OSHA issues largest fine of FY 2011
Phenix City, AL – OSHA issued more than $1.9 million in proposed fines to an Alabama lumber company for alleged safety hazards that included potentially exposing employees to amputations and falls.
OSHA announced the fines (.pdf file) against Phenix Lumber Co. and its principal, John M. Dudley, June 14. The company received 16 citations, 13 of which contained 24 willful violations, including failure to properly shut down and lock out machinery before employees were required to clear jams or clean. The proposed fines are the largest OSHA has issued to date this fiscal year.
Prior to this recent enforcement action, OSHA had cited the company 77 times for safety and health violations, according to an agency press release.
“This situation reflects a systemic problem with the way this company approaches safety and demonstrates an egregious disregard for workers’ safety and health,” OSHA administrator David Michaels said in the release.
Post a comment to this article
Safety+Health welcomes comments that promote respectful dialogue. Please stay on topic. Comments that contain personal attacks, profanity or abusive language – or those aggressively promoting products or services – will be removed. We reserve the right to determine which comments violate our comment policy. (Anonymous comments are welcome; merely skip the “name” field in the comment box. An email address is required but will not be included with your comment.)