OSHA Inspection: PENTAIR FLOW TECHNOLOGIES, LLC

Issued

May 13, 2020

Abate by

May 3, 2021

Penalty

Initial $0 · Current $4,820

Hazardous substances 9010

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1910.1053(f)(1): The employer did not use engineering and work practice controls to reduce and maintain employee exposure to respirable crystalline silica to or below the PEL, unless the employer can demonstrate that such controls are not feasible.   a)     Pentair Flow Technologies, LLC is located at 1101 Myers Parkway, Ashland, OH. On or about February 13, 2020, at the production facility, employees working in the knock-out (Mash Room) production area were over-exposed to respirable crystalline silica after several engineering and/or work practice controls used by the employer were not effective to adequately reduce silica exposures below the PEL. Employees were wearing the appropriate tight fitting respirators while conducting their daily tasks.   Multi-step abatement     Step 1:  Effective respiratory protection shall be provided and used by exposed employees as an interim protective measure until feasible engineering and/or administrative controls can be implemented, or whenever such controls fail to reduce employee exposure to within permissible exposure limits.    Step 2:  Submit to the Area Director a written, detailed plan of abatement outlining a schedule for the implementation of engineering and/or administrative measures to control employee exposure to hazardous substances as referenced in this citation.  This plan shall include, at a minimum, target dates for the following actions which must be consistent with the abatement dates required by this citation:    1.     Evaluation of engineering/administrative control options; 2.     Selection of optimum control methods and completion of design; 3.     Procurement, installation and operation of selected control measures; 4.     Testing and acceptance or modification/redesign of controls.    Step 3:  Abatement shall have been completed by the implementation of feasible engineering controls and/or administrative controls upon verification of their effectiveness in achieving compliance.    Feasible engineering controls include, but are not limited to: 1.     Provide local ventilation to limit exposure to hazardous or toxic agents and environments within acceptable limits; the system shall be inspected periodically. 2.     Portable engineering control devices shall be used at the location to collect the air borne respirable crystalline silica, i.e., local HEPA filtered ventilation systems.     Date by which Step 1 must be abated:   /   /     Date by which Step 2 must be abated:   /   /    Date by which Step 3 must be abated:   /   /

Issued

May 13, 2020

Abate by

May 3, 2021

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; including a reasonable estimate of employee exposures to respiratory hazards and identification of the contaminant's chemical state and physical form:    a)     Pentair Flow Technologies, LLC is located at 1101 Myers Parkway, Ashland, OH; On or about February 13, 2020, at the production facility; The employer did not ensure that respiratory hazards in the workplace were evaluated. This violation occurred on or about February 13, 2020 when the employer failed to evaluate the respiratory hazards in the cast molding area where the employees were potentially overexposed to silica during sand molding Hunter 10-1 and Hunter 10-2 machines operations.