OSHA Inspection: AMI MECHANICAL

Issued

Sep 23, 2014

Abate by

Oct 20, 2014

Penalty

Initial $1,200 · Current $900 Reduced

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1926.51(f)(1): The employer shall provide adequate washing facilities for employees engaged in the application of paints, coating, herbicides, or insecticides, or in other operations where contaminants may be harmful to the employees. Such facilities shall be in near proximity to the worksite and shall be so equipped as to enable employees to remove such substances.      (a)    AMI Mechanical Inc. @ 10370 Brendon Way, Thornton CO 80229: On or before June 11, 2014, the employer did not provide wash facilities to employees exposed to raw sewage prior to lunch breaks and at the end of daily shift.  Employees were told they could use hand-sanitizer gel in the portable toilets for disinfecting their hands prior to their lunch breaks.   This condition potentially exposed employees to infectious disease and/or foodborne infections.

Issued

Sep 23, 2014

Abate by

Oct 20, 2014

Penalty

Initial $1,200 · Current $900 Reduced

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1926.95(a): "Application." Protective equipment, including personal protective equipment for eyes, face, head, and extremities, protective clothing, respiratory devices, and protective shields and barriers, shall be provided, used, and maintained in a sanitary and reliable condition wherever it is necessary by reason of hazards of processes or environment, chemical hazards, radiological hazards, or mechanical irritants encountered in a manner capable of causing injury or impairment in the function of any part of the body through absorption, inhalation or physical contact.      (a)    AMI Mechanical Inc. @ 10370 Brendon Way, Thornton CO 80229: On or before June 11, 2014, the employer did not provide hand protection for employees exposed to soda ash.  Manufacturer's MSDS recommends the use of chemical resistant gloves when handling soda ash.   This condition exposed employees to skin irritation.

Issued

Sep 23, 2014

Abate by

Oct 11, 2014

Penalty

Initial $0 · Current $0

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1910.134(c)(2): Where respirator use is not required:  (ii): In addition, the employer must establish and implement those elements of a written respiratory protection program necessary to ensure that any employee using a respirator voluntarily is medically able to use that respirator, and that the respirator is cleaned, stored, and maintained so that its use does not present a health hazard to the user.   (a)    AMI Mechanical Inc. @ 10370 Brendon Way, Thornton CO 80229: On or before June 11, 2014, the employer did not provide respiratory program training as specified in Appendix D prior to allowing employees to use a filtering face-piece mask for protection against nuisance dust in the form of soda ash and other contaminants in the crawl space where they were breaking old plumbing lines and installing new plumbing pipes. Employees were not trained on the proper use, storage, and limitations of the voluntary respiratory protection.

Issued

Sep 23, 2014

Abate by

Oct 20, 2014

Penalty

Initial $0 · Current $0

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1910.134(d)(1)(iii): The employer shall identify and evaluate the respiratory hazard(s) in the workplace; this evaluation shall 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 cannot identify or reasonably estimate the employee exposure, the employer shall consider the atmosphere to be IDLH.  (a)    AMI Mechanical Inc. @ 10370 Brendon Way, Thornton CO 80229: On or before June 11, 2014, the employer did not evaluate the respiratory hazard to ensure that employees were not over-exposed to soda ash dust.  Manufacturer's MSDS recommends the use of a NIOSH-approved respirator with HEPA cartridges in the absence of exposure sampling.  OSHA PEL for soda ash is 15mg/m3 for total dust and 5mg/m3 for respirable dust.  The employer provided re-usable dust mask with charcoal filters and instructed employees to re-use the same mask for the next work shift.   Employees were using these dust masks in a workspace that was contaminated with raw sewage and caustic soda ash.  The used dust masks were stored in an unsanitary condition which potentially exposed employees to infectious disease and to increased inhalation exposure to the caustic soda ash when they were re-used during subsequent work shifts.

Issued

Sep 23, 2014

Abate by

Oct 20, 2014

Penalty

Initial $0 · Current $0

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1910.1200(h)(1): Employers shall provide employees with effective information and training on hazardous chemicals in their work area at the time of their initial assignment, and whenever a new physical or health hazard the employees have not previously been trained about is introduced into their work area. Information and training may be designed to cover categories of hazards (e.g., flammability, carcinogenicity) or specific chemicals. Chemical-specific information must always be available through labels and material safety data sheets.   (a)    AMI Mechanical Inc. @ 10370 Brendon Way, Thornton CO 80229: On or before June 11, 2014, the employer did not provide hazard communication training for exposure to soda ash.  Soda ash was used in large quantities by the property owner to control odors caused by leaking sewage pipes in the crawl space.  Exposure to soda ash can cause skin irritation and upper respiratory irritation,  according to the manufacturer's Safety Data Sheet.  Employees did not know what the white powdery substance was that had been laid down by the property owner.