Luzerne County box manufacturer failed to abate safety violations and continued exposing workers to hazards

Employer name: Midvale Paper Box Co. Inc. located at 19 Bailey Street in Plains, Pennsylvania.

Citations issued: On Nov. 25, 2015, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued citations for one willful, two failure-to-abate, six repeat, and thirteen serious violations.

Investigation findings: OSHA conducted a follow-up inspection on May 29, 2015, after Midvale failed to verify it had abated hazards found during a September 2014 inspection.

The willful violation was due to the company's failure to place devices on machinery to prevent the sudden startup or movement of equipment during service and maintenance, a procedure known as lockout/tagout.

OSHA determined the employer did not correct previously cited safety violations, including a lack of machine guarding. This resulted in the failure-to-abate violations.

Exposing employees to electrical, fall, and crushing hazards, and the company's failure to ensure operators were competent to drive powered industrial trucks were among the repeat violations.

The serious violations involved inadequate machine guarding; struck-by, electrical and chemical hazards; defective powered industrial trucks in need of repair; and no written hazard communication program, among other safety issues.

Proposed penalties: $103,200

Quote: "Midvale Paper Box Co. Inc. failed to protect its employees by not providing safeguards, such as adequate machine guarding and measures to control hazardous energy, that are intended to prevent worker injury or even death," said Mark Stelmack, director of OSHA's Wilkes-Barre Area Office. "The penalties in the case reflect OSHA's commitment to hold employers legally responsible for failing to comply with safety standards and protect employee safety and health."

View the citations: http://www.osha.gov/ooc/citations/MidvalePaperBoxCo_1066769.pdf

Midvale Paper Co. Inc.'s workers' compensation insurer is AmTrust North America in Atlanta, Georgia.

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 Wilkes-Barre Area Office at 570-826-6538.