OSHA Inspection: AL PACKER, INC.

Issued

Apr 14, 1997

Abate by

May 17, 1997

Penalty

Initial $3,500 · Current $1,750 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 employees
were exposed to hazards of being crushed by falling objects:
(a)  At this establishment located at 1530 N. Military Trail, West Palm
Beach, the
following was found:
1 . On or about 2/27/97, the employer presumed training on automotive
lifts was a part of
employee experience. Upon interviewing employees it was found that the
employer had given
no training to employees regarding the lifts in use at this site,
employees presumed lift load
capacities without checking vehicle weight and checking the load capacity
of the lift, employees
learned from experience about the lift points of particular vehicles.
2. On or about 2/27/97, the employer had no policy or practice to take
defective
lifts out of
service until maintenance could be performed.  It was found that if the
lift could be used to lift
automobiles then it would be continued to be used with the defect.
3. On or about 2/27/97, the employer had no policy or practice in place
for periodic
maintenance of automotive lifts.  The past practice had been if a lift was
reported defective or
if an incident involving the malfunctioning of a lift had occurred then
the service repair company
would be called to perform the necessary corrective service, there was no
scheduled preventive
maintenance checks performed by qualified lift service technicians.
4. On or about 2/27/97, the employer had no policy or practice in place
where employees were
trained about how to properly inspect lifts prior to use.
5. On or about 2/27/97, the employer had no policy or practice in place
for the retraining of
employees when incidents occurred which would warrant same.  When an
incident occurred in
January 1997, the employer gave out copies of "Lifting it Right", a safety
manual published by
the Automotive Lift Institute, but did not go over the information and
material with employees.
Upon inspection wooden blocks were found in the shop that had been used to
block open the
closing valve so that the employee would not have to stand and manually
operate the release
lever.
Among other methods, one feasible method of correction would be to follow
and maintain the
system in accordance with ANSI/ALI B 153.1 also known as the ALOIM-1994
standard.4

Issued

Apr 14, 1997

Abate by

May 17, 1997

Issued

Apr 14, 1997

Abate by

Apr 22, 1997