OSHA Action
Judge upholds citations for asbestos removal
An administrative law judge has upheld citations for willful safety and health violations issued by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, as well as $1,136,900 in OSHA penalties.
The penalties were levied against Eric Ho, his company Ho Ho Ho Express, and Houston Fruitland in a case involving the use of untrained workers to remove potentially dangerous asbestos.
Administrative law judge James Barkley recently issued the decision related to an explosion and fire at a Houston building on March 11, 1998. Three workers were burned, prompting an OSHA investigation that revealed what the federal officials called "a clandestine asbestos removal project." Ho was using untrained workers, all of whom were non-English speaking, uneducated, and undocumented immigrants, to remove asbestos from the building he owned, OSHA says.
The judge’s decision shows that flagrant violations of the law will not be tolerated and offenders will be severely sanctioned, says Ray Skinner, OSHA Houston South area director. "The workers, who were never told they were removing asbestos or about the hazards associated with the material, were not provided with proper respiratory protection and performed the work in street clothes they wore home."
The employer had the employees inside a locked and fenced area removing the asbestos at night to avoid detection, Skinner says.
OSHA says Ho was aware that the buildings contained asbestos when he purchased the site but made no serious attempt to protect his employees from the cancer-causing substance.
Ho had obtained a bid from a certified asbestos abatement contractor but chose instead to hire the Mexican nationals. The City of Houston Public Works and Engineering Division ordered the demolition work shut down when Ho failed to obtain the required permits and determined that probable violations of the asbestos abatement requirements existed. Instead of closing the project down, this prompted Ho to conduct the asbestos removal work at night and on weekends and to lock the gate to the site to avoid detection, OSHA says.
Ho’s plan came to an inauspicious end on March 11, 1998. Skinner says he ordered the employees to open an unmarked utility line to see if it contained water that could be used to wash away asbestos residue. When the cap was opened, natural gas leaked at high pressure. Workers tried in vain to recap the line. When an employee attempted to move a vehicle that was obstructing the recapping effort, the gas ignited, causing an explosion and fire that seriously burned three workers.
OSHA cited Ho and his firms for 28 alleged willful violations of the construction regulations that require employers to protect workers from asbestos hazards and one alleged willful violation that addressed the improper opening of the gas line. The agency also issued citations for 12 alleged serious violations and one alleged other-than-serious violation.
Ho and his firms were engaged in the produce, wholesale trade, and transportation businesses; as well as real estate investments such as the two buildings where the explosion occurred.
Auto parts maker settles citations for $825,000
An Ohio auto parts manufacturer has agreed to pay $820,500 in penalties and implement a comprehensive safety and health program at its Columbus plant to settle a case brought earlier this year by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
OSHA inspected the Tomasco Mulciber plant as part of its ongoing efforts to examine workplaces with the highest injury and illness rates. As a result of the inspection, on Jan. 19, OSHA issued willful and serious citations for violations of its machine guarding, lockout/tagout, mechanical power press, confined spaces, and electrical standards. Penalties of $1.64 million were proposed.
In the settlement, Tomasco certified that all the conditions cited as violations are abated. The company also conducted a comprehensive safety and health analysis at the plant with an outside consultant. A written action plan now provides for improvements to be made to the plant safety and health programs.
Tomasco’s new safety and health program includes communications by the company president to all employees and temporary workers that stress the fundamental importance of safety and health protection and the establishment of clear corporate safety and health goals and objectives for managers and supervisors, for which they can be held accountable.
In addition, the company agreed to review and revise its written safety and health programs to ensure that all employees and temporary workers are competent to recognize basic safety hazards and those that are unique to the industry.
Tomasco also agreed to train temporary, newly hired, and newly reassigned employees on specific work operations, machine guarding, lockout/tagout safety, and disciplinary rules to be applied in event of failure to observe work safety rules. The training will emphasize that no work is to be performed on machinery with removed, broken, or disabled safety devices.
The company also agreed that no machinery will be used if safety devices, including point of operation safety controls, are disabled, broken, or removed from the machine.
Cal/OSHA issues highest penalty in its history
The investigation of a fire that killed four employees at a refining company has led the California Department of Industrial Relations’ Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) to issue the largest penalty in its history: $810,750.
Cal/OSHA cited Tosco Refining Co. for 33 willful violations of state workplace safety regulations related to the fatal fire on Feb. 23, 1999, at the company’s Avon plant.
Four employees died and one was seriously injured in the accident. Cal/OSHA also is conducting a criminal investigation related to the accident. The results of that investigation will be provided to the local district attorney, who will determine whether criminal charges should be brought against the employer.
The Cal/OSHA investigation found that Tosco failed to isolate naphtha piping from pipe lines that were scheduled for maintenance, including cutting into and removing portions of pipe, reports Cal/OSHA. Naphtha, an extremely volatile petroleum product, flowed through the piping and ignited from hot surfaces at the work site. The workers were trapped on a tower.
Sixteen of the alleged violations were classified as willful, meaning Cal/OSHA believes the employer intentionally committed a violation or knew that the situation was hazardous and did nothing to eliminate it. The willful violation penalties total $730,000.
Tosco can contest the penalties.
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