Pipe insulator and staffing agency cited for exposing workers to amputation hazards in Houston

OSHA cites Rock Wool Manufacturing Co. and C and C Personnel LLC; fines total $85,950

Employers' names: Rock Wool Manufacturing Co. and C and C Personnel LLC in Houston, Texas

Citations issued: Aug. 17, 2015

Investigation findings: Rock Wool was cited for seven serious and two repeat violations for exposing workers to a variety of workplace hazards, chief among them struck by and amputation hazards for failing to protect workers from dangerous machinery. C and C Personnel was cited for four serious violations including failing to establish an energy control program to disable potentially hazardous machinery. The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration initiated the March 2015 inspection after receiving a complaint. C and C Personnel LLC provided Rock Wood Manufacturing Co. with 53 temporary workers on a daily basis and Rock Wool supervised and assigned these workers their duties.

Proposed Penalties: Rock Wood Manufacturing Co. was fined $64,350, and C and C. Personnel LLC was fined $21,600.

Quote: "Any time a worker is exposed to machinery without proper guarding is one more time that worker is in jeopardy of losing a limb or even a life. Failing to adhere to this commonsense safety requirement will not be tolerated," said Joann Figueroa, OSHA's area director in the Houston North office. "It is the employer's responsibility to find and fix hazards in the workplace."

Link to the citations: http://www.osha.gov/ooc/citations/CandCPersonnelLLC_1047081.pdf http://www.osha.gov/ooc/citations/RockWoolManufacturing_1057336.pdfhttp://www.osha.gov/ooc/citations/RockWoolManufacturing_1047033.pdfhttp://www.osha.gov/ooc/citations/CandCPersonnelLLC_1064742.pdf

Information: Rock Wool Manufacturing, headquartered in Leeds, Alabama, has facilities in Leeds and Houston; and C and C Personnel is headquartered in Texas. Both companies have 15 business days from receipt of its citations to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA's area director, or contest the citations and penalties before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

To ask questions; obtain compliance assistance; file a complaint or report amputations, eye loss, 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 Houston North office at 936-760-3800. For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov