OSHA finds workers exposed to amputation dangers at San Angelo woodworking manufacturer; company, staffing agency fined $63K

Employer(s) Name(s): Terrill Manufacturing Company Inc.
A.L. Staffing Inc.

Inspection Site: 2816 Martin Luther King Dr., San Angelo, Texas 76903

Citations issued: June 24, 2016

Investigation Findings: After receiving several complaints about amputation hazards, U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigators began an inspection Jan. 11, 2016, at Terrill Manufacturing Company Inc.’s facility in San Angelo. Their investigation found the woodworking manufacturer contracted with A.L. Staffing Inc., doing business as Spherion Staffing, to provide temporary workers. After its investigation, the agency issued Terrill citations for 18 serious violations including:

• Failing to establish a respiratory protection program.
• Not establish lockout/tagout procedures.
• Failing to lockout and isolate energy sources prior to maintenance or repair of machines.
• Not evaluating powered industrial truck operators every three years, as required.
• Allowing rotating rollers, belts, pulleys, sprockets and chains to operate without safety guards.
• Failing to prevent automatic restart of woodworking machines after power failures.
• Not furnishing ripsaws with a spreader, anti-kickback feature and adjustable guards.
• Not providing hazard communication training to employees working with hazardous chemicals.
• Allowing several hazardous electrical risks. 

OSHA also issued citations to A.L. Staffing for two serious violations, the first for allowing workers to operate machine rollers without machine guards, and another for allowing workers to operate machines without guards to prevent contact with chains and sprockets.

Proposed penalties: The agency has assessed proposed fines totaling $58,800 for Terrill Manufacturing Company and $4,800 for A.L. Staffing.

Quote: “Industrial machines are very unforgiving and can cause permanent disfigurement if employers fail to cover the moving parts, guard the points of operation and control the energy sources when servicing or repairing the equipment,” said R. Casey Perkins, OSHA’s Area Director in Austin. “This inspection should serve as a warning to Terrill Manufacturing and A.L. Staffing that they both need to correct these violations before an employee is critically injured.”

Link to citations:

• http://www.osha.gov/ooc/citations/TerrillManufacturing_1118903.pdf
• http://www.osha.gov/ooc/citations/ALStaffingInc_1118909.pdf

Background: Terrill Manufacturing Company Inc. is an architectural woodwork company that operates out of a 100,000 square foot manufacturing facility in San Angelo. A.L. Staffing is a national staffing company with more than 150 offices that provide services to more than 3,000 employers nation-wide. The San Angelo-based franchised staffing company has approximately 20 temporary employees working at Terrill. Both companies have 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 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 Austin Area Office at 512-374-0271.