OSHA Cites Pa. Company for Unsafe Machinery

The U.S. Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited Lloyd Industries Inc., Montgomeryville, Pennsylvania, for exposing workers to potential amputations and other injuries from unguarded machinery. Penalties of $150,100 have been proposed for alleged willful, serious, and repeat safety violations.

OSHA initiated an inspection of the company, which manufactures fire and smoke dampers and employs 50 workers at this site, in March 2005.

Two willful violations, with proposed penalties of $112,000, were cited for failure to provide guarding at the point-of-operation of mechanical power presses and to establish a program to inspect the presses. A willful violation is one committed with an intentional disregard of, or plain indifference to, the Occupational Safety and Health Act and standards.

“This company’s disregard for safety and health greatly heightens the level of danger for its workers,” said Richard Soltan, OSHA’s regional administrator in Philadelphia. “When working with dangerous equipment, employers must be diligent in adhering to OSHA regulations.”

Five repeat citations, with penalties of $20,400, addressed deficiencies surrounding the power presses, failure to guard exposed live parts during electrical installation, and failure to record injuries and illnesses for several years. The violations were considered repeat because the company had been cited previously for similar violations and those citations had become a final order of the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

Nine additional serious violations addressed problems with the power presses and carried a penalty of $17,700. A serious violation is issued when there is substantial probability that death or serious injury could occur from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known.

The company has 15 working days to contest the citations before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.