OSHA cited American Tissue Mills of New York Inc., Mechanicville, N.Y., and proposed fines of $93,000 against the company for 31 safety violations.
According to OSHA, the citaitons resulted from a programmed inspection of the mill conducted from July 10 through Aug. 16, under OSHA''s site specific targeting initiative, which targets companies with lost workday injuy and illness rates higher than those for their respective industry.
The American Tissue Mills worksite had a lost workday injury and illness rate of 13.6 for 1998; the national average rate for the paper mill industry is 4.6.
The employer was cited for failure to conduct hazard communication training, and failure to properly secure a propane cylinder on a fork lift truck.
The company was previously cited on May 21,1999, and Feb. 15 2000, for the same alleged serious violations.
Among the serious violations for which OSHA also cited the company are:
- failure to properly identify confined spaces with danger signs, failure to develop and implement a permit space entry program, and failure to provide proper training to employees involved in confined space entry.
- failure to verify that confined spaces were safe prior to entry.
- failire to ensure that retrieval systems were in place for confined space entry.
- failure to include employees required to perform rescue services in the bloodborne pathogens program.
- failure to ensure that employees were properly trained in the safe operation of powered industrial trucks.
by Virginia Sutcliffe