OSHA finds Des Moines postal sorting facility failed to train workers in emergency plans, blocked exits and routes, had inoperable fire doors

Employer name: U.S. Postal Service, 2323 Forest Avenue, Des Moines, Iowa

Citations issued: June 2, 2016

Investigation findings: The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration's Des Moines Area Office cited the postal mail sorting facility for two repeated and two serious safety violations.

The citations follow a December 2015 OSHA investigation of a complaint alleging various safety concerns at the facility. The investigation found:

• Workers exposed to slip, trip and fall hazards as conduit extended into the carriers’ walking path.
• A mechanical fire door was inoperable.      
• Emergency exit routes and doors were blocked.
• Workers not trained on the Emergency Action Plan.

OSHA cited the USPS for similar hazards in 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2015 at locations in Alabama, Colorado, Iowa, Illinois and Texas.  

Quote: “By failing to train workers in what to do in an emergency and allowing fire doors to be inoperable and exit and traveling routes to be blocked, the U.S. Postal Service is putting its workers at risk in the event of an emergency in the facility,” said Larry Davidson, OSHA’s area director in Des Moines.

Proposed Penalties:  $119,900

View Citations here.

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 Des Moines Area Office at 515-284-4794.