Specialty fabric manufacturer, Twitchell Products LLC, cited a second time for exposing employees to amputations, burns and falls

Employer name: Twitchell Technical Products LLC

Inspection site: 4031 Ross Clark Cir, Dothan, Alabama 36303

Date citations issued: The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued citations to the employer on Aug. 5, 2015. The inspection was initiated in April 20, 2015, as part of the agency's National Emphasis Program on Amputations.

Inspection findings: OSHA issued the employer two repeat and two serious safety citations. The repeat citations were issued for exposing workers to amputation hazards from unguarded machine rollers and grinders. The serious violations involve exposing workers to fire and explosions from improperly-stored oxygen and fuel cylinders and for exposing employees to slip hazards from not ensuring floors were kept dry.

Quote: "When a company receives a repeat citation it means that management allowed a hazard that was previously cited to reoccur," said Joseph Roesler, OSHA's director of the Mobile Area Office. "It is troubling to find that workers are being exposed to these hazards again."

Proposed penalties: $57,013

The citations can be viewed at: http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/osha/OSHA20151437fs.pdf

Twitchell manufactures specialty fabrics used in numerous products and industries, such as seatbelts for the automotive industry. 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 Mobile Area Office at 251-441-6131.