OSHA: Saratoga County campground exposed employees to electrical hazards

Employer name:  Equity Lifestyle Properties, Inc. dba Alpine Lake RV Resort

Inspection site:  78 Heath Road, Corinth, New York

Investigation findings:  Employees were exposed to electrical hazards throughout the campground when they were required to work on outdoor electrical equipment. The hazards included:

• Not de-energizing and locking out electrical equipment when employees were required to test, operate, troubleshoot, replace and maintain such equipment.
• Lack of appropriate personal protective equipment and safety training for employees working on live electrical equipment.
• Employees required to repeatedly reset circuit breakers on electrical field boxes due to an undersized and inappropriately wired electrical service.
• Exposed live electrical parts.
• Damaged and rusting electrical field boxes with openings that allowed in rain, snow and wind.

Citations: On Feb. 19, 2016, OSHA cited the company for two willful and seven serious violations of workplace safety standards.

Proposed penalties: $187,000

Quote:  “These employees were knowingly exposed to electrical hazards that could have burned, shocked, disabled or killed them. They lacked the basic training, personal protective equipment and safeguards necessary to protect them,” said Robert Garvey, OSHA’s area director in Albany. “This employer must take prompt and effective steps to address and eliminate all these hazards before workers are harmed.”

Link (to citations/findings document):  Here.

The company has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and proposed penalties to comply, meet 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, 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 Albany office at 518-464-4338.