OSHA cites employer for exposing Houston workers to amputation and fire hazards

Employer name: Machinery Maintenance Rebuilders Inc., Houston, Texas

Inspection Site: 6927 Brittmoore Road, Houston

Citations issued: Feb. 24, 2016

Investigation findings: The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration initiated the January 2016 inspection as a follow-up to a 2015 inspection. Machinery Maintenance, a full service machine shop, is being cited for two failure to abate, two serious and one repeat violations for exposing workers to a variety of workplace hazards, among them struck by and amputation hazards for failing to protect workers from dangerous machinery without proper guarding and for the improper storage of gas cylinders.

Proposed penalties: The fines total $57,820                               

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.”

Citations:   

http://www.osha.gov/ooc/citations/MachineryMaintenanceRebuildersInc_1051081_0224_16.pdf

http://www.osha.gov/ooc/citations/MachineryMaintenanceRebuildersInc_1116352_0224_16.pdf

Information: Machinery Maintenance employs about 34 workers at its Houston location. 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 Houston North Area Office at 936-760-3800. For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov.