Employer name: U.S. Postal Service, 2323 Forest Avenue, Des Moines, Iowa

Citations issued: June 2, 2016

Investigation findings: The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration's Des Moines Area Office cited the postal mail sorting facility for two repeated and two serious safety violations.

Employer name: Evergreen Nursery Inc.

Inspection site: 1501 Dials Road, Statham, Georgia 30666

Citations issued: The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued citations to Evergreen Nursery on May 31 for 18 serious safety violations.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Federal workplace safety and health inspectors have cited a Steuben County rail manufacturing and repair service facility for 17 serious violations, including exposing employees to unsafe levels of known cancer-causing chemicals such as cadmium, lead, nickel and sil

Employer name: Purrfect Enterprises Inc., 262 Clinton St., Paterson, New Jersey

Citations issued: On May 23, 2016, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued citations for 22 serious violations and one other-than-serious violation.

EDISON, N.J. – A New York-area employer has learned that refusing to comply with federal workplace safety standards and then failing to accept responsibility for the violations can cost significantly more –in penalties– once the U.S. Department of Labor litigates the matter.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – To further protect workers who report violations of law, safety and health, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration is launching a pilot for its first severe violator enforcement program for employers that continually and willfully disregard the rights of whistleblowers.

BOISE – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration found an Idaho frozen food manufacturer failed to safeguard employees and was unprepared to respond to a potentially lethal release of 1,300 lbs. of anhydrous ammonia on Dec. 1, 2015.

Employer name: Ungerer & Company

Inspection site: 110 North Commerce Way, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

Citations issued: On May 25, 2016, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued one repeat and six serious violations, and one other-than-serious violation.

HARTFORD, Conn.  – After the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited and fined U.S. Chutes Inc.’s Bantam plant $94,428 for repeated and serious safety violations in January 2015, the manufacturer of galvanized chutes for laundry and trash conveyors asked for time to correct the hazards completely.

Employer name: The Timken Company, Bucyrus, Ohio

Citations issued: May 18, 2016

CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio – Federal safety and health investigators found that employees of an Ohio gun shop may face life-long health damage because their employer continues to expose them to lead hazards and has failed to establish a respiratory protection program.

TARRYTOWN, N.Y. – Responding to complaints, inspectors from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration found access to emergency exits at two New Rochelle CVS stores blocked by merchandise, boxes and other objects. As a result, OSHA is citing the retailer for two repeated violations of workplace safety standards and proposing a total of $88,000 in fines.

Employer name: Payton Roofing Inc.

Inspection site: 4160 NW, 21^st St., Buildings B and D, Lauderhill, Florida 33313

Citations issued: Citations were issued to the employer on May 23.

ANDOVER, Mass.  – A candy-wrapping machine surgically amputated part of a temporary worker’s left index finger at a subsidiary of Tootsie Roll Industries Inc. of Chicago on Jan. 6, 2016, an incident that his employer might have prevented by meeting federal safety and health standards. 

MJR, a Boston staffing company that does business as Snelling Staffing Services, supplied the worker to Cambridge Brands Inc.’s production facility at 810 Main St., in Cambridge.

Employer name: First Missouri Terminals Inc. operating as Midwest Grain & Barge Company Inc.
179 Rushing Road, Scott City, Missouri 63780                                

Citations issued: May 19, 2016

Investigation findings: The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s

PHILADELPHIA – Had his employer properly created a work zone, a passing car on Philadelphia’s 63^rd Street might not have struck and killed a 27-year-old plumber working to repair an underground leak on a mid-November night in 2015. 

Employers name:

• Penn Stucco Systems Inc., 385 West Ridge Pike, Limerick, Pennsylvania
• BC Stucco and Stone, 36 Marian Court, Upper Darby, Pennsylvania

Inspection site: 3018 West Thompson St., Philadelphia

General contractor Westrum Development Co. hired Penn Stucco Systems Inc. to complete stucco work on a building at the site location. Penn then contracted BC Stucco and Stone to provide labor for the job. 

Employer name: Falls Creek Powdered Metals Inc., 82 Industrial Drive, Brockway, Pennsylvania

Citations issued: The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued 27 serious citations on May 17, 2016.

GLENDALE, Wis. – Pier 1 Imports’ workers in Glendale are the latest group of employees to be put at risk by  the national home décor retailer’s failure to prevent boxes from blocking aisles and being piled at dangerous heights. Federal workplace safety inspectors have found similar safety hazards at several other U.S. store locations.

SUSSEX, Wis. ‒ A rotating airlock blade severed a 30-year-old worker’s three fingertips as he cleaned the machine at a Sussex subsidiary of organic food manufacturer Nature’s Path Foods Inc., an incident federal safety investigators found could have been prevented if the machine had been powered down fully.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited the subsidiary, Nature’s Path USA II LLC, for the same violation in 2012.