Loading ...OSHA Fines of the Week: “Would an idiot do that?”
“Whenever I’m about to do something, I think ‘would an idiot do that?’ and if they would, I do not do that thing.” -Dwight Schrute-
Our dear Dwight from The Office – surprisingly we all could learn something from him. The following businesses OSHA fined recently certainly could have too.
Here are our top two favorite fines from the past week:
1. Samscreen Inc. in Conklin, NY was again hit with fines. This time more than $100,000 in fines by OSHA adding to the $75,000 in fines from the previous April for similar safety failures of not providing employees with required training. Samcreen Inc is contesting the OSHA findings and said that OSHA is being overzealous.
Christopher Adams, OSHA’s area director in Syracuse said (in regards to the fines in April), ”These sizable fines reflect breadth, severity and recurring nature of these hazards, which expose employees to crushing, laceration, amputation and burns.”
What makes a company ignore OSHA – is it arrogance, incompetence, or something else? Are we missing something here? They had to know that OSHA was going to follow up after the first visit.
2. Imperial Sugar (IPSU) had 8.7 million in total fines for safety violations. That’s the third highest amount in OSHA history. You may remember IPSU’s Port Wentworth refinery being in the news after they had an explosion this past February, killing 13 people and injuring 40. Highly flammable dust is produced in the process of making sugar and that is what led to the explosion.
Imperial Sugar’s VP of Operations testified, “I was surprised that we hadn’t killed anybody already because the plant was so dangerous.” He said he had been told to “back off” after he warned other officials about the dangerous conditions.
Interestingly, five weeks after the February explosion, OSHA inspectors found the same conditions at IPSU’s other sugar processing plant in Louisiana.
This is a photo OSHA inspectors took. Notice the layer of white stuff, which is combustible dust. OSHA took the unusual step of posting an “imminent danger” notice and issued more fines. This photo is a copy from the report that OSHA published online.
One would think after similar conditions caused an explosion and the death of 13 people that they would made immediate changes at their other plants.
If you have any comments about these recent OSHA fines OR have any good Dwight quotes, share it with us.
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