The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited KMA Manufacturing LLC in Vanport, Pa., for numerous alleged safety and health violations following a fatal industrial accident in December 2007.
OSHA initiated its investigation of the Beaver County facility, which employs 49 people, on December 27, 2007, in response to the accident when a six-ton piece of stainless steel became dislodged from a crane and fell onto an employee. The investigation resulted in 42 serious violations and four repeat violations.
The serious violations include the company's failure to ensure that a swivel hook, which was used on an overhead crane to lift annealing furnace covers, was equipped with a safety latch. Employees were observed operating overhead cranes without proper training. KMA Manufacturing failed to ensure that overhead cranes were not used to lift materials beyond their rated load capacity. The company also failed to conduct a personal protection equipment workplace assessment. A serious citation is issued when death or serious physical harm is likely to result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known.
The repeat violations include failure to provide machine guarding and required training in hazardous energy sources. OSHA issues repeat citations when an employer previously has been cited for similar hazards and those citations have become final.
"Without the proper safety precautions, KMA Manufacturing continues to put its employees at great risk for potential injuries or death,” said Robert Szymanski, director of OSHA's Pittsburgh Area Office. "Employers have a responsibility to provide a safe and healthy work environment.”
OSHA is proposing $119,400 in fines for the combined violations.
KMA Manufacturing has 15 business days from receipt of its citations to contest them before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.
