The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited SP Newsprint Co. after a fatal accident at the company's Georgia-based manufacturing plant.
OSHA is proposing penalties totaling $78,750.OSHA's inspection began in Janary after a maintenance employee assigned to lubricate the dry end of a paper production machine was pinned between moving parts and crushed against a drum gear.
The agency issued 22 serious citations to the company which included failure to use lockout-tagout procedures that would have rendered the machinery inoperative, inadequately training employees about procedures, failure to periodically inspect and certify the procedures and not protecting workers from electrical, fire, and other hazards.
SP Newsprint now has 15 business days from receipt of the citations to request and an informal conference with the OSHA area director or to contest the citations before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.