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OSHA fines buyer; sets temp safety committee meeting schedule

Rock Wool Manufacturing Co., an Alabama-based pipe insulator manufacturer, and staffing firm C & C Personnel LLC were cited for violations at Rock Wool’s Houston, Texas facility. Rock Wool faces fines for serious and repeat violations that put its employees and contingents at risk, chief among them the risk of being struck by objects and amputation hazards from dangerous machinery. C & C Personnel was cited for four serious violations, including failing to establish an energy control program to disable potentially hazardous machinery.

No injuries were involved. The US Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration initiated the March 2015 inspection after receiving a complaint. C & C Personnel LLC provided Rock Wood Manufacturing Co. with 53 temporary workers on a daily basis and Rock Wool supervised and assigned these workers their duties.

Rock Wood Manufacturing Co. faces $64,350 in fines, while C & C. Personnel LLC was fined $21,600.

“Any time a worker is exposed to machinery without proper guarding is one more time that worker is in jeopardy of losing a limb or even a life. Failing to adhere to this commonsense safety requirement will not be tolerated,” said Joann Figueroa, OSHA’s area director in the Houston North office. “It is the employer’s responsibility to find and fix hazards in the workplace.”

Both companies have 15 business days from receipt of the citations to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA’s area director, or contest the citations and penalties.

Committee meetings. OSHA has scheduled monthly meetings of the National Advisory Committee on Occupational Safety and Health’s (NACOSH) Temporary Workers Work Group in Washington, D.C. The monthly meetings are scheduled for the following dates in 2015: Aug. 24, Sept. 21, Oct. 16, and Nov. 20.

The workgroup will meet to continue discussion of workplace safety and health issues regarding temporary workers and develop recommendations for NACOSH’s consideration. This includes developing recommended best practice language for protecting temporary workers as part of employers’ injury and illness prevention programs.

The monthly meetings will begin at 11 a.m. ET, in C-5515, Conference Room C, at the US Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Ave., NW, Washington, DC. The meetings are open to the public. Those interested in attending a meeting by teleconference, submitting written comments, or making an oral statement at a meeting should contact Gretta Jameson at 202-693-2176 or jameson.grettah (at) dol (dot) gov by the day prior to each meeting.

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