Complete Story
11/16/2018
Top 10 Print Industry OSHA Citations
In his recent November 13-15th speaking tour of our three regional councils, Gary Jones provided an update on EPA and OSHA regulatory activities and other key environmental and safety topics. Members can view Gary's presentation for Ohio and Kentucky-specific information. Call us if you need login help: 614-794-2300.
Because the Printing Industry has had far too many amputations over the years, OSHA has established a National Emphasis Program (NEP) that identifies our industry as a “High Hazard Industry.” Because of this we are targeted for unannounced enforcement inspections.
To illustrate the impact of the inspections, Printing Industries Association of Southern California recently shared an article exploring the top citations for commercial printers in California. The recent high dollar Cal/OSHA citations listed below especially numbers 1, 2 and 3 show the high penalties that are being imposed for violations of machine guarding and lockout/tagout standards.
As ever-thinner profit margins increase the demands for greater production, the temptation can be strong to ease up in developing and maintaining a high quality safety program. Often machine operators and maintenance personnel do not follow safe work practices, cut corners, and take chances in cleaning up, repairing and running machines, so that product can be produced just a little bit faster.
The Injury & Illness Prevention regulation is a California specific requirement and is the most often cited one. However it is only number three when it comes to highest total dollars in fine citations. The following provides a review of the “top two” violations…
#1: Control of Hazardous Energy, Lockout/Tagout ($84,465.00). CAL-OSHA requires you to effectively train your maintenance personnel, machine operators, machine helpers and plant supervisors in when machine power sources must be locked out and how to successfully accomplish safe Lockout.
Unfortunately, each year there are still over 100 deaths and many more amputations in our country because machines were not properly locked out during servicing procedures. It’s no surprise Cal/OSHA demands that employers discipline employees who don’t perform Lockout/ Tagout when it should be done to control hazardous energy.
Two things for you to consider regarding Lockout/Tagout:
- Are your employees properly trained, and then disciplined when they don’t properly lockout their machines?
- Do you have “machine specific” written procedures completed, posted and enforced at each machine in your plant? If not, then it’s truly not totally safe for your employees, and Cal/OSHA can cite you! Also, if an employee suffers serious injury due to a machine not being properly locked out, then your civil injury liability can go up dramatically.
#2: Machine Guarding ($44,300.00). Employers must be diligent in seeing that no machines are allowed to run with guards that are open, disabled or removed.
Plus, be aware that there is no “Grandfather Clause” in the safety regulations regarding older machines that did not originally come with guards for hazardous areas of the machinery. Older machines are treated just like newer machines: They can only be run when effective protection for machine operators is in place. Telling employees that the machine is dangerous, leaving the hazardous area unguarded, and then placing a warning sign that says not to touch or enter a hazardous area is not enough!
All hazardous machine areas, including nip, cut, crush, burn, shock and potential entanglement areas, must be effectively guarded on all of your plant equipment.
Think of the “worst case scenario.” If one of your machine operators were to become dizzy and lose their balance, could they accidently put their hand or any part of their body or hair into harm’s way, or would they bounce off of a guard, thereby preventing serious injury? If any part of their body could accidently enter into a hazardous machine area, then you should fabricate a guard, install fencing or install a shut-off light beam mechanism that effectively blocks access to the hazard area.
Implementation of effective Lockout/Tagout Procedures and Machine Guarding, will help to protect your employees from serious injury and your company from high OSHA fines and successful civil liability lawsuits.
