| County pays fines for OSHA violations |
By: Paul M. Malchow
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Posted: Thursday, February 4, 2010 3:23 pm
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Swallowing hard and gritting their teeth, the Le Sueur County board of commissioners voted to pay a number of fines issued by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). On Jan. 5 and 6 OSHA inspected the courthouse, law enforcement center and the highway building in Le Center. While County Administrator Darrell Pettis said the inspection went well, OSHA inspectors cited the county for a handful of violations.
Papers from the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry state the county lacks a written exposure control plan for protecting employees from bloodborne pathogens. The county was also cited for not having a three-prong plug on a floor stripper located in the courthouse. Both of these violations were considered nonserious and carried a fine of $350 each.
OSHA considered three violations found in the county garage to merit serious status. They found the county’s policies concerning lockout/tagout procedures for maintenance and repair of plows, loaders and dump trucks to be too broad. OSHA wants these procedures to “clearly and specifically outline the scope, purpose, authorization, rules and techniques to be utilized for the control of hazardous energy.” In more layman’s terms, the county needs a written procedure for shutting down, isolating, blocking and securing machines while they are being repaired or serviced. Because this written procedure did not exist, the county was also fined for not completing an annual audit of compliance with the procedures.
Inspectors also found the soap used in the county garage’s eye wash station had ph levels higher than those recommended by the state. It was also determined the eye wash station was farther than 10 seconds away from the garage’s truck wash area. The three serious violations carried a penalty of $1,400 each.
Finally, a nonserious violation was also administered in the county garage. While hoists and cranes used in the garage are routinely inspected, written documentation of these inspections was not available to OSHA officials. The county is to have written recordings of daily inspections of this equipment. The infraction carried a penalty of $350.
The total amount of fines issued by OSHA was $4,550. However, if the county would agree not to contest the violations, the fines would be reduced to $3,185. “It is my opinion it is not worth the time and effort to challenge OSHA’s findings,” said Pettis.
Commissioner Joe Doherty agreed with Pettis’ assessment of the situation, but was unhappy with the state. “Fines on public entities burns me,” Doherty said. “This is taxpayers’ money. They should say, ‘Fix it and we’ll be back in a week to check compliance.’ It seems heavy-handed.”
Doherty asked Pettis if the county’s insurance carrier did annual inspections and if they needed to increase their efforts. Pettis said the insurer does indeed perform annual inspections and they have saved the county thousands of dollars by correcting questionable practices and implementing safety precautions.
OSHA last inspected the county facilities in 1992.
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