USPS faces $111K in fines after OSHA inspection again finds workplace safety hazards at Silver Spring facility

Employer name: U.S. Postal Service LLC, doing business as Silver Spring MPO Carr Annex Hotel

Inspection site: 8827 Monard Drive, Silver Spring, Maryland       

Citations issued: On Aug. 1, 2016, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued one other-than-serious violation and five repeated violations to the company.

Investigation findings: OSHA began the inspection on Feb. 4, 2016, in response to a complaint alleging blocked exits, tripping and fall hazards.

The agency found recordkeeping and housekeeping violations, exit signs not posted, electrical equipment improperly used, locked and blocked exits and fall hazards, resulting in the citations.

Quote: “The Postal Service has a responsibility to provide its employees with safe and healthful workplaces. But the hazards we found at the Silver Spring location show that it continues to expose workers to powered industrial equipment hazards, blocked exits, and fall hazards,” said Nadira Janack, director at OSHA’s Baltimore Area Office. “Each year thousands of workers are injured – some fatally – by electrical hazards in the workplace. Putting workers’ lives in danger is unacceptable and the Postal Service needs to re-evaluate this facility and correct these hazards immediately.”  

Proposed penalties: $111,540

The citation can be viewed at: http://www.osha.gov/ooc/citations/USPostalService_1122884.pdf

The employer has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and proposed penalties to comply, request a conference with OSHA’s area director or contest the findings 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 Baltimore Area Office at 410-865-2055.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA’s role is to ensure these conditions for America’s working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance. For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov.