Federal inspectors from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, after taking a detailed look at the Franklin, Ohio, workplace of the A & B Foundry & Machining LLC, cited the employer for no less than 33 different violations of legal, safety and health standards. These violations could put employees of the company at risk of serious injury, or in some cases perhaps even death -- the kinds of accidents that give rise to workers' compensation claims. The company faces proposed fines of up to $170,107 for these deplorable workplace conditions.
Among the problems in the workplace were excessive exposure to noise, respiratory conditions that could cause injury, and lack of necessary machine guarding. Four of the violations that inspectors uncovered were determined to be repeat violations -- problems that the employer has been cited for before, but which still persist. These included noise hazards, failure to do required training on handling chemical hazards in the workplace, and failing to carry out needed medical exams of employees who were required to wear protective respirators or to conduct adequate testing of the respirator equipment. The employer also persisted in failing to supply required fire extinguishers, putting anyone in its facility at potential risk from a possible fire.
A full 26 of the other violations found by the inspectors were classified as serious, creating a substantial probability that employees could face death or serious injuries from a known workplace hazard, or one that the employer reasonably should have been aware of.
OSHA inspects workplaces and enforces health and safety standards and can attempt to impose fines on employers. But employees who are injured as a result of such workplace hazards cannot seek compensation for their injuries in workplace accidents through OSHA. Rather, such injured employees (or their families in the event of a death caused by a workplace accident) must retain their own attorney to pursue workers' compensation claims.
Source: www.osha.gv, "Lack of personal protective equipment among 33 violations cited by US Labor Department's OSHA at A & B Foundry & Machining in Franklin, Ohio Company faces proposed fines of $170,107" No Author Given, May. 21, 2013