Artco-Bell Corp., a Temple, Texas, school furnishings manufacturer, faces a $257,183 Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) fine after a worker sustained serious, permanent hand and arm injuries, the agency announced October 21.

According to OSHA, the worker’s injuries could have been prevented had the employer installed required machine guards.

Agency investigators learned that in April 2024, the employee was using a garden hose to clean machine rollers when the hose became caught in the rollers, pulling the worker’s arm into the machine and leading to the injury.

In addition to the employer’s failure to install machine guards, OSHA inspectors found that the company exposed workers to respirable crystalline silica hazards. The agency cited the Artco-Bell with 24 serious safety and health violations.

“An employee suffered painful injuries because Artco-Bell Corp. failed to comply with federal requirements for machine guards,” Monica Camacho, OSHA’s Austin, Texas, area office director, said in an agency statement. “Employers are responsible for ensuring their workers are trained to recognize and address workplace hazards, and that safety information is communicated in languages their employees understand.”

According to OSHA, Artco-Bell Corp. has designed and manufactured furniture for schools and other educational settings since 1965, employing more than 250 people.

Waterproofing contractor facing $283K OSHA fine following fatality

Aleckssandro Tomaz Pereira, operator of three Massachusetts waterproofing contracting companies, faces $283,115 in OSHA penalties after a worker suffered a fatal injury when part of a foundation broke and fell on the worker in a 5- to 6-foot-deep trench beneath the foundation of a Hanson, Massachusetts, residence.

Pereira, a Woburn, Massachusetts, contractor, operates Boston Concrete Corp LLC, VMT Contractor LLC, and Boston Concrete and Remodeling LLC. OSHA found that Pereira exposed employees to cave-in, caught-between, and structural collapse hazards by failing to protect the trench and the building foundation against collapse.

The agency cited Pereira for two willful, serious violations of OSHA’s excavation requirements and six serious construction health and safety violations.

OSHA investigators determined that the employer instructed the worker to enter the unprotected trench to prepare a foundation wall for waterproofing and then dig out an area under that wall to install concrete footings.

The agency also found that Pereira failed to do the following:

• Ensure the employee in the trench didn’t dig beneath the unsupported foundation walls’ base.
• Train employees to recognize and avoid cave-in and structural collapse hazards.
• Train employees on operating the excavator and recognizing hazards associated with the excavator.
• Provide a safe means of exiting the trench.
• Prevent water from accumulating in the trench.

“Aleckssandro Tomaz Pereira should never have placed workers in this trench until the excavation and the building’s foundation were guarded against collapse, workers were properly trained, water was removed from the trench, and an exit ladder was provided,” James Mulligan, OSHA’s Braintree, Massachusetts, area office director, said in a statement. “This tragedy was entirely preventable.”

CSB releases new safety video

On October 17, the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) announced the release of a new safety video summarizing its findings in an investigation of a hydrogen chloride release at Wacker Polysilicon North American facility in Charleston, Tennessee, that ended in a worker fatality.

Contract workers from two firms performed different work on the same level of the facility’s platform wearing different levels of personal protective equipment (PPE). In the video, board staff emphasize the need for procedures, regulations, and guidance addressing the hazards of simultaneous operations (SIMOPS).

The board released a final report of its investigation last year.