OSHA finds multiple hazards after worker suffers amputation injury at Cleveland manufacturer

Employer name: Soundwich Inc.
Cleveland, Ohio

Citations issued: June 10, 2016

Investigation findings: The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has issued one repeated, 15 serious violations and one other-than-serious violation to Soundwich Inc. after conducting inspections at the aerodynamic and emission control product manufacturer’s Cleveland facility in January and April 2016.

OSHA initiated an inspection in January after the company reported a 55-year-old worker had caught his hand in the moving parts of a machine and suffered severe injury to his right ring finger.  Inspectors determined the employee was operating a coil tilter without proper safety guards when a steel coil rolled to the side off of the radius pad and caught and crushed the employee’s right hand. His finger had to be surgically amputated.

The April inspection was opened after OSHA received a complaint alleging unsafe working conditions.

The agency’s Cleveland area office found the company:

• Failed to install machine guarding on a spot welder, drill press, stamping press and other operating machines.
• Exposed workers to fall hazards because platforms lacked a properly designed guard system.
• Did not establish a permit confined space program.
• Failed to locate, mount and inspect portable fire extinguishers.
• Did not ensure compressed air for cleaning be reduced to 30 psi.
• Exposed workers to numerous electrical safety hazards such as junction boxes without cover plates.
• Failed to keep floors clean of oil and other materials creating slippery working surfaces.

Quote: “Each year hundreds of workers suffer preventable and life altering amputation injuries because employers like Soundwich fail to install required safety guards and mandate their use,” said Howard Eberts, OSHA’s area director in Cleveland.

Proposed Penalties:  $89,000

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 Cleveland Area Office at 216-447-4194.