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Archived News Release--Caution:
information may be out of date.
For more information call: (202) 693-1999
A Hoboken, N.J., manufacturer of steel doors and frames is facing fines
of $530,500 for its failure to carry out promises to correct numerous workplace
hazards, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced today.
"B.R.S. Products claimed last March that it had corrected safety and
health problems OSHA found nearly two years earlier, including unguarded
machinery that could injure or kill employees," Secretary of Labor Alexis M.
Herman said. "However, our follow-up inspection in April showed many of these
hazards still existed."
OSHA today issued to the company 14 failure-to-abate notices, which can
carry penalties for every day a company does not take corrective action. Six of
the 14 were deemed egregious and assessed penalties for 40 days, because OSHA
alleges the company knowingly failed to abate:
- unguarded press brakes and unguarded points of operation on power
presses (one employee lost a finger tip in an accident);
- excessive noise in the workplace that can cause deafness;
- lack of a lockout/tagout program to protect against sudden startups
of machines while they were being serviced;
- no training of employees in the use of fire extinguishers;
- lack of vermin control in the workplace (severe accumulations of
pigeon droppings); and
- unprotected spray painting.
"This employer's failure to fulfill its promises to protect its
employees is so outrageous that stiff penalties are warranted," said Assistant
Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Charles N. Jeffress.
"B.R.S. Products and a now-defunct firm owned by B.R.S.'s operators have a long
history of OSHA violations."
Nineteen additional OSHA citations issued today to B.R.S. Products
carry proposed penalties of $142,900. They allege two willful safety
violations, 10 serious safety and health violations, five repeat violations,
and two other-than-serious violations. Proposed penalties -- including those
for the notices of failure-to-abate -- total $673,400.
The principals of B.R.S. have a long history of OSHA violations dating
back to another company, Bilt-Rite Steel Buck Corp. in Westbury, N.Y. OSHA
inspected that company 11 times from 1974-94. The agency found violations
during seven inspections and issued 55 citations. That firm, which made the
same products as B.R.S. Products and was managed by the same principals, went
out of business in 1996.
In May 1997, responding to a formal complaint about hazardous
conditions, OSHA began a safety inspection of B.R.S. Products and issued
multiple citations with $72,000 in total penalties on Sept. 24, 1997. B.R.S.
Products contested the citations, reaching an agreement with OSHA in January
1999, in which the severity of the citations was downgraded and the penalties
reduced to $32,00O.
The agreement, which became a final order of the Occupational Safety
and Health Review Commission on March 11, included a statement from the company
that all hazards had been corrected.
The company employs about 90 workers, represented by United Brotherhood
of Carpenters, Hollow Metal Division, Local 2947, Jamaica, N.Y.
B.R.S. Products, Inc., has 15 working days to contest the notices and
citations and proposed penalties before the independent Occupational Safety and
Health Review Commission.
Archived News Release--Caution:
information may be out of date.
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