September 9, 2009

OSHA proposes $91,275 in penalties against Griffin Industries rendering plant in Starke, Florida.

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspected a Griffin Industries site in Starke, Florida, citing it with one willful violation and a $55,000 proposed penalty for not providing workers with fall protection when working above an industrial blender. A willful violation is defined as one committed with plain indifference to or intentional disregard for employee safety and health. A repeat violation is also issued with a $25,000 proposed penalty for the company's continuing failure to conduct an annual audit of its lockout tagout of energy source procedures for equipment. A repeat citation is issued when the employer has been previously cited for a substantially similar hazard in the past three years.

Other violations with proposed penalties totaling $11,275 are for not shutting down equipment during clearing operations, failing to anchor a machine, not providing a lock to lock-out equipment, and not covering a floor hole.

Serious violations are issued in situations when there is a substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard that the employer knew or should have known. Other-than-serious violations are defined as situations where exposure cannot reasonably be predicted to cause death or serious physical harm to employees but the violation would have a direct impact on the employee health or safety.

Griffin Industries c, based in Cold Spring, Kentucky, collects and recycles agricultural waste, meat and poultry by-products, grocery scraps, restaurant grease and waste from the bakery industry.

"Fall hazards continue to be a leading cause of employee deaths in the workplace and should never be overlooked in any industry," said OSHA's area director in Jacksonville, Florida, James Borders.