N.Y. manufacturer faces $44,000 in OSHA penalties

A Frankfort, N.Y., manufacturer of wholesale baked goods faces additional proposed penalties totaling $44,000 from the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) following an inspection that was a follow-up to an inspection completed in 2005.

Granny's Kitchens LLC, a division of Keystone Bakery Holdings, has been cited for five alleged serious and repeat violations of workplace safety standards at its Frankfort production plant. The citations resulted from an inspection begun August 21 as a follow-up to a 2005 inspection that resulted in $142,200 in proposed fines.

The current alleged serious violations include the company's failure to guard chain and sprockets on a conveyor, maintain an electrical conduit, and label electrical circuits. Two alleged repeat violations relate to the company's failure to provide adequate lockout/tagout training to employees to protect them from being caught in moving equipment and to guard ingoing nip points on a sheeter roller.

"When an employer agrees to correct cited hazards and to come into compliance with the law, it is unacceptable that we should find repeat instances of previously cited hazards during subsequent inspections of the workplace," said Chris Adams, OSHA's area director in Syracuse.

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. A repeat violation is defined as one for which an employer has been cited previously on a substantially similar condition when the citation has become a final order of the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

The company has 15 business days from receipt of its citations to comply with them, to request and participate in an informal conference with OSHA's area director or to contest them before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.