Cleveland bakeware manufacturer G&S Metal Products Company Inc. faces a $182,293 Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) fine after two workers suffered injuries within weeks of each other, resulting in amputations, the agency announced December 9.

On June 25, a 37-year-old employee sustained an amputation injury while operating a power press. The press cycled unexpectedly as the worker was servicing the machine, exposing the operator to hazardous moving parts. Inspectors determined that the press’s pullbacks weren’t properly secured, contributing to the injury.

On July 11, a 64-year-old worker, who had been on the job for just 4 months, suffered an amputation while clearing scrap from a mechanical power press. The die on the machine closed without warning, leading to the injury. Agency investigators found that the machine lacked adequate guarding and wasn’t locked out to prevent operation during maintenance.

OSHA cited G&S Metal Products with one willful violation and five serious violations. The company was cited in 2017 after another worker suffered amputation injuries while adjusting a mechanical power press.

“These two workers must live with permanent injuries because their employer failed to ensure that adequate guarding was in place,” Howard Eberts, OSHA’s Cleveland area office director, said in an agency statement. “G&S Metal Products Co. Inc. must take immediate action to evaluate and address machine safety across its operations. Employers have an obligation to adhere to basic safety standards to ensure every worker returns home safely.”

DOL files whistleblower suit against Pennsylvania post office

The Department of Labor (DOL) has filed suit against the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) and two of its managers for wrongly terminating a contract employee who raised safety concerns about loading dock equipment at the Charleroi, Pennsylvania, postal facility, OSHA announced December 6.

The suit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania follows an OSHA investigation that determined the USPS violated the whistleblower provisions of the Occupational Safety and Health Act by firing a worker who refused to unload bulk mail because of a broken loading dock lift at the USPS Pittsburgh sorting facility.

OSHA investigators determined that the worker, an employee of Red Diamond Trucking Co. Inc., a McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania, company contracted by the USPS, was prevented from using small hampers to transport mail safely because of the broken lift, which had previously almost injured the worker. Aware of unsafe conditions at the facility, the worker asked to use smaller mail hampers to transfer the mail.

In response, USPS employees at the facility accused the worker of refusing to handle the mail. They confiscated the worker’s badge, preventing the worker from working on the USPS contract. The employee left the facility embarrassed and humiliated after being yelled at by others and confronted by USPS Police.

The department’s suit asks the court to hold the USPS liable for illegal retaliation and require payment of back wages and damages.

The DOL and OSHA have repeatedly acted recently against the USPS in response to whistleblower retaliation:

• In May, a federal judge ordered the USPS to pay $141,307 in lost wages and damages to a probationary mail carrier who was fired after reporting an on-the-job injury to a supervisor and filing an accident report.
• In July, DOL attorneys obtained a consent judgment in federal court that includes an injunction permanently preventing the USPS from retaliating against employees at up to 59 locations in Washington state. The judgment also required the USPS to pay $183,732 in lost wages, interest, and damages to unlawfully terminated employees.
• Last month, the DOL petitioned a federal court to force the USPS to comply with OSHA subpoenas.