Seaboard International of Houston Fined $79K After Worker Death

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Seaboard International Inc. with 24 serious and two other-than-serious safety violations following the death of a worker at the company’s Houston facility. Proposed penalties for these citations total $79,400.

OSHA’s Houston South Area Office began its investigation on Sept. 14, 2010, at the company’s South Freeway facility, where an employee died after a pallet-pulling machine came loose and struck him on the head.

Serious violations include failing to implement OSHA’s standards for the control of hazardous energy, provide a hazard communication program, ensure jib cranes were adequately inspected and properly loaded, provide the required machine guarding, and ensure a pallet-pulling machine and chain used in material handling were maintained and inspected.

Other-than-serious violations include failing to certify the annual summary of injuries and illness.

Seaboard International, a Houston-based oilfield equipment company that employs about 75 workers at its Houston facility, has additional manufacturing, sales and service locations elsewhere in the U.S. as well as abroad.

The company has 15 business days from receipt of the citations to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA’s Houston South area director or contest the citations and penalties before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

Source: OSHA