Safety Not Specialty at NY Company

OSHA cited American Specialties Inc., of Yonkers, NY, for 24 alleged serious and four alleged other-than-serious violations and proposed penalties of $67,050 against the firm. The company has until July 23 to contest the citations.

According to Cathie M. Mannion, OSHA area director, the action results from an inspection of the facility conducted from April 8 through April 19 under a local special emphasis program which targets metal shops for inspections. Among the alleged serious violations for which OSHA cited the company are:

• Not posting appropriate signs indicating which doors are and are not exits.
• Not establishing an adequate written energy control program.
• Not developing procedures to control potential hazardous energy.
• Not providing hardware for lockout/tagout operations.
• Not providing training to employees on how to control hazardous energy.
• Not properly guarding and grounding machinery such as mechanical power presses, band saws, lathes, table routers, and staple machines.
• Not providing proper insulation for flexible electrical cables.
• Not inspecting mechanical power presses.

The less-than-serious violations are for not training employees properly in the use of fire extinguishers; not assuring that fire extinguishers were accessible; not properly storing liquid gas containers; and not reporting mechanical power press injuries.