Southern Industrial Chemicals exposed workers to chemical, struck-by hazards

• OSHA cited an Atlanta chemical manufacturer with a staggering 67 serious violations and a proposed penalty of $289,439 for exposing workers to a series of workplace dangers associated with chemicals and struck-by hazards.
• The department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited Southern Industrial Chemicals Inc. – operating as SIC Technologies – after conducting a safety and health inspection.
• OSHA found violations for failing to provide feasible engineering controls to reduce employee exposure to hexavalent chromium, among other violations.
• Workers in the U.S. suffer more than 190,000 illnesses and approximately 50,000 deaths annually related to chemical exposures, according to OSHA.
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Process Safety Management compliance is crucial

• Application of the Process Safety Management (PSM) standard was covered extensively in a new enforcement directive for OSHA’s compliance safety and health officers.
• At the end of last year, the agency issued its updated enforcement directive that became effective Jan, 24.
• OSHA established its PSM standard in 1992 in response to catastrophic incidents worldwide in chemical manufacturing. Workplaces covered by the standard include those in chemical manufacturing and petroleum refining.
• However, certain substances, equipment, and processes in other industries are also covered, and the update removed an audit checklist and now presents its enforcement policies in a question-and-answer format.
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Company cited for forklift operator’s death at Logan Airport

• A New York firm was cited by OSHA for a deadly forklift accident at Boston Logan International Airport.
• The 51-year-old forklift operator was fatally injured when part of the vehicle hit an entrance, causing it to tip over and fall onto the worker at an outdoor loading area in Terminal C on Aug. 29.
• He worked for a JetBlue subcontractor and an OSHA inspection found Oxford Airport Technical Services, based in Rochester, New York, failed to ensure that the man wore a seatbelt.
• The OSHA investigation also found that not all of Oxford’s forklift operators were properly trained and certified, that the forklift raised its mast and forks more than necessary, and that a damaged forklift wasn’t examined before being put into service.
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Flooring firm pushes back for OSHA fines

• The president of WD Flooring LLC in Wisconsin is fighting back against OSHA after the company was cited the flooring company with safety violations.
• Peter Connor said WD Flooring was “deeply disappointed by OSHA’s recent release of what we perceive to be unfounded and subjective assessments of our facility.”
• He also had a problem with the claims being made public before experts had the opportunity to analyze OSHA’s claims.
• WD Flooring LLC was cited for multiple violations totaling proposed penalties of $269,662 for not repairing forklifts, operating them unsafely, failing to provide adequate PPE, and exposing workers to electrical hazards, among other violations.
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