OSHA Inspection: BWXT NUCLEAR OPERATIONS GROUP, INC.

Issued

Nov 2, 2022

Abate by

Dec 30, 2022

Penalty

Initial $14,502 · Current $10,151 Reduced

General-duty citation text

OSH ACT of 1970 Section (5)(a)(1): Section 5(a)(1) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970: The employer did not furnish employment and a place of employment which was free from recognized hazards that were causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm to employees in that employee(s) were exposed to caught-in and laceration hazards caused by a rotating machine part being polished by hand with emery cloth.   Location: 1570 Mt. Athos Rd. Lynchburg, VA   On or about: 05/12/2022  a) An employee, hand worked a cylindrical nonferrous metal piece while it was chucked up in an American Zip Shift Lathe during its rotating operating cycle. Employees use machine lathes to develop and fabricate parts; at this location machine lathes were confirmed to be in bays 3-6.  Employee statement, "Machine guarding is missing in bay #3... Bay #5 all of them work in the point of operation". Additional employee statements outlined the following, "They do on the lathes, yes, I seen it done. He has used it". Machinist #2 exclaimed this in reference to emery cloth used on work pieces while rotating in the lathe.       Among other methods, feasible means to abate the hazard include, but not limited to the following ANSI B11.6-2001 R2012 Safety Requirements for Manual Turning Machines, which includes the following:  1.  Identify the hazards and protective measures for the tasks that are to be performed on the machine.  2.  Train employees on the correct and safe working procedures for operating the machine and ensure that the procedures are being followed, which could include: (a) the specific personal protective equipment to wear or not wear (gloves) while operating the lathe (b) the speed that the lathe should be set to when performing the task.