OSHA Inspection: ABRASIVE RECYCLING SYSTEMS

Issued

Dec 26, 2012

Abate by

Jan 11, 2013

Penalty

Initial $2,400 · Current $2,400

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1910.38(b): Written and oral emergency action plans. An emergency action plan was not in writing, kept in the workplace, and available to employees for review. However, an employer with 10 or fewer employees may communicate the plan orally to employees:    Abrasive Recycling Systems did not implement an emergency action plan for its employees working at the BriteBlast LLC facility at 825 South Loop West, Building C, in Houston, TX.

Issued

Dec 26, 2012

Abate by

Jan 11, 2013

Penalty

Initial $2,400 · Current $2,400

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1910.134(c)(1):  In any workplace where respirators were necessary to protect the health of the employee or whenever respirators were required by the employer, the employer did not establish and implement a written respiratory protection program with worksite-specific procedures. The program was not updated as necessary to reflect those changes in workplace conditions that affect respirator use:     The employer requires its employees to utilize dust masks for respiratory protection in the manufacturing areas of the BriteBlast facility at 825 South Loop West, Building C, in Houston, TX but does not have a written respiratory protection program with site specific procedures.

Issued

Dec 26, 2012

Abate by

Jan 11, 2013

Penalty

Initial $0 · Current $0

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1910.134(d)(1)(iii): The employer did not identify and evaluate the respiratory hazard(s) in the workplace; this evaluation did not include a reasonable estimate of employee exposures to respiratory hazard(s) and an identification of the contaminant's chemical state and physical form. Where the employer could not identify or reasonably estimate the employee exposure, the employer did not consider the atmosphere to be IDLH:    At the Brite Blast facility located at 825 South Loop West, Building C, in Houston, TX, the employer did not perform an evaluation to estimate employee exposure to respiratory hazards in the manufacturing area of Building C, prior to requiring employees to use N95 particulate purifying respirators.

Issued

Dec 26, 2012

Abate by

Jan 11, 2013

Penalty

Initial $2,400 · Current $2,400

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1910.134(e)(1):  General. The employer did not provide a medical evaluation to determine the employee's ability to use a respirator, before the employee was fit tested or required to use the respirator in the workplace. The employer may discontinue an employee's medical evaluations when the employee is no longer required to use a respirator:    Abrasive Recycling Systems (ARS) did not provide medical evaluations to employees at the BriteBlast facility located at 825 South Loop West, Building C, in Houston, TX, prior to requiring them to use N95 dust filtering masks for respiratory protection.    (a) Site Manager A did not receive medical evaluation but was required to wear dust masks in the production areas of  the BriteBlast facility.    (b) Site Manager B did not receive medical evaluation but was required to wear dust masks in the production areas of the BriteBlast facility.

Issued

Dec 26, 2012

Penalty

Initial $2,800 · Current $2,800

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1910.178(l)(1)(ii):  Prior to permitting an employee to operate a powered industrial truck (except for training purposes), the employer did not ensure that each operator has successfully completed the training required by this paragraph (l), except as permitted by paragraph (l)(5):    Abrasive Recycling Systems site managers required employees to operate a forklift to move materials around the BriteBlast facility in Houston, without ensuring that the operators had been trained to operate the forklift. This violation was observed on or about July 17, 2012, when the site manager required employees to operate a forklift to move materials around the manufacturing facility without ensuring that they had been trained.

Issued

Dec 26, 2012

Abate by

Jan 11, 2013

Penalty

Initial $2,000 · Current $2,000

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1910.179(m)(1):  Running ropes. A thorough inspection of all ropes was not made at least once a month and a certification record which includes the date of inspection, the signature of the person who performed the inspection and an identifier for the ropes which were inspected were not kept on file where readily available to appointed personnel. Any deterioration, resulting in appreciable loss of original strength,was not carefully observed and determination made as to whether further use of the rope would constitute a safety hazard:       Abrasive Recycling Systems (ARS) did not ensure that required inspections of the ropes on the overhead crane are performed and that records of the inspections are kept, and permitted the crane to be utilized by workers at the facility to lift loaded containers of material in the process area of the facility it manages at 825 South Loop West, Building C in Houston, TX are performed.

Issued

Dec 26, 2012

Abate by

Jan 11, 2013

Penalty

Initial $2,800 · Current $2,800

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1910.212(a)(1):  Types of guarding. One or more methods of machine guarding was not be provided to protect the operator and other employees in the machine area from hazards such as those created by point of operation, ingoing nip points, rotating parts, flying chips and sparks. Examples of guarding methods are-barrier guards, two-hand tripping devices,electronic safety devices, etc:    Abrasive Recycling Systems (ARS) required workers to operate equipment and did not protect them from hazards created by the conveyor systems when:     a) Ingoing nip points created by conveyor belts in the bottle crushing system were not guarded to protect employees against being caught in the machine.     b) Ingoing nip points created by conveyor belts in the sifting process were not guarded to protect employees against being caught in the machine.

Issued

Dec 26, 2012

Abate by

Jan 11, 2013

Penalty

Initial $0 · Current $0

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1910.219(c)(2)(i):  All exposed parts of horizontal shafting seven (7) feet or less from floor or working platform, excepting runways used exclusively for oiling, or running adjustments, were not protected by a stationary casing enclosing shafting completely or by a trough enclosing sides and top or sides and bottom of shafting as location requires:    Abrasive Recycling Systems (ARS) required workers to operate equipment and did not protect them from hazards created by horizontal shafts when:     a) Shafts on the conveyors in the bottle crushing system were not enclosed in stationary casing to protect employees from struck against or entanglement incidents and injuries.     b) Shafts on the conveyors in the glass sifting process were not enclosed in stationary casing to protect employees from struck against or entanglement incidents and injuries.

Issued

Dec 26, 2012

Abate by

Jan 11, 2013

Penalty

Initial $2,800 · Current $2,800

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1910.1200(e)(1): Employer did not develop, implement, and maintain at each workplace, a written hazard communication program which at least describes how the criteria specified in paragraphs (f), (g), and (h) of this section for labels and other forms of warning, material safety data sheets, and employee information and training will be met, and which also includes the following:    Abrasive Recycling Systems did not implement a written hazard communication program at the BriteBlast manufacturing facility, located at 825 South Loop West, Building C in Houston, Texas.

Issued

Dec 26, 2012

Abate by

Jan 11, 2013

Penalty

Initial $0 · Current $0

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1910.1200(g)(8):  The employer did not maintain in the workplace copies of the required material safety data sheets for each hazardous chemical, and did not ensure that they are readily accessible during each work shift to employees when they are in their work area(s). (Electronic access, microfiche, and other alternatives to maintaining paper copies of the material safety data sheets are permitted as long as no barriers to immediate employee access in each workplace are created by such options.):    Abrasive Recycling Systems did not make copies of material safety data sheets for hazardous materials at the facility on South Loop West, in Houston, Texas available to employees when it failed to maintain MSDSs for:      a) Aluminum oxide blasting media   b) Almandine Granite   c) Cast steel abrasives   d) Unidentified material delivered by truck to site on November 7, 2012