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This company got snared in OSHA’s Site-Specific Targeting (SST) program which focuses on employers with injury rates that are higher than their industry’s national average.

OSHA has cited Hobart Brothers Co. of Troy, OH, for 55 safety and health violations with a total of $174,600 in fines. The company manufactures welding wire and ground power equipment for airplanes.

Hobart was inspected under SST because its 2008 injury rate was 5.9 per 100 workers, and its 2009 rate was 6.0. The national averages for its industry in those years were 3.9 and 3.6 respectively.

OSHA found 43 serious violations, including failure to:

• isolate energy sources
• provide lockout/tagout procedures for the energy sources of equipment
• train workers on hazardous energy sources
• guard floor holes
• provide adequate railings
• provide fall protection for workers required to be on top of equipment
• sample noise levels, and
• provide annual audiograms.

Hobart also faces 12 other-than-serious violations for failure to store combustible rags in a covered metal receptacle, properly mark exit doors, train workers on fire hazards, properly record injuries and post noise standards.

Hobart has 15 business days from receipt of the citations to decide whether to contest any or all of the fines.

More information on OSHA’s current SST program can be found here.

Tags: high injury rate, lockout/tagout, Site-Specific Targeting program