Discount chain retailer fined $12 million
A national discount chain retailer based in Tennessee entered into a settlement agreement with OSHA to resolve numerous safety violations, including blocked emergency exits, blocked electrical panels, blocked fire extinguishers, and unsafe storage. As part of the settlement agreement, the company must also implement corporatewide changes that make employee safety a priority. These improvements include:

• Establishing and maintaining an expanded safety structure and a robust safety and health management system, including hiring additional safety managers;
• Significantly reducing inventory and increasing stocking efficiency to prevent blocked exits and unsafe material storage;
• Providing safety and health training to both leadership and nonmanagerial employees; and
• Developing a safety and health committee and encouraging employee participation.

Penalty: $12,000,000

Repeat hazards lead to six-figure fine
OSHA cited a tank cleaning company in Texas with 8 repeat and 11 serious violations for failing to protect its employees from hazardous working conditions. Following an employee’s fatal injury in December 2023, OSHA conducted an investigation and found that the company failed to ensure atmospheric testing was done inside the tank before allowing the employee to enter it. OSHA also found the following violations:

• Failing to implement measures to prevent unauthorized entry into a permit-required confined space;
• Not providing an attendant while employees entered permit-required confined spaces;
• Numerous failures related to the confined space entry permit, including:
• Not identifying the authorized duration of entry;
• Which rescue and emergency services were to be summoned;
• How to summon emergency services; and
• Failing to specify personal protective, rescue, and communications equipment and alarm systems.
• Overexposing employees to carbon monoxide; and
• Not protecting conductors that entered an electrical panel box from abrasions and leaving an electrical outlet without a cover plate.

Penalty: $810,703

Manufacturer cited for silica hazards
A countertop manufacturer in Illinois was cited with 8 egregious willful, 4 willful, and 20 serious safety and health violations for exposing workers to silica levels up to 6 times greater than permissible limits. During a February 2024 inspection, OSHA learned two employees were suffering from accelerated silicosis, an incurable lung disease, and were in need of lung transplants. When investigators arrived at the facility, they found employees working in a haze of dust and using required respirators improperly. OSHA determined that the company:

• Failed to establish a baseline of employees' medical health to monitor silica exposure,
• Didn’t perform medical surveillance to monitor exposure,
• Lacked engineering and administrative controls to reduce silica dust to safe levels,
• Exposed workers to unsafe levels of silica dust, and
• Failed to have a respiratory protection program in place.

Penalty: $1,019,096

Fall hazards lead to fines
OSHA cited a water tower painting company in New Jersey with 3 willful and 19 serious violations after finding the contractor failed to provide or install required safety equipment that would have prevented an employee from falling 80 feet to the bottom of a Bayville water tower and suffering severe injuries in January 2024. In addition to failing to protect employees from fall hazards, the company exposed employees to respiratory injuries and hearing loss while working in a permit-required confined space, fire and explosion hazards, and long-term lung damage related to unsafe levels of silica dust. Specifically, OSHA cited the company for failing to:

• Ensure workers used fall protection while ascending or descending the maintenance tube ladder.
• Reduce noise levels below the permissible exposure level using hearing protection or administrative or engineering controls.
• Evaluate the hazards within the water tower, which was considered to be a permit-required confined space, and ensure the hazards were eliminated.
• Complete required confined space permits.
• Develop a rescue plan for those working inside the water tower—a violation the company was cited for in 2017.
• Provide continuous air monitoring equipment for use inside the water tower.
• Take proper safety precautions when flammable paint was being used.
• Evaluate employee exposure to crystalline silica contained within paint, which was found to be over safe levels.
• Train workers on crystalline silica hazards, and have a specific silica program for the Bayville site.
• Develop a site-specific respiratory protection program.
• Ensure the use of a carbon monoxide detector when workers used supplied air respirators.
• Provide the required respirator cartridge needed to filter crystalline silica.

Penalty: $485,580

Contractor cited for excavation hazards
A waterproofing contractor at residential worksites in Massachusetts and Rhode Island was cited for willful and serious safety violations after OSHA investigators found that the company exposed employees to life-threatening cave-ins and excavation hazards. OSHA determined that at each worksite, a supervisor recruited and then ordered untrained day laborers to enter and work in unprotected excavations, despite the safety concerns employees raised and their requests for cave-in protection, which the employer didn’t provide. The excavations collapsed at both locations, with each cave-in injuring and burying an individual worker. At the Massachusetts worksite, the employer made no attempt to rescue the trapped employee, took away the employee’s phone, and struck the trapped employee with objects to prevent the employee from seeking medical attention. At the Rhode Island worksite, the trapped employee asked the employer to call 911 for help and for transport to the hospital, but the employer objected. The employer didn’t use proper medical equipment to remove the injured employee from the excavation. Instead, the employer carried the injured worker to a personal vehicle, drove the employee to an urgent care facility, and left the employee there.
Penalty: $451,694

Repeat hazards lead to fines
OSHA cited a sneaker manufacturer in New York for continuing to ignore workplace safety standards. The company was cited after a January 2024 follow-up inspection at the facility prompted by the company’s failure to submit required proof to OSHA that the company had installed required guardrails or equivalent protection for employees accessing and working atop a mezzanine and made certain a ladder used to access the mezzanine extended at least 3 feet above the landing. OSHA previously cited the company in March 2022 after its original 2021 inspection found the absence of guardrails and an unsafe ladder exposed employees to falls of up to 10 feet to the floor below. OSHA inspectors returned in 2024 to find the company hadn’t corrected its violations.
Penalty: $396,377

Metal refinisher cited for 40+ violations
A Texas-based metal refinisher was cited for exposing employees to more than 40 safety hazards with the potential to cause serious health concerns. During a December 2023 investigation, OSHA found that the company failed to use required engineering controls and respiratory protection to prevent health hazards related to triglycidyl isocyanurate, arsenic, cadmium beryllium, and lead exposures. Specifically, OSHA found the company failed to:

• Protect employees in powder-coating operations from inhalation hazards.
• Have engineering controls for noise, an effective hearing conservation program, and noise monitoring in place, and equip employees with hearing protection.
• Protect workers by maintaining a spray booth.
• Ensure respirators were provided and used properly.
• Have changing rooms and showers specifically for employees overexposed to arsenic, beryllium, and lead, and provide required training and medical surveillance or air monitoring for overexposure to these substances.
• Maintain electrical equipment as required.
• Protect employees against harmful dust overexposure.
• Ensure arsenic, beryllium, and lead were safely blown off of clothing.
• Establish regulated areas for arsenic and beryllium.
• Develop and implement a hazard communication program.

Penalty: $338,094