One complaint, three violations, six-figure fine

October 24, 2008 by Fred Hosier

When it comes to machine guarding and lockout/tagout, OSHA will levy much higher fines when employees don’t receive proper training.

Pepsi-Cola and National Brand Beverage Ltd. of Pennsauken, NJ, face $195,000 in proposed fines from OSHA.

After an investigation, OSHA issued three willful citations to the companies for failure to:

provide training on lockout/tagout procedures to prevent the inadvertent start-up of machinery of the release of hazardous energy
apply lockout/tagout procedures when machines were being serviced, and
properly guard machinery.

OSHA received a complaint alleging that employees were exposed to hazards when clearing jams on a machine used to stack and transport pallets.

More information: OSHA’s lockout/tagout and machine guarding rules.

SafetyNewsAlert.com delivers the latest Safety news once a week to the inboxes of over 270,000 Safety professionals.

Michael Le Master Says:
December 8th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
Being able to control safety within the work place is all ways in the forefront of most business and if one of them slips up they should not be swept up with the bad ones. There needs to be some checks and balances for the fine system as a whole, yes we need bigger fines for the {they new types} but for the others we need to have some line aginest being put in the same boat as the others. We also need to get a few more inspectors in the system which would mean a bigger budget for OSHA.
Michael Mussser Says:
January 19th, 2009 at 5:18 pm
I agree, however when a company is “willful” or “repeat” in a citation this is obviously more than just “a slip up”.

Doesn’t look like Pepsi met due diligence either as a defense. The severity of the violation should merit its penality. This is clearly not just a mere PPE violation for using hand tools.

Quick Vote