Dalton Daily Citizen.

A co-worker, Dan Driscoll, said when the pole started to topple, Stone and another worker, Jerry Shelton, tried to steady it and didn’t let go.

Shelton was taken to a local hospital in critical condition. He was transferred to another hospital with a burn unit.

A black mark could be seen near the top of the pole.

A store manager at the shopping center said emergency teams responded quickly. But for Stone, even the quickest response was too late, as he was killed instantly.