OSHA issues 1 repeat, 10 serious citations to Colorado steel mill after inspection in agency’s effort to prevent amputations

Employer name: Evraz Inc. NA

Worksite: 1612 E. Abriendo Ave., Pueblo, Colorado 81004

Citations issued: July 15, 2016

Investigation findings: The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigated Evraz Inc. NA, a steel making facility in Pueblo on Feb. 16, 2016, in an inspection conducted under OSHA’s National Emphasis Program for Amputations. The agency issued one repeat citation for not making repairs to overhead cranes promptly to ensure safe operations. The employer was cited for the same or similar citation on September 2013 at its facility in Claymont, Delaware.

Additionally, OSHA issued 10 serious citations to Evraz for failing to:

• Provide standard guardrails on open-sided floors and platforms 4 feet or more above a lower level.
• Keep portable fire extinguishers in their designated location when not in use.
• Provide bumper stops to stop rail cars from potentially rolling in a crosswalk or vehicular traffic.    
• Fasten fixed ladders securely on overhead cranes. 
• Ensure to fasten guards on overhead cranes’ moving equipment securely in their designed place.
• Properly inspect the operation of overhead cranes.
• Inspect overhead cranes periodically.
• Ensure a properly sized safety latch on a link chain nest-hook.
• Clearly mark the functions on the pendent controller used to operate overhead cranes.   
• Prohibit use of overhead cranes for side pulls.
• Put guards on sprocket wheels and chains.

The agency also identified and cited the Evraz for several electrical violations.

Proposed Penalties: $103,820.

Quote: “Evraz needs involve their workers in identifying and correcting hazardous conditions to ensure more effective safety and health management systems,” said David Nelson, OSHA’s Area Director in Englewood, Colorado. “Evraz needs to fix these hazards before someone is injured or worse.”                                                                                                                                

Links to the citations: http://www.osha.gov/ooc/citations/EvrazInc.pdf

Information: Evraz North America is a wholly owned subsidiary of Evraz plc, one of the largest vertically integrated steel and mining businesses in the world. The company has 15 business days from receipt of their 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 Englewood Area Office at 303-843-4500. For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov.