OSHA Inspection: AMERICAN BRONZE CASTING, LTD.

Issued

Mar 26, 2012

Abate by

May 7, 2012

Penalty

Initial $1,800 · Current $1,080 Reduced

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1910.134(c)(1): In any workplace where respirators are necessary to protect the health of the employee or whenever respirators are required by the employer, the employer shall establish and implement a written respiratory protection program with worksite-specific procedures. The program shall be updated as necessary to reflect those changes in workplace conditions that affect respirator use.     (a) Throughout the facility; The written respiratory protection program was not tailored to cover the specific work operations and practices in the workplace to protect employees from overexposures to silica dust and copper fume.

Issued

Mar 26, 2012

Abate by

Jun 19, 2012

Penalty

Initial $0 · Current $0

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1910.134(e)(1): The employer shall provide a medical evaluation to determine the employee's ability to use a respirator, before the employee is fit tested or required to use the respirator in the workplace.    (a) Throughout the facility; Employees required to wear NIOSH approved N95 filtering facepiece dust masks, ? face respirators (3M 6001), and a supplied air respirator hood were not medically evaluated before use.

Issued

Mar 26, 2012

Abate by

Jun 19, 2012

Penalty

Initial $0 · Current $0

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1910.134(f): Fit testing. This paragraph requires that, before an employee may be required to use any respirator with a negative or positive pressure tight-fitting facepiece, the employee must be fit tested with the same make, model, style, and size of respirator that will be used.    (a) Throughout the facility; Employees required to wear NIOSH approved N95 filtering facepiece dust masks and ? face respirators (3M 6001) were not fit tested prior to use or on an annual basis.

Issued

Mar 26, 2012

Abate by

Apr 16, 2012

Penalty

Initial $0 · Current $0

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1910.134(g)(1)(i)(A): Facial hair that comes between the sealing surface of the facepiece and the face or that interferes with valve function; or    (a) Shell Room; The employee required to wear a N95 filtering facepiece dust mask had a full beard that interfered with the sealing surface of the facepiece.

Issued

Mar 26, 2012

Abate by

May 7, 2012

Penalty

Initial $0 · Current $0

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1910.134(k): Training and information. This paragraph requires the employer to provide effective training to employees who are required to use respirators. The training must be comprehensive, understandable, and recur annually, and more often if necessary.     (a) Throughout the facility; The employer did not train employees required to wear respirators annually, the last training session was on January 21, 2000.

Issued

Mar 26, 2012

Abate by

Jun 30, 2012

Penalty

Initial $1,800 · Current $1,080 Reduced

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1910.1000(a)(2): An employee's exposure to any substance in Table Z-1, the exposure limit of which is not preceded by a "C", shall not exceed the 8-hour Time Weighted Average given for that substance any 8-hour work shift of a 40-hour work week.    (a) Finishing Area; An employee performing the pencil grinding task was exposed to copper fume at 1.3515 mg/m3 (13.5 times the permissible limit) with a PEL of 0.1000 mg/m3.

Issued

Mar 26, 2012

Abate by

Jun 30, 2012

Penalty

Initial $1,800 · Current $1,080 Reduced

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1910.1000(c): An employee's exposure to any substance listed in Table Z-3, in any 8-hour work shift of a 40-hour work week, shall not exceed the 8-hour time weighted average limit given for that substance in the table.    (a) Shell Room; An employee was exposed to silica at 3.1777 mg/m3 (4.6 times the permissible exposure limit) with a PEL of 0.7143 mg/m3.

Issued

Mar 26, 2012

Abate by

May 7, 2012

Penalty

Initial $0 · Current $0

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1910.1200(h)(3)(ii): The physical and health hazards of the chemicals in the work area;    (a) Throughout the facility; Employees were not properly trained on the hazards due to silica and copper fume.