Scrap Metal Facility Where Worker Died Had Never Been Inspected By Safety Regulators

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.usw.org/blog/2014/scrap-metal-facility-where-worker-died-had-never-been-inspected-by-safety-regulators

Posted: September 13, 2014

Alan Pyke
Deputy Economic Policy Editor, Think Progress

An Illinois scrap metal recycling company has been fined nearly half a million dollars for various safety violations after a worker was killed when his arm got trapped in a conveyor belt that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) says should have been turned off.

But despite a pattern of violations at other facilities run by the same company, OSHA had never inspected the South Beloit, IL facility prior to the March accident that killed Alfredo Arrendondo, an OSHA spokesman told ThinkProgress after reviewing records for the region.

The newly announced penalties come atop previous violations at other Behr & Sons facilities elsewhere in the state and in neighboring Iowa. The company has received six separate inspections at its facilities in the past 5 years, according to an OSHA press release on the $497,000 fine issued to Behr’s South Beloit, IL facility. As part of that citation, OSHA has deemed the company a severe violator for its pattern of neglect toward worker safety.

“There’s a culture of unsafe work practices at not only this facility but throughout the whole company,” OSHA regional spokesman Scott Allen said in an interview. “So we’ve put these folks into the severe violator program so right now we can inspect any of the plants, not just this particular facility. And they’ll stay on that program until we feel that they’ve not only corrected all those problems but shown a culture change in their safety procedures.”

FULL story at link.

Until workers demand more $ for OSHA inspectors, we will continue to die for cut corners of company budgets.

[drray23]

1. unfortunately

It is not surprising. OSHA like many regulatory agencies are understaffed and underfunded. In some cases the regulators are former industry insiders.