OSHA cites Harden Furniture Inc. for 25 serious safety violations at McConnellsville, New York, manufacturing plant

Employer name: Harden Furniture Inc.

Inspection site: 8550 Mill Pond Way, McConnellsville, New York

Citations issued: Oct. 9, 2015

Investigation findings: OSHA cited Harden Furniture Inc. for 25 serious violations of workplace safety standards. These included failure to guard saws and woodworking machinery to prevent employees from coming in contact with blades; fall hazards from unguarded floors and platforms, missing railings and unsafe ladders; obstructed and inadequately lit and marked exit routes; deposits of combustible residue; inadequate safeguards for employees working in confined spaces; deficient safeguards to prevent the unintended startup of machinery; and ungrounded electrical equipment. The inspection was conducted by OSHA's Syracuse Area Office under the agency's national emphasis program that conducts targeted inspections of workplaces with machinery and equipment that cause — or are capable of causing — amputations.

Proposed penalties: $106,200

Quote: "Employees at the McConnellsville plant face the hazards of amputation, falls, fire, electric shock or being caught in unexpectedly activated machinery. These are hazards commonly associated with woodworking machinery and manufacturing, and they are hazards that can easily be prevented by an employer," said Christopher Adams, OSHA's area director in Syracuse. "Harden Furniture must take effective corrective action to eliminate these hazardous conditions."

Link to citations: http://go.usa.gov/3Scew

The company has 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 Syracuse Area Office at 315- 451-0808.