Please note: As of January 20, 2021, information in some news releases may be out of date or not reflect current policies.
News Brief
LaGrange, Georgia agricultural equipment manufacturer exposes workers to deadly safety hazards
Employer name: Durand-Wayland Inc.
Inspection site: 101 Durand Road, LaGrange, Georgia 30241
Date citations issued: The Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued citations to the employer on July 21, 2015. The inspection was initiated on Jan. 29, 2015, after the agency received a complaint.
Inspection findings: OSHA issued the employer 11 serious and 10 other safety violations. The citations were issued based on the employer's failure to: identify permit-required confined spaces; test the air quality of confined spaces before workers were allowed to enter them; develop a procedure to prevent machinery from starting up during maintenance and servicing; exposing workers to fall hazards; provide personal protective equipment to workers who were exposed to welding hazards; and for exposing workers to moving parts from a tapping and threading machine that was missing a safety guard. Other violations include the employer failing to conduct fit testing for workers that used respiratory masks and not training workers on the dangers of hexavalent chromium exposure.
Quote: "Employees at the Durand facility are being exposed to deadly confined space, amputation and fall hazards," said Christi Griffin, OSHA's director of the Atlanta-West Area Office. "The safety program needs immediate changes to address these hazards."
Proposed penalties: $44,710
The citations can be viewed at:
- http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/osha/OSHA20151287afs.pdf
- http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/osha/OSHA20151287bfs.pdf
Durand-Wayland Inc. manufactures agricultural equipment used by fruit and vegetable workers. 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 and Health Review Commission.
To ask questions; obtain compliance assistance; file a complaint or report amputations, losses of an eye, 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.