The United States Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has

cited TimkenSteel Corp.for 12 safety and health violations. These violations are all serious safety

violations. They come in response to inspections in May, July, and September of 2014 which

were initiated after multiple employee complaints alleging unsafe working conditions. The

violatons center around amputation and fall hazards. These violations carry proposed penalties of

$77,000.

“TimkenSteel allowed workers to be exposed to fall and amputation hazards at its steel plants,

which compromised employee safety in a highly hazardous work environment,” said Howard

Eberts, OSHA’s area director in Cleveland. “OSHA hopes to continue to work with corporate

safety representatives and the United Steelworkers to address these safety issues proactively and

ensure workers are protected on the job.”

Two Serious violations for failure to guard floor holes and for missing guardrails on platforms

that exposed workers to fall hazards of approximately eight feet were issued. Seven serious

violations were issued for failure to guard cranes and crane trolley runways, which exposed

workers to fall hazards of approximately 40 feet. Finally, three serious violations were issued for

employee exposure to moving machine parts during service and maintenance.

TimkenSteel was established in 2014, and as such was working with newly established safety

and health policies and procedures. If you are a new company and are worried your safety and

health procedures are not adequate, it is imperative you contact a qualified third party

occupational safety and health auditing firm to help you create functional policies and

procedures to keep your employees safe.

If you have any questions about third party safety audits or updating safety and health policies

and procedures, please contact us. If you have anything to add about the importance of safety and

health policies and procedures when starting a company, please leave a comment.