A recycling plant in Wisconsin faces more than $202,000 in penalties after OSHA found repeat violations at a follow-up inspection.
The case provides yet another example of how exposure to chemical hazards can be expensive for employers.
Ongoing Chemical Hazards Found
In April 2024, federal OSHA safety investigators visited Universal Recycling Technologies LLC, a recycling company based in Janesville, Wisconsin, for a follow-up inspection.
There, the investigators noted that employees dismantling cathode ray tubes from older TVs were exposed to unsafe levels of lead and cadmium – even though the company had been cited for the same violations in April 2023.
In OSHA’s view, the company failed to implement adequate engineering controls and did not keep surfaces as free as practicable from lead and cadmium accumulations.
“Chronic overexposures to these toxic metals may cause severe damage to blood-forming, nervous, urinary and reproductive systems,” Chad Greenwood, OSHA Area Director in Madison, Wisconsin, said in a statement. “Universal Recycling Technologies cannot solely rely on personal protective equipment as the primary source of protection. The company must focus on continuous improvement of engineering controls to reduce employee exposures to hazardous air contaminants.”
OSHA Proposes Six-Figure Fine
The agency cited the company for two repeat violations, six serious violations and one other-than-serious violation. It proposed $202,820 in penalties.
Specifically, OSHA investigators found the employer failed to:
- Provide biological monitoring of employees for overexposure every six months.
- Collect samples for representative full-shift exposures to both lead and cadmium.
- Ensure workers remove their protective clothing contaminated with lead and cadmium after their shifts and leave it at the workplace.
- Require workers exposed to lead and cadmium to shower at the end of their shift.
- Establish a regulation area to reduce the spread of contamination when employees are exposed to lead or cadmium over the permissible exposure limit.
- Train employees on the additive effects of lead and cadmium.
