OSHA Inspection: UNITED STRUCTURAL PRODUCTS, LLC.

Issued

Sep 25, 2015

Abate by

Nov 13, 2015

Penalty

Initial $2,100 · Current $1,260 Reduced

Hazardous substances 8111

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1910.95(c)(1): The employer did not administer a continuing, effective hearing conservation program as described in 29 CFR 1910.9(c) through (o) whenever employee noise exposures equal or exceed an 8-hour time-weighted average sound level of 85 decibels measured on the A scale, or equivalently a dose of fifty percent:  (a) Chop saw area, left side- An employee using a chop saw to cut metal side rails was exposed to continuous noise at 207% of the permissible daily exposure of 85 dBA (8-hour time weighted average) or an equivalent sound level of 95.3 dBA during the 473 minute sampling period on September 2, 2015. The exposure calculation included a zero increment for the 7 minutes not sampled.   (b) Chop saw area, right side- An employee using a chop saw to metal side rails was exposed to continuous noise at 305.0 % of the permissible daily exposure of 85 dBA (8-hour time weighted average) or an equivalent sound level of 98.0 dBA during the 473 minute sampling period on September 2, 2015. The exposure calculation included a zero increment for the 7 minutes not sampled.   (c) Chop saw area- An employee using a chop saw to cut small metal parts was exposed to continuous noise at 121.0 % of the permissible daily exposure of 85 dBA (8-hour time weighted average) or an equivalent sound level of 91.4 dBA during the 478 minute sampling period on September 2, 2015. The exposure calculation included a zero increment for the 2 minutes not sampled.   An effective hearing conservation program would include, initial baseline and annual audiograms, making hearing protectors available, and initial and annual noise training.