The OSHA issued 16 safety violations to a Dallas, Texas, company after investigating a fatal accident at the plant. Fines and penalties issued were in the amount of $156,240.
Georg Fischer Central Plastics LLC was accused of not protecting their employees. The employee who was fatally injured was allegedly servicing a machine when an unexpected startup of the machine occurred. The machine allegedly was not properly locked out. The OSHA says that the employee's death would have been prevented if the "lockout-tagout" procedure had been in place.
That procedure, according to the OSHA is to ensure "lockout-tagout" procedures are written specific to the machines, internal auditing is performed on the procedures, employees are trained on the procedures, company policies are in place to enforce and maintain the procedures, and all locks, tags, and devices are present.
The OSHA is required to investigate any fatalities at a workplace to ensure that OSHA safety procedures were compliant, and they seldom ever come away without issuing OSHA citations in these investigations. It is recommended to have an attorney present when the OSHA performs their investigations. An attorney will be able to speak with the investigator to defend and respond to anything may appear to be a violation when, in reality, it is not. A violation also may be assessed to be more severe than it actually is.
Most companies do their best to be in accordance with OSHA safety regulations, as the future of their business depends on it. Unintended violations, where an employer has made every effort to comply with good, solid safety procedures should be appealed and defended.
OSHA violations defense can often save your business from going under after a catastrophic incident has occurred.
Source: escservices.com, "No Lockout-Tagout Procedures Found After Inspection - Lockout-Tagout Fatality" Stephen Boyd, Nov. 27, 2013
