A Georgia chemical manufacturer was cited by federal OSHA for a whopping 67 serious violations for exposing workers to a multitude of hazards.
Inspectors found a variety of safety and health violations ranging from respiratory and machine hazards to inadequate hazard communication and chemical storage issues.
The company also failed to provide feasible engineering controls to reduce worker exposure to hexavalent chromium.
Fine: $289,439
Company: Southern Industrial Chemicals Inc., Atlanta, Georgia
Business: Miscellaneous chemical product and preparation manufacturing
Reasons for fine:
67 serious violations, including for failure to:
- address the hazards associated with hexavalent chromium with workers exposed to the chemical
- ensure that working surfaces could support the maximum intended load for an individual surface
- provide a safe means of access to and from working surfaces
- ensure that portable ladders used on slippery surfaces were secured and stabilized
- ensure that employees exposed to the unprotected side of a stairway landing 4 feet or more above a lower level was protected by a guardrail system
- ensure that employees wore protective helmets in areas where they were exposed to head injuries from falling objects
- ensure that containers used during clean-up met appropriate federal regulations for the wastes that they contained
- develop an emergency response plan
- train employees tasked with emergency response
- establish a written respiratory protection program
- provide medical examinations to determine if an employee was capable of using a respirator
- ensure that employees required to use tight-fitting facepiece respirators were able to pass fit testing
- ensure respirators were properly cleaned and disinfected after use
- ensure that employees required to use respirators could demonstrate how to inspect and use a respirator
- require employees to wear appropriate hand protection when exposed to hazards that could harm the skin
- provide changing rooms for employees required to wear protective clothing that could be contaminated with toxic materials
- evaluate the workplace to determine if any spaces were permit-required confined spaces
- develop a written permit space program
- establish a lockout/tagout program
- provide suitable facilities for quick drenching of the eyes and body in areas where employees were exposed to corrosive materials
- ensure that chemical drums and pallets were stored in a secure, stable manner
- ensure that forklift operators shut off the power, lowered the loads and set the parking brakes on forklifts that were left unattended
- properly guard or enclose all but the working portion of saw blades on band saws
- guard feed rolls of band re-saws
- install labeled electrical equipment in accordance with instructions included on the label
- prevent employee exposure to airborne concentrations of hexavalent chromium that exceeded safe limits
- use feasible engineering controls and work practices to reduce employee exposure to hexavalent chromium
- provide appropriate PPE and equipment to employees exposed to chromium
- ensure that surface chromium was removed from protective clothing and equipment by methods that didn’t disperse it into the air or onto an employee’s body
- prohibit eating, drinking, smoking, chewing tobacco or gum, or applying cosmetics in regulated areas that contained hexavalent chromium hazards
- ensure that waste and debris contaminated with chromium and consigned for disposal were collected and disposed of in sealed, impermeable bags or other closed, impermeable containers
- provide information and training regarding chromium to employees who were exposed to the hazard
- include chromium in the hazard communication program
- include a list of hazardous chemicals known to be present in the workplace in the hazard communication program
- ensure that each container of hazardous chemicals in the workplace was properly labeled
One other-than serious violation for failing to:
- inspect ladders before use at the start of each work shift
