For the 4th time in a year, OSHA cites Burrows Paper

FRANKLIN, Ohio — Mere months after two employees were injured by dangerous machines, Burrows Paper Corp. again put workers at risk. Acting on a complaint, the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration found workers unjamming and servicing machines without proper safeguards during an Aug. 25, 2014, inspection. This is the fourth time in the past year that Burrows has been cited for hazards at its Franklin food box manufacturing facility.

OSHA has proposed fines of $122,500 for two repeated and two serious violations and placed the company in its Severe Violator Enforcement Program for failing to correct safety deficiencies.

"How long will it take before Burrows Paper begins to value the safety and health of its employees? Injuries caused by these machines often end in disfigurement, disability or death, yet this company continuously fails to fix those problems," said Bill Wilkerson, OSHA's area director in Cincinnati. "This is frustrating and inexcusable, and we promise that we'll keep coming back until Burrows Paper learns that safety is nonnegotiable."

OSHA's most recent inspection found that Burrows Paper had not developed procedures to ensure that the die- cutting machine and paper-sorting machine would not unintentionally operate during servicing or maintenance, a procedure known as lockout/tagout.

In July 2014, OSHA cited the company after two employees were injured in separate incidents. One of those injuries also involved machine hazards. OSHA issues repeated violations if an employer was previously cited for the same or a similar violation of any standard, regulation, rule or order at any other facility in federal enforcement states within the last five years.

Two serious violations address Burrows Paper's failure to verify the effectiveness of energy isolating procedures on the paper-sorting and die-cutting machines.

An OSHA violation is serious if death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard an employer knew or should have known exits.

View current citations at https://www.osha.gov/ooc/citations/Burrows_Paper_Corporation_992531.pdf

Headquartered in Little Falls, New York, Burrows Paper manufactures machine glaze and machine finish paper grades for use in medical and food packaging. The company operates four paper mills. Three are in New York and the fourth in Pickens, Mississippi. Burrows' packaging operations are located in Franklin and Mt. Vernon; Fort Madison, Iowa; and Reno, Nevada.

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

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 Cincinnati office at 513-841-4132.

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.