OSHA cites plastics manufacturer after second worker suffers severe injury in less than 18 months at Ohio plant

NEW PHILADELPHIA, Ohio – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has proposed penalties of $274,934 to a New Philadelphia plastics manufacturer after its investigation of a second debilitating injury suffered by an employee in less than 18 months.

The agency announced that its inspectors identified four repeated, six serious and three other-than-serious safety violations of machine safety procedures at Lauren Manufacturing after a pneumatic bench cutter severed a 27-year-old employee’s finger as she cut rubber material on June 22, 2016. Inspectors found the employer did not adjust the machine’s light curtains – which serve as safeguards – properly to prevent the worker’s hand from coming in contact with the machine’s operating parts.

“Companies need to evaluate safety procedures to protect employees from injuries on the job,” said Larry Johnson, OSHA’s area director in Columbus.  “Particularly, they need to take a hard look at machinery operations and how workers are trained on safety.”

OSHA also found the company:

• Allowed temporary workers to operate machinery without training on proper procedures to isolate energy to operating parts during service and maintenance, a process known as “lockout/tag out.”
• Failed to develop and implement adequate lockout/tag out procedures and periodically inspect such procedures.
• Did not provide protective footwear or adequate personnel protective equipment to protect employees from burns.
• Exposed workers to live electrical contacts.

The latest incident continues the company’s history of preventable worker injuries and safety violations. In January 2015, OSHA cited Lauren for lack of machine safety procedures after a worker’s arm was crushed in a hydraulic mold press. The agency cited the company for four safety violations in that case. With citations related to the current amputation investigation, Lauren Manufacturing has been placed in OSHA’s Severe Violators Enforcement Program.

View current citation here.

A subsidiary of Cambridge-based Lauren International, Lauren Manufacturing makes molded and extruded polymer solutions and engineered products from organic, silicone, thermoplastics and other specialty polymers. The company also has a facility in Spring Lake, Michigan.

The company has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and penalties to comply, request an informal 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 Columbus Area Office at 614-469-5582.

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.