OSHA Training and Safety Standards – Company Violations

You’d think that safety violations were limited to accidents only as far the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is concerned. But despite appearances, safety and health are not limited to accidents alone. This October, OSHA cited Bridgford Foods Corp. for 27 safety and health violations at its food manufacturing facility in Dallas. Among the infractions was the company’s failure to establish a hearing-conservation program for its workers who are exposed to unhealthy noise levels—a topic that actually comes up in online OSHAcampus.com 10 hour training and OSHA 30 certification.

Bridgford was also found to have failed to put up a measure called a lockout/tagout for energy sources to protect workers from machines unexpectedly starting up. These two major violations, plus 25 others, will cost the company in penalties totaling $422,600.

“Bridgford Foods has a history of failing to implement necessary safety and health,” said OSHA regional administrator John Hermanson in Dallas. “Under the law, it is the employer’s responsibility to provide a safe and healthy workplace.”

There are routine violators and there are occasional violators. And then there are the serial violators who repeatedly and wilfully violate the U.S. Department of Labor’s OSAHA requirements for safety and health at the workplace. One such is All-Feed Processing & Packaging Inc. One would think that the company never heard of OSHA 10 hour training, OSHA 30 certification, or 40 hour HAZWOPER training.

Recently, OSHA cited All-Feed Processing & Packaging for 23 safety and health violations at its pet-food production and packaging facility in Galva, Illinois, among them nine wilful infractions of OSHA’s air-contaminant, respiratory-protection, and hearing-conservation minimums. Other violations included failure to provide appropriate fire and explosion protection in locations of high concentrations of combustible dust. In all, OSHA proposed fines reaching $758,450.

All-Feed Processing & Packaging had been issued several citations for similar violations before, including one for a dangerous, potentially fatal dust explosion and fire that occurred at the same facility in 2009.
“By showing a blatant disregard for worker safety and health, this employer continues to expose workers to deadly hazards,” said OSHA Assistant Secretary Dr. David Michaels.

OSHA health and safety standards are a focus of training programs for workers, safety directors, foremen, and field supervisors at OSHAcampus.com, a leading online training resource for OSHA and HAZWOPER programs such as 10 hour OSHA training, OSHA 30 certification, and 40 hour HAZWOPER training.