Newark recycling plant exposed workers to safety and health hazards

OSHA fines G&F Recycling and Salvage Inc. more than $47K

Employer's name: The investigation was conducted at G&F Recycling and Salvage Inc., a recycling operation located at 142 Frelinghuysen Ave. in Newark, New Jersey.

Date citations issued and what prompted inspection: On July 16, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued 14 serious and one other-than-serious safety and health citations. OSHA initiated the inspection under its Health High Hazard 50 program, which focuses on employers within industries where health hazards were previously documented.

Investigation findings: G&F was cited for exposing workers to amputation hazards while repairing machines and cleaning machine jams by not having procedures to prevent inadvertent machine start-up, known as lockout/tagout. Inspectors also cited the company for having emergency exit stairways that were blocked by up to six feet of debris, allowing workers to operate forklifts without the proper training and certification, exposing workers to the hazard of being struck or run over by damaged wheel loaders, and exposing workers to noise hazards.

Quote: "The safety and health hazards found during this inspection put G&F workers at risk of being seriously injured or killed," said Kris Hoffman, director of OSHA's Parsippany Area Office. "Employers are legally responsible for ensuring that workers have a safe and healthful workplace and will be held accountable when they fail to do that."

Proposed penalties: $53,900

View the citations: http://www.osha.gov/ooc/citations/GandFRecyclingandSalvageInc103747408-04-15.pdf

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 Parsippany Area Office at 973-263-1003.