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recycling center

Vancouver Companies Fined for 45 Safety Violations at Material Recovery Center

Jan. 29, 2015
Leadpoint was cited for 22 serious safety violations and fined $77,600. Waste Connections was cited for 23 serious violations and fined $100,000.

The Department of Labor & Industries cited Waste Connections Inc. and Leadpoint Business Services for multiple safety violations involving unsafe work in confined spaces at the West Vancouver Material Recovery Center.

Leadpoint, which is a staffing agency contracted by Waste Connections, was cited for 22 serious safety violations and fined $77,600. Waste Connections was cited for 23 serious violations and fined $100,000.

The citations were made after an investigation in July 2014 when a Leadpoint worker was hospitalized from injuries sustained while performing maintenance on a screen sorter – a conveyor system used to sort recyclable materials.

Through that investigation, both employers were cited for seven lock-out/tag-out violations for workers working around moving machinery.

Both companies also were cited for more than a dozen violations for not using safe work practices when entering confined spaces.

And both employers were cited for not protecting workers from exposure to falls while working on unguarded, open-sided work surfaces up to 9 feet high.

About the Author

Ginger Christ | Associate Editor

Ginger Christ is an associate editor for EHS Today, a Penton publication.

She has covered business news for the past seven years, working at daily and weekly newspapers and magazines in Ohio, including the Dayton Business Journal and Crain’s Cleveland Business.

Most recently, she covered transportation and leadership for IndustryWeek, a sister publication to EHS Today.

She holds a bachelor of arts in English and in Film Studies from the University of Pittsburgh.

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