A Decatur, Alabama, manufacturer of GE appliances faces $193,585 in proposed Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) penalties after a frontline supervisor’s death, the agency announced January 17.
The 58-year-old supervisor suffered fatal injuries while trying to service a door molding machine. Agency inspectors found the company allowed workers to bypass the machine’s safety doors and didn’t use required procedures to prevent employee injuries in the carousel-like machine.
OSHA cited Haier US Appliance Solutions Inc., which operates as GE Appliances, with one willful violation for failing to follow lockout/tagout procedures to de-energize a machine before allowing service or maintenance. The agency also cited Haier with two serious violations for permitting employees to bypass interlocking safety doors to gain access to the machine and for not maintaining annual inspections for lockout/tagout procedures.
OSHA’s general industry lockout/tagout standard (29 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) §1910.147) is its fifth most cited standard, OSHA announced last fall. In fiscal year (FY) 2024, the agency cited 2,443 lockout/tagout violations.
OSHA has conducted 40 safety inspections since 2016 at Haier’s manufacturing facilities in Decatur and Louisville, Kentucky. The inspections revealed machine safety violations, including two repeat and two serious violations of lockout/tagout requirements cited after a 55-year-old worker’s fatality in Louisville in February 2019.
“Haier US Appliance Solutions could have avoided this tragedy but put production schedules and profit ahead of employee safety,” Joel Batiz, OSHA’s Birmingham, Alabama, area office director, said in an agency statement. “This company’s troubling history of safety failures in its manufacturing process has posed a significant risk to the more than 1,500 workers at its Decatur location who rely on a safe and healthy workplace.”
Pennsylvania tourist railroad ordered to reinstate employee
A Ronks, Pennsylvania, tourist railroad operator and former company official were ordered to reinstate an employee and pay back wages and damages after the employee was fired for refusing to issue locomotive and conductor licenses to an untrained and unqualified management official, OSHA announced January 17.
OSHA investigated a whistleblower complaint by the Strasburg Rail Road Co. employee, who alleged they were fired after refusing to issue the licenses due to safety and legal reasons. OSHA confirmed the management official lacked the required licensing credentials and determined the company retaliated by firing the worker—a violation of the Federal Railroad Safety Act (FRSA).
OSHA’s whistleblower protection authority was first established by the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act of 1970 to protect workers who lodge safety or health complaints or who cooperate with agency investigations of workplace safety and health violations. OSHA is now responsible for investigating whistleblower complaints under more than 20 federal statutes.
Strasburg Rail Road and the former company official were ordered to pay the employee $161,114 in back wages and interest; $10,000 in compensatory damages; and $50,000 in punitive damages. OSHA’s order also requires them to expunge the employee’s records of any references to exercising rights under the FRSA.
“The OSHA investigation found Strasburg Rail Road Co. wrongfully terminated the employee for exercising their protected right to raise safety concerns,” Michael Rivera, OSHA’s Philadelphia regional administrator, said in a statement. “This case underscores the critical importance of protecting workers who prioritize safety and comply with federal regulations. Retaliation against employees who stand up for safety will not be tolerated.”
OSHA extends heat NEP
On January 16, OSHA extended its 2022 indoor and outdoor heat-related hazards National Emphasis Program (NEP), which was due to expire on April 8.
Under the NEP, OSHA conducts inspections in high-risk industries’ indoor and outdoor work settings when the National Weather Service issues a heat warning or advisory for a local area.
The NEP authorizes the agency’s compliance safety and health officers (CSHOs) to conduct self-referral inspections of outdoor work environments in plain view. It also authorizes the agency’s area offices to act on referrals from the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD).