Federal workplace safety investigation finds Janesville recycling company continues to expose workers to dangerous levels of lead, cadmium

JANESVILLE, WI ‒ A follow-up inspection by federal workplace safety investigators in April 2024 found a Janesville recycling company continuing to expose employees to unsafe levels of lead and cadmium while they dismantled cathode ray tubes from older TVs, despite being cited for the same violations in April 2023.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration determined Universal Recycling Technologies LLC failed to implement adequate engineering controls and did not keep surfaces as free as practicable from lead and cadmium accumulations. 

“Chronic overexposures to these toxic metals may cause severe damage to blood-forming, nervous, urinary and reproductive systems,” said OSHA Area Director Chad Greenwood in Madison, Wisconsin. “Universal Recycling Technologies cannot solely rely on personal protective equipment as the primary source of protection. The company must focus on continuous improvement of engineering controls to reduce employee exposures to hazardous air contaminants.”

OSHA cited the company for two repeat and six serious violations and one other-than-serious violation and proposed $202,820 in penalties.

Specifically, the agency found Universal Recycling Technologies failed to do the following:

• Provide biological monitoring of employees for overexposure every six months. 
• Collect samples for representative full shift exposures to both lead and cadmium.
• Ensure workers removed protective clothing contaminated with lead and cadmium at the completion of the shift and left the clothing at the workplace.
• Require workers exposed to lead and cadmium to shower at the end of their shift.
• Establish a regulation area to reduce the spread of contamination when employees were exposed to lead or cadmium over the permissible exposure limit. 
• Train employees on the additive effects of lead and cadmium.

Based in Janesville, Universal Recycling Technologies LLC also operates facilities in Dover, New Hampshire; Clackamas, Oregon; and Fort Worth, Texas. 

The company has 15 business days from receipt of the 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. 

Learn more about OSHA’s National Emphasis Program on Lead and read the CDC’s report on Metal Exposures in an Electronic Scrap Recycling Facility.