Milwaukee metal fabricating facility cited for failing to implement hearing conservation, machine safety programs

MILWAUKEE – Despite two 2020 inspections that identified dangerous machine and noise hazards, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has found a Milwaukee metal fabricating facility continues to put its workers’ safety and health at risk.

In January 2021, OSHA inspectors returned to Tramont Manufacturing LLC and, following its investigation, cited the company for four repeated, nine serious and three other-than-serious safety violations for again exposing workers to unguarded machines, noise and eye and face hazards. The agency initiated a follow-up inspection after the company failed to provide OSHA with information on how it had abated the earlier hazards.

OSHA has proposed penalties of $216,307. View the citations in this case.

“Ignoring hazards identified in earlier OSHA inspections suggests that Tramont Manufacturing is not committed to protecting its workers’ safety and health,” said OSHA Area Director Chris Zortman in Milwaukee. “Amputation and hearing loss are irreversible life-altering injuries. Companies must implement required safety and health measures to prevent employee exposure to these hazards.”

In June 2021, OSHA launched a regional emphasis program that focuses enforcement efforts on promoting hearing conservation programs and reducing occupational noise exposure. By law, employers are required to implement a hearing conservation program when the average noise exposure over eight working hours reaches or exceeds 85 decibels, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention compares to the sound of city traffic (from inside the vehicle) or a gas-powered leaf blower.

Learn more about occupational noise exposure, machine guarding and eye and face protection.

Tramont Manufacturing LLC manufactures tanks, sub-base tanks, enclosures and other products for industrial engine-generators. In 2014, Tramont Manufacturing became part of UCA Group in Elgin, Illinois, which has extensive manufacturing and engineering operations in the U.S., Europe and Asia.

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.