South Jersey Manufacturing Business Cited Again For Safety Violations: OSHA

A South Jersey aluminum manufacturing company with a long history of noncompliance with standards set by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has been cited once again, OSHA announced this week.

This time, Pennsauken-based Aluminum Shapes LLC has been cited for 51 safety and health violations and proposed penalties of $1,922,895, according to OSHA. Since 2011, OSHA has inspected the facility eight times, cited the employer for 60 violations and assessed $516,753 in penalties.

Prior to these findings, Aluminum Shapes said it took steps to improve safety throughout its facility, including tripling the number of safety professionals, hiring an OSHA specialist to help guide its compliance efforts, and adding a widely-respected safety professional to its management team.

"These improvements have made a significant, positive impact on our culture," Aluminum Shapes said in a statement. "We have been diligent in addressing the issues OSHA cited in past inspections. The vast majority of the issues raised in these past inspections were addressed before OSHA’s latest visit. The investments we have made in the facility—from the millions of dollars we have put toward safety improvements to the new equipment that is safer and more efficient—are working. However, OSHA’s new fee structure results in higher fine amounts and unfair media attention even as conditions improve."

OSHA's most recent allegations came following an inspection that began on Jan. 23, 2017. During this inspection, OSHA said it learned that two employees had been hospitalized as a result of separate workplace incidents.

The first incident occurred when employees entered a tank to drain residual sludge containing dehydrated sodium hydroxide, aluminum oxide and decomposed metal, according to OSHA.

After reporting to their supervisors that they were experiencing chemical burns to their skin and attempting to wash off the chemicals, OSHA said the employees were told to re-enter the tank. Once inside, OSHA said they suffered further chemical injuries, resulting in the hospitalization of one employee.

In the second incident, OSHA alleges an employee broke his pelvis after he was trapped between the unguarded moving parts of a metal fabrication machine.

Aluminum Shapes was cited for failure to:

• Provide appropriate personal protective equipment;
• Conduct air monitoring prior to permit-required confined space entry;
• Have an attendant during permit-required confined space entry;
• Complete a required confined space entry permit to identify, evaluate and control hazards in the space;
• Provide confined space training;
• Utilize proper Lockout/Tagout (Control of Hazardous Energy) Procedures;
• Provide workers with locks and hardware to lock out equipment being serviced, maintained, or repaired;
• Have in place specific procedures for the use of blocking devices;
• Utilize group lockout procedures; and
• Train workers in Lockout/Tagout.

OSHA also cited the company for repeat violations, including fall hazards, lack of stair rails and machine guarding, and electrical hazards. The company also received serious citations for inadequate ladders, inappropriate respiratory and hearing protection, insufficient entry permits, and lack of machine guarding and hazardous chemical training. Other-than-serious violations included the company’s failure to record each injury on its injury log.

The citations can be viewed at:
https://www.dol.gov/sites/default/files/newsroom/newsreleases/OSHA20170971.pdf

The citations were announced on Friday. Aluminum Shapes has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and proposed penalties to contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

Aluminum Shapes manufactures aluminum parts used by several industries, including distribution, building and construction, transportation, electrical, automotive, machinery and equipment, as well as durable consumer goods.

To ask questions, obtain compliance assistance, file a complaint, or report amputations, eye loss, workplace hospitalizations, fatalities or situations posing imminent danger to workers, call OSHA’s toll-free hotline at 800-321-OSHA (6742) or the nearest OSHA Area Office.

Patch file photo