Company fined more than $1.2 million for exposing workers to asbestos hazards without protection

OSHA issued AMD Industries Inc. 27 health citations* and fined the company $1,247,400 after five unprotected and untrained workers allegedly were required to conduct asbestos removal, exposing them to this cancer-causing material. OSHA began its inspection of the company's Cicero, Ill., facility in response to a referral from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. OSHA investigators found that AMD Industries had commissioned a safety audit of its Cicero facility in 2002, which uncovered the presence of asbestos-containing materials on boilers, heating units and connected piping. In November 2010, the company began an asbestos removal project using in-house unprotected and untrained workers. Workers allegedly were exposed to materials containing 20-50 percent asbestos.

"Asbestos exposure can be deadly," said OSHA Assistant Secretary David Michaels. "AMD Industries knew it was assigning workers to asbestos removal work and failed to take the most basic safety precautions. This employer did not provide protective respirators or even warn the workers of the risk to their health from removing the material."

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Ore crushing facility fined more than $200,000 for risking workers' health and hearing

OSHA cited Cimbar Performance Minerals with 20 health and safety violations and fined the company $214,550 for exposing workers to hazardous chemicals and excessive noise levels at the company's Cadet, Mo., ore crushing facility. Inspectors found that employers had failed to protect workers from exposure to lead and arsenic. Overexposure to lead can cause brain damage, paralysis, kidney disease and even death, and acute exposures to arsenic can cause lung distress and death. Inspectors also cited the company for willfully ignoring its responsibility to protect workers from the risk of hearing loss due to excessive noise levels from machinery.

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Company fined almost $240,000 after worker loses his arm

OSHA cited Prologix Distribution Services-East LLC with 14 safety and health violations and fined the company $239,000 after a worker was seriously injured at the company's Doral, Fla., facility. OSHA began a safety investigation in August 2010 following a report that a worker trapped in a machine had to have his right arm amputated at the elbow. In September, the agency began a separate inspection focused on health-related concerns at the plant. Inspectors found that the company willfully disregarded the safety of workers by allowing them to operate unsafe machinery. The company also exposed workers to the risk of serious injury or death from explosion hazards from combustible dust accumulation and improperly stored propane tanks.

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Oilfield services company fined nearly $340,000 for failing to record worker injuries and illnesses

OSHA issued $337,500 in fines to Superior Energy Services Inc. and five subsidiary companies, citing them with 38 violations of the OSHA recordkeeping standard. OSHA inspectors found that the parent corporation, a New Orleans-based provider of oil and gas field services and labor, allowed its subsidiaries to willfully disregard requirements to record employees' work-related injuries and illnesses in the OSHA 300log. Together, the violations cited include 187 instances of improperly recording or failing to record information in the OSHA log.

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