OSHA Inspection: SILL POTATO FARM

Issued

Dec 9, 1985

Abate by

Dec 10, 1985

Penalty

Initial $90 · Current $45 Reduced

General-duty citation text

Section 5(a)(1) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970:  The
employer did not furnish employment and a place of employment which were
free from recognized hazards that were causing or likely to cause death
or serious physical harm to employees in that:
a) "On or about 9/21/85" employees were exposed to crushing injuries
from improperly guarded moving conveyors parts and improperly
maintained/located emergency conveyor stop buttons for the conveyors
used to move rock field debris, and potatoes.
Among other methods, some feasible and acceptable abatement methods to
correct these hazards are as follows:
1) All moving machine parts shall, if feasible, be guarded. They may be
guarded by their nature, in that they are intrinsically safe, as the
pan of a housed-en-masse conveyor. They may be guarded by location,
as is the piston of an internal combustion engine, or the head pulley
of a belt conveyor stacker. They may be guarded by shield guards,
trough guards or railing guards.
In particular, all nip and shear points shall be guarded.  Wherever
conditions prevail that would require guarding under these standards,
but such guarding would render the conveyor, or would be impracticable,
prominent and legible warnings shall be posted in the area or on the
equipment, and where feasible, lines shall be painted on the floor
dehneating the danger areas;
2) Remotely and automatically controlled conveyors and conveyors where
operator's stations are not manned or are beyond voice and visual
contact from drive areas, loading areas, transfer points, and other
potentially hazardous locations on the conveyor path shall be
furnished with emergency stop buttons, pull cords, limit switches, or
similar emergency stop controllers, all easily identifiable, in the
immediate vicinity of such locations. The emergency stop device shall
act directly on the motor control of the conveyor concerned and shall
not depend on the stopping of any other equipment.
3) All safety devices shall be arranged to operate so that power failure
or failure of the device itself will result in a condition of
relative safety as compared with other positions, actions, or
conditions which may result from failure.  In most cases, such
failures will cause the conveyor or system of conveyors to stop.
4) Conveyor controls shall be so arranged that in case of emergency stop
manual reset at the location where the emergency stop was initiated
will be required to start the conveyor or system. Restart after the
emergency stop shall be initiated only at the control station through
which the system is sequenced.  Where the emergency stop has been
caused by an overload, arrangement shall be made so that the drive
can be locked out before relief is attempted, and operations shall be
so instructed.
If conveyors pass through fire walls, self-closing fire doors may be
used to close the openings in the event of fire.  When such fire doors
close, they shall actuate control switches to stop the powered
conveyors.
5) Installer shall place, and the operator shall at all times maintain
safety devices, limit switches, controllers, and emergency switches
in place and in operable condition. Operators shall maintain warning
signs in position and in legible condition at all times. Where a
combination of a conveyor manufacturer's equipment with that of
another manufacturer creates a condition requiring safety devices and
controls, it shall be the joint responsibility of the owner's
engineer, the installer, and the operator to provide suitable devices
and controls.

Issued

Dec 9, 1985

Abate by

Dec 10, 1985

Penalty

Initial $60 · Current $30 Reduced

Issued

Dec 9, 1985

Abate by

Dec 16, 1985

Penalty

Initial $90 · Current $45 Reduced

Issued

Dec 9, 1985

Abate by

Dec 10, 1985

Issued

Dec 9, 1985

Abate by

Dec 10, 1985

Issued

Dec 9, 1985

Abate by

Dec 10, 1985

Issued

Dec 9, 1985

Abate by

Jan 10, 1986