A manufacturer faces $503,380 in OSHA fines following four separate reports of workers suffering injuries at the facility.
In the past five years, 15 workers suffered amputations at BWAY Corporation’s Chicago plant.
OSHA found one employee suffered two broken bones in his hand after it was crushed by equipment. Three other employees suffered amputations from unguarded chain and sprocket assemblies.
BWAY received 10 citations. Five repeat violations were for failing to:
- train workers in lockout/tagout procedures that prevent unintentional machine movement, and
- provide adequate machine guarding on a mechanical power press, belts and pulleys, and chains and sprockets.
OSHA says employees didn’t use proper lockout/tagout procedures when they were required to clear jams on machines.
BWAY was previously cited for similar violations at its Chicago, Homerville, GA, and North Brunswick, NJ, locations.
Five serious violations were for failure to:
- lock out equipment before clearing jams, and
- provide adequate machine guarding on multiple pieces of equipment to protect employees from hazards such as those created by point of operation, ingoing nip points, rotating parts, flying chips and sparks.
OSHA also placed BWAY in its Severe Violator Enforcement Program, which concentrates resources on inspecting employers that have demonstrated indifference to their OSH Act obligations by willful, repeated, or failure-to-abate violations.
BWAY manufactures rigid metal, plastic and hybrid containers. It’s based on Atlanta, and has 27 facilities and about 4,000 employees in the U.S. and Canada. The Chicago plant has about 500 employees.
The company has 15 business days from receipt of the violations to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA’s area director or contest the findings before the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.
