OSHA Inspection: APPLEGATE WISCONSIN, LLC.

Issued

Feb 23, 2018

Abate by

Feb 28, 2020

Penalty

Initial $11,641 · Current $5,825 Reduced

General-duty citation text

OSH ACT of 1970 Section (5)(a)(1): 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 combustible cellulose dust explosion, deflagration, and other fire hazards as a result of working at or near a dust collection system consisting of a filter media dust collector that was not located, installed, and equipped to prevent employee exposure to hazards associated with an internal combustible dust deflagration:    (a) Applegate Wisconsin, LLC. production facility:  The indoor DCE, Inc. Dalmatic Dust Collector (Type DLM 2/5/15, S/N IG641971) was used to collect combustible cellulose insulation dust from upstream milling processes.  The dust collector was not located, installed, and equipped to prevent employee exposure to hazards resulting from an internal deflagration.  Employees working at or near the dust collector were exposed to combustible cellulose dust deflagration hazards associated with the effects of an explosion (flame front, pressure wave, projectile fragments, etc.) and/or propagation of a flame front resulting from an internal deflagration.  The indoor dust collector: (1) contained explosion/deflagration venting enclosure openings that terminated indoors; (2) had missing explosion/deflagration venting membranes that had been replaced with non-approved materials; and (3) lacked means of deflagration propagation protection for the upstream process.

Issued

Feb 23, 2018

Abate by

Apr 13, 2018

Penalty

Initial $9,977 · Current $6,990 Reduced

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1910.22(a)(1): The employer did not ensure that all places of employment were kept clean:    (a) Production Area; Excessive accumulations of cellulose dust and insulation were located in several areas including, but not limited to, ledges, ducting, walls, overhead rafters, the mezzanine, piping, and equipment.

Issued

Feb 23, 2018

Abate by

Apr 13, 2018

Penalty

Initial $0 · Current $0

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1910.22(a)(2): The floor of each workroom was not maintained in a clean condition:  (a) Production Area; Excessive accumulations of cellulose dust and insulation was located on the floors.

Issued

Feb 23, 2018

Abate by

Jul 31, 2018

Penalty

Initial $11,641 · Current $8,150 Reduced

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1910.95(b)(1): When employees were subjected to sound exceeding those listed in Table G-16, feasible administrative or engineering controls were not utilized:    (a) Bagging Area; The bagging employee was exposed to continuous noise levels at 6984% of the allowable 8-hour time weighted average sound level (90 dBA). The equivalent level of 6984% is approximately 120.6 dBA. The sampling was performed for 467 minutes during one shift on November 2, 2017. Zero exposure was assumed for the unsampled time period of 13 minutes.

Issued

Feb 23, 2018

Abate by

Jul 31, 2018

Penalty

Initial $0 · Current $0

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 1910.95 (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:    An effective hearing conservation program which included noise monitoring, audiometric testing of employees, training of employees, and retention of exposure measurements as detailed in the standard was not instituted by the employer.    (a) Sorting Area; An employee was exposed to continuous noise levels exceeding an 8-hour time-weighted average (TWA) of 85 dBA during the 473 minute sampling period conducted on November 2, 2017. The employee's 8-hour TWA noise dose was 98.80% which is equivalent to approximately 89.9 dBA. Zero exposure was assumed for the unsampled time period of 7 minutes.     (b) Sorting Area; An employee was exposed to continuous noise levels exceeding an 8-hour time-weighted average (TWA) of 85 dBA during the 462 minute sampling period conducted on November 2, 2017. The employee's 8-hour TWA noise dose was 135.2% which is equivalent to approximately  92.1 dBA. Zero exposure was assumed for the unsampled time period of 18 minutes.     (c) Forklift Operator; An employee was exposed to continuous noise levels exceeding an 8-hour time-weighted average (TWA) of 85 dBA during the 451 minute sampling period conducted on November 2, 2017. The employee's 8-hour TWA noise dose was 73.86% which is equivalent to approximately  87.8 dBA. Zero exposure was assumed for the unsampled time period of 29 minutes.

Issued

Feb 23, 2018

Abate by

May 18, 2018

Penalty

Initial $0 · Current $3,560

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1910.1200(h)(1): Employees were not provided effective information and training on hazardous chemicals in their work area at the time of their initial assignment and whenever a new hazard that the employees had not been previously trained about was introduced into their work area:    (a) Production Area; The employer did not provide information and training to employee(s) exposed to boric acid.    (b) Production Area; Training was not provided to inform employees of the Global Harmonization System changes for container labeling and safety data sheet (SDS) format.