More than a year after OSHA cited Anheuser-Busch Sales of New Jersey LLC for safety violations at its Jersey City distribution warehouse, the company reached a settlement with OSHA.
Under the settlement, Anheuser-Busch Sales of New Jersey, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch Inbev SA/NV, agreed to fix the hazards at its New Jersey warehouse, improve safety conditions at its Jersey City and Bronx distributorships and pay $150,000 in fines.
“This settlement commits Anheuser-Busch to making safety a priority for workers at its New Jersey and New York distributorships,” said Robert Kulick, OSHA’s regional administrator in New York. “Successfully implemented, this agreement will result in safer working conditions for numerous workers at multiple company locations.”
The company agreed to:
- Conduct comprehensive safety and health self-audits focusing on hazards involving powered industrial trucks, safety and training, material handling, hazard communication and means of egress.
- Establish safety and health committees made up of management, employees, unions and individuals responsible for safety at the distributorships.
- Make management responsible for implementing the committees’ recommended changes.
- Make the committees’ findings, recommendations and analyses available to OSHA upon request.
- Ensure the adequate training of all leased, temporary and/or subcontractors’ employees.
- Consent to interim monitoring inspections by OSHA.
"Proactively addressing conditions at more than the cited location makes sense and pays dividends for workers and employers alike. This course of action can reduce hazards and injuries and increase a company’s productivity,” said Jeffrey Rogoff, regional solicitor for the department in New York.
OSHA in December 2014 initially cited Anheuser-Busch Sales of New Jersey for not training forklift drivers, blocking exit routes, having damaged storage tanks and for inadequare hazard communication training. The company in December 2015 contested the citations.