Mableton, Georgia, trucking company cited for repeat and serious safety and health violations

MABLETON, Ga. — Stafford Transport Inc., a solid waste removal trucking company, has been cited by the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration for five safety and health violations following an inspection at the company's Mableton facility. OSHA initiated the inspection in July 2014 as part of the agency's Site-Specific Targeting Program, which directs enforcement resources to workplaces with higher-than-average rates of injuries and illnesses. Proposed penalties total $43,000.

"This employer continues to disregard the safety and health of its employees by putting them at risk of serious injury or death," said Christi Griffin, director of OSHA's Atlanta-West Area Office. "It is the employer's responsibility to protect workers and eliminate workplace hazards before an OSHA inspection or incident."

Two repeat violations, with $40,000 in penalties, were cited for not providing the Hepatitis B vaccine to employees who could potentially be exposed to bloodborne pathogens and for allowing workers to perform maintenance on landfill tippers, loaders and excavators without conducting annual inspections of the written procedures to protect workers from moving machine parts during servicing work. A repeat violation exists when an employer previously has been cited for the same or a similar violation of a standard, regulation, rule or order at any facility in federal enforcement states within the last five years. The company received citations for these same violations in 2012.

OSHA cited the employer for one serious violation for failure to train workers to operate a forklift. The citation carries a penalty of $3,000. Other violations include failing to conduct an annual review of the written bloodborne pathogens program and not training employees on the new labeling requirements. A serious violation occurs when there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known.

OSHA last inspected Stafford Transport in 2011. The company was issued serious citations for failure to conduct an annual inspection of procedures to protect workers from moving machine parts during service or maintenance and to protect workers from bloodborne pathogen hazards.

The company has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and proposed penalties to comply, request a conference with OSHA's area director, or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety & Health Review Commission.

According to preliminary data from the department's Bureau of Labor Statistics, fatal work injuries in Georgia accounted for 70 of the 4,405 fatal work injuries reported nationally in 2013. Additional details are available at http://www.bls.gov.

To ask questions, obtain compliance assistance, file a complaint or report workplace hospitalizations, fatalities or situations posing imminent danger to workers, the public should call OSHA's toll-free hotline at 800-321-OSHA (6742) or the agency's Atlanta-West Area Office at 678-903-7301.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA's role is to ensure these conditions for America's working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance. For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov.