Electrical hazards, dirty workplace lead to fines

The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited Kohler Company in Searcy, AR, with proposed penalties of $94,500 for alleged safety and health violations resulting from a programmed planned inspection under OSHA’s "Site Specific Targeting Program." (See story about the program, p. 69.)

Kohler employs about 320 workers at its facility in Searcy, where metal sinks are manufactured. The company’s corporate headquarters is in Kohler, WI. According to Paul Hansen Jr., the Little Rock, AR, OSHA area director, the alleged violations were discovered during a programmed planned inspection conducted between Oct. 5, 1999 and March 13, 2000. The company was cited for 17 serious, three repeat, and three other-than-serious violations.

These are just some of the serious violations:

• failure to provide places of employment which are kept clean and orderly;

• failure to provide adequate covers and/or guardrails to protect personnel from open tanks;

• failure to properly guard open-sided floors or platforms;

• failure to provide standard stair railings on open-sided stairs;

• failure to provide approved electrical wiring and equipment for hazardous locations;

• failure to provide continuous and permanent grounding path for electrical equipment;

• failure to protect temporary lamps from contact or breakage;

• failure to ensure that unused openings in electrical boxes were closed;

• failure to provide weatherproof electrical cabinets and equipment in wet locations;

• failure to ensure that flexible electrical cords and cables were not used for prohibited purposes.