Companies cited in the first quarter of 2015 for machine hazards include:
• Gateway Extrusions Ltd. allegedly exposed workers to amputation and other serious hazards while operating presses at the company's aluminum parts manufacturing facility in Union, Mo. OSHA cited the company with one repeat and eight serious safety and health violations and issued penalties of $63,000. An inspection found that two operating machines lacked proper safety mechanisms. The company was cited for a similar violation in 2013, as the company failed to implement lockout/tagout procedures and inadequately guarded the point-of-operation of some operating machines, such as press brakes.
• An employee lost all the toes on his left foot when an auger was turned on in the grain bin he was cleaning in Waterville, Kansas. The Beattie Farmers Union Cooperative Association was fined $65,900 for failure to place locking devices on augers. One willful, one repeated and three serious safety and health violations were found. Inspectors also noted that drive pulleys on the bucket elevator legs and augers lacked adequate safety mechanisms to prevent workers from coming into contact with operating machinery parts. Beattie previously was cited for this violation in 2010.
• Alliance Tubular Products LLC put workers at risk of amputation and other serious injuries twice in one year. An inspection found three repeat and four serious violations, garnering $139,800 in proposed fines at the high-end industrial steel tubing manufacturer in Alliance, Ohio. OSHA cited similar violations at the company's facility in Darlington, Pa., in 2014 and at the Alliance facility in 2012 where workers were exposed to operating machine parts with incorrectly installed safety mechanisms. Inspectors also noted four alleged serious violations that involved lack of procedures to prevent unintentional operation of machinery during maintenance. The company has since been placed in OSHA's Severe Violator Enforcement Program.
• Formed Fiber Technologies failed to provide proper safeguards on a variety of machines in the facility, which makes carpets and liners for the automotive industry in Auburn, Maine. OSHA issued $108,800 in penalties, as employees faced potential lacerations, fractures and even death because the jet cells were not powered down and locked to prevent them from starting during routine cleaning. The company also allegedly failed to review a representative sampling of employees to make sure they understood and followed lockout/tagout requirements. Other hazards involved lacerations, finger injuries or amputations because employees could come in contact with operating parts of looms, a grinder and a drill press.
• MP Global Products LLC was cited $54,000 for 11 alleged serious violations at the company, which manufactures padding from recycled denim products in Norfolk, Neb. Workers were exposed to amputation hazards as the company failed to adequately guard operating parts of machinery, and properly record injuries and illnesses in logs regarding electrical safety hazards.
• Plastic Molding Technology Inc., a plastics manufacturer in El Paso, Texas, was fined $47,000 for failure to properly isolate the equipment energy source while workers performed maintenance and required periodic inspections of the company's lockout/tagout program. The company also failed to replace damaged or missing safety guards on machines that could cause burns or electrical shock to workers.
• OSHA identified 25 serious safety and health violations at the metal fuel-tank fabricator Transition of Superior Systems in Merkel, Texas. The company received $51,600 in fines for allegedly failing to provide safeguards for air compressor pulleys and belts, grinders and plate rollers.
• Auto parts supplier Saehaesung Alabama Inc. was cited for exposing workers to amputation, electrical and struck-by hazards after two separate inspections in its Mobile, Ala. facilities. OSHA issued three repeat citations. One plant was cited for failure to develop specific procedures to protect workers from moving machine parts during service or maintenance work. The facilities also were cited for allegedly exposing workers to amputation hazards by failing to provide required guards on welding machines.
• Domestic Casting, an iron foundry in Shippensburg, Pa., has been inspected eight times since 2011. The company has received a total of 27 violations amounting to $152,912 in fines for failure to provide machine guarding and sling hazards.