Manufacturer cited for alleged safety violations

$67,050 in penalties proposed

The Occupational Safety and Health Admini-stration (OSHA) has cited American Specialties of Yonkers, NY, and has proposed penalties of $67,050 against the firm, for 24 alleged serious and four alleged other-than-serious violations of OSHA standards.

According to Cathie Mannion, OSHA area director, the action results from an inspection of the facility conducted from April 8 through April 19 under a local special emphasis program that targets metal shops for inspections. Among the alleged serious violations for which OSHA cited the company are:

• not posting appropriate signs indicating which doors are and are not exits;

• not establishing an adequate written energy control program;

• not developing procedures to control potential hazardous energy;

• not providing hardware for lockout/tag-out operations;

• not providing training to employees on how to control hazardous energy;

• not properly guarding and grounding machinery such as mechanical power presses, band saws, lathes, table routers, and staple machines;

• not providing proper insulation for flexible electrical cables;

• not periodically inspecting mechanical power presses.

The alleged serious violations carry a total proposed penalty of $67,050. OSHA also cited the company for four other-than-serious violations: not training employees properly in the use of fire extinguishers, not assuring that fire extinguishers were accessible, not properly storing liquid gas containers, and not reporting mechanical power press injuries.