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Cintas faces a record-breaking fine of $2.78 million after a tragic accident that left one employee dead in the company’s 160-person Tulsa, Oklahoma plant.

The Cintas fines are the highest in recent memory. An unscientific survey of OSHA fines shows that in the past year, only a handful have exceeded $200,000. While the proposed $2.78 million may not be an all-time OSHA record, it comes close.

In March, an employee was clearing a jam at the Cintas laundry facility. In trying to dislodge wet laundry on a conveyor that carried it from the washer to the dryer, the employee was snared and carried into the high-temperature industrial dryer. He died of the injuries sustained before coworkers could stop the machine and pull him out.

Cintas is the largest uniform supplier in North America, supplying millions of uniforms per year. The company provides clothing for all types of workers, from auto mechanics to hotel doormen. It has more than 400 facilities nationwide, employing more than 34,000 workers. Those facilities include 11 manufacturing plants and 7 distribution centers. In addition to selling uniforms, Cintas also provides uniform laundry services for a number of large companies.

For the year ending June 2007, Cintas reported $3.71 billion in sales, with a net profit of $334.5 million.

Following the accident, OSHA, the U.S. Occupational Health and Safety Administration, launched inspections in Cintas plants in Oklahoma, Alabama, Arkansas, Ohio and Washington.  The inspections showed a number of serious violations, including failure to shut down the industrial dryers when employees were clearing jams. Another citation states that the employer repeatedly failed to protect workers from being “struck or pinned by the conveyor.” The company also neglected to implement lockout/tagout procedures, which would have prevented the industrial dryers from being turned back on with an employee inside.

In all, OSHA found 42 violations at the Cintas plants, including willful, serious and repeat violations. Willful violations occur when the employer intentionally disregards worker safety and health. Serious violations are those that have the potential to cause serious injury or death.

“Plant management at the Cintas Tulsa laundry facility ignored safety and health rules that could have prevented the death of this employee,” said Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA Edwin G. Foulke Jr.

In an additional case, OSHA found 7 violations with fines of $117,500 at the Cintas facility in Ohio. The Washington State worker safety organization has fined the Cintas plant in Yakima for similar violations. As always, Cintas has 15 working days to contest the citations and fines with OSHA.

This is just the most recent in a series of reports on companies with serious violations of worker safety.

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.

A fatal accident spurred an OSHA inspection resulting in a fine of $163,000 at an Ohio steel mill.

This is just the most recent in a number of large fines to companies that OSHA has levied. 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.”This is one in a series of investigations of worker safety violations by OSHA. In a similar case recently, OSHA found that Quincy Castings, Inc. of Quincy, Ohio committed 24 serious violations and 4 repeat violations. In that case, OSHA’s extracted fines of $220,620. Quincy Castings, Inc. is an iron foundry that employs 80 people. That company, classified as one of the nation’s most hazardous workplaces by OSHA, has been inspected 13 times since 1979, resulting in more than 80 previous fines.  

At that location, OSHA found a laundry list of violations including a fire exit sign that’s been defective since the last OSHA inspection, in 2006. The company also found that multiple fire exits were blocked, making the plant a death trap for employees in any emergency. Employees who were actively pouring molten steel were found to be wearing no protective gear. In fact, their street clothing wasn’t even flame retardant, creating a major fire hazard.

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1. Posted by: OSHA Fines Cintas $196,000 for Safety Violations - Labor Law Center Blog

   […] OSHA, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Health and Safety Administration, has proposed $196,000 in penalties against Cintas for 15 safety violations following an inspection of the Mobile, Alabama plant. OSHA came down especially hard on Cintas because some of the violations are the same as safety hazards that lead to a fatal accident at its Tulsa, Oklahoma plant. That accident lead to a number of inspections and fines totaling $2.78 million.  “As a large, national employer with a history of OSHA inspections and citations for hazards at other facilities, we are disappointed to find so many of the same or similar hazards at this facility,” said Ken Atha, OSHA area director in Mobile. “OSHA will take aggressive action when employers show indifference to the safety and health of their employees.” […]