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The U.S. Department of Labor recently updated regulations for marine cranes after a number of violations at a Florida marine cargo company resulted in $113,400 in fines.

OSHA inspectors cited Florida Transportation Services of Port Everglades, Florida for repeated, willful and serious violations resulting in proposed penalties of $113,400.

The inspection was sparked by a fatal accident at the firm in January. In that incident, a forklift was working with another vehicle to unload steel bars from a cargo vessel. The worker was killed after being crushed between one of the vehicles and a collision barrier.

Forklifts are one of the most common – and most dangerous – pieces of equipment in use today. Forklifts, also called powered industrial trucks or PITs, look easy to operate because they have four wheels like an automobile. However, because the PIT steers and handles very differently from an auto, they are involved in more accidents in the workplace than nearly any other type of equipment.

In the case of this fatal Florida accident, OSHA found that the employees operating the forklifts were not properly trained. The vehicles were operated while employees walked past and worked nearby, which is a violation of normal safety precautions.

During the investigation, OSHA found that the conditions leading to the fatal accident had not been corrected. The company was cited repeatedly when vehicles were driven near employees standing in front of stationary objects. Inspectors also found that the forklifts lacked functioning headlights and horns. These conditions resulted in one serious and two repeat violations, with $28,000 in penalties.

In a follow-up inspection 60 days later, OSHA found 4 serious and 2 willful violations with penalties of $85,400. Several of these violations again included unsafe operation of forklifts. This included the use of a platform that was not secured to the forklift, and using a personnel platform without the required guardrail. OSHA also found employees working near the water without life jackets. The company was also cited for having workers high atop intermodal containers without the required safety harness.

The second inspection sparked fiery words from the OSHA area director in Fort Lauderdale. “OSHA has inspected this company five times in the past three years and has found serious safety violations,” said Darlene Fossum, “The employer has failed to keep the workplace free of recognized hazards that were likely to cause death or serious physical harm.”

As in all OSHA inspections, the company was given 15 days to dispute the proposed fines.

This is just the most recent in a number of large fines to companies that OSHA has levied.

The tragic death of a steel mill employee in January of 2007 sparked an investigation that took more than 6 months, due to the number of violations.

In that case, OSHA levied fines totaling $163,000 in penalties for a number of violations of health and safety regulations by the Lorain, Ohio plant. The company melts scrap metal and metal pellets into molten steel, which is used to manufacture rolled steel. Sources at OHSA characterized the company’s actions as “willful, serious and repeat” violations, justifying higher fines than normal.

The initial accident investigation grew to encompass the entire facility when OSHA found multiple violations. One citation carrying a penalty of $70,000 was for the “willful” failure to provide guard-rails or barriers to prevent workers on open-sided floors or work platforms from falling to their deaths. 

OSHA issued an additional 16 citations to the steel mill for serious violations with penalties totaling $43,000. These additional violations cover a number of issues at the plant, including hazardous machinery being operated without the required safety guards.

During multiple inspections, OSHA found repeated violations of the same safety issues, even though the company had already been warned that they could potentially be fatal.

Even worse, inspectors found that the company had never corrected two violations that were identified during a routine safety check in 2006. For these two penalties alone, OSHA levied a $50,000 fine.

In 2006, the agency conducted more than 38,000 inspections in 28 states resulting in nearly 84,000 violations. OSHA’s mission is to “assure the safety and health of America’s working men and women by preventing injuries, illnesses and fatalities.”

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1. Posted by: OSHA Fines Cintas $2.78 Million in Fatal Accident - Labor Law Center Blog

   [...] In August, a Florida marine cargo company was fined $113,400 for a number of repeated, willful and serious violations after a fatal accident.  That inspection resulted in new federal standards for marine cranes that have been implemented nationwide. [...]