When a company is cited with OSHA violations, they have a right to contest the violations within 15 days. There may be extenuating circumstances why a violation occurs, or a violation may be proven to be less serious than it is cited as. The seriousness of a violation also determines the amount of fines a company is charged with, so it makes sense to contest any violations that you feel are inaccurate or overemphasized.
In Texas, we have attorneys who not only are willing to contest OSHA violations for you, but are also willing to be on location to do the walkthrough inspection with the OSHA personnel.
A New York company, National Pipe & Plastics Inc., is making a stand and contesting some of the 16 serious violations they received from the OSHA. These citations come after a fatal accident occurred at the plant on March 22. According to the OSHA, two of the 16 violations were in direct relation to the fatal accident in March, where a truck driver was hit by a forklift and killed while unloading a truck.
The president of National Pipe & Plastics Inc., claims that only two of the citations could be at all possibly be related to the accident, and they have very little merit. He also believes the other 14 violations are without merit. The president says they have already filed the notice to contest and look forward to providing their defense to the citations. He believes that their manufacturing plants are some of the safest in the state.
The OSHA violations for National Pipe & Plastics Inc., resulted in an assessed fine of $67,000. It is possible that by contesting the citations, the company can have the fines greatly reduced, if not eliminated altogether.
Source: plasticsnews.com, "OSHA cites National Pipe & Plastics for fatal accident" Frank Antosiewicz, Oct. 03, 2013
