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.
Leave A Comment