Workers in Jeffersonville, Ohio, may want to consider their employers’ intentions when it comes to workplace safety. According to a recent investigation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, a manufacturing company that employs 140 workers in Jeffersonville is guilty of more than a dozen safety violations, many of them serious. If an employee was to get hurt while on the job, a workers’ compensation claim would likely be granted, considering the workplace and its safety environment.
According to reports, OSHA decided to conduct an investigation at the facility belonging to TFO Tech Co. Ltd. in July after a complaint was made to the agency. The investigation was part of the occupational safety organization’s National Emphasis Program on Amputations. Many of the safety violations that were allegedly found at the facility could result in an amputation, potentially leaving a worker without a limb for the rest of her or his life.
The facility manufactures auto parts and has many different pieces of equipment to make its operations successful. During the investigation, OSHA officials found that officials were failing to lock out energy sources of machinery when servicing and maintaining equipment. Workers there were exposed to inadequate strain relief and insulation for electrical cords, a damaged metal guard on a conveyor, unguarded floor openings and a lack of guarding for the points of operation on automated mechanical forging presses.
In addition, the company did not have machine-specific lockout/tagout procedures and there was a lack of periodic inspections. According to OSHA, each of these violations was serious and could therefore result in serious injury or death. Because of this, OSHA has suggested that the company be fined $51,000.
Other safety violations included failure to evaluate a forklift operator and her or his performance at least once over a three-year period. The last time OSHA investigated this facility was in June 2003 and the company received a serious citation then, as well.
Source: Workers’ Compensation, “Ohio Auto Parts Supplier Exposes Workers to Amputation Hazards,” Oct. 18, 2012