OSHA Cites Fla. Company

The U.S. Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited Coreslab Structures for reportedly operating unsafe forklifts and other safety hazards at the company’s Medley, Fla., facility. The agency is proposing penalties totaling $45,000.

“Forklift accidents are preventable; each year, however, powered industrial trucks are involved in thousands of accidents that injure or kill American workers,” said Luis Santiago, OSHA’s Ft. Lauderdale area director.

OSHA issued nine serious citations to the pre-cast concrete manufacturer, with proposed penalties of $45,000, for: failing to train forklift operators and require them to wear safety belts; allowing employees to operate trucks that needed repair; and allowing employees, other than the operator, to ride on the equipment. Other cited safety violations included allowing employees to ride on cranes, use unsafe cutting tools and operate machinery without safety guards.

The agency also cited, but did not propose penalties for, the lack of required labels on forklifts, poor housekeeping and some unlabeled hazardous chemicals stored at the facility.

OSHA conducted this inspection last August concurrently with the investigation of a worker’s death from carbon monoxide poisoning. Alleged violations in that case, for which OSHA cited Coreslab Structures in November, included exposing workers to carbon monoxide above permissible levels and failing to have alarms that warned workers of elevated levels. Proposed penalties totaled $24,000. In December, the company contested the citations.

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