OSHA Inspection: WEABER, INC.

Issued

Jul 1, 2024

Abate by

Mar 3, 2025

Penalty

Initial $10,140 · Current $16,000

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1910.28(b)(1)(i):  Except as provided elsewhere in this section, the employer did not ensure that each employee on a walking-working surface with an unprotected side or edge that was 4 feet (1.2 m) or more above a lower level was protected from falling by one or more of the following methods: (A) Guardrail systems; (B) Safety net systems; or (C) Personal fall protection systems, such as personal fall arrest, travel restraint, or positioning systems:  (a) South Stacker - In order to remove bad boards or to fix boards on the elevated lumber chain conveyor, employees climbed onto the grating between the strands of chains.  The employees did not use any fall protection system, exposing them to falling 10 feet to the floor below from the unprotected sides of the grating, on or about January 30, 2024.  Abatement certification required within 10 days after abatement date. The certification shall include a statement that abatement is complete, date and method of abatement, and state employees and their representatives were informed of this abatement.

Issued

Jul 1, 2024

Abate by

Mar 3, 2025

Penalty

Initial $7,604 · Current $0 Reduced

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1910.29(b)(2)(iv): The employer did not ensure that guardrail systems met the requirement that other equivalent intermediate members (such as additional midrails and architectural panels) were installed so that the openings are not more than 19 inches (48 cm) wide:  (a) South Stacker - The metal frame and metal guarding on the TS Manufacturing stick placing system, served as the guardrail system along the south side of the work platform that ran between the stick chain conveyor and the lumber chain conveyor.  A removed piece of metal guarding at the side of the stick chain conveyor created an approximately 3.5-foot by 3.5-foot opening in the intermediate member section of the guardrail system, exposing employees on the platform to a fall hazard of 6 feet 7 inches to a lower level, on or about January 30, 2024.  Abatement certification required within 10 days after abatement date. The certification shall include a statement that abatement is complete, date and method of abatement, and state employees and their representatives were informed of this abatement.

Issued

Jul 1, 2024

Abate by

Mar 3, 2025

Penalty

Initial $15,211 · Current $16,000

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1910.147(c)(6)(i): The employer did not conduct a periodic inspection of the energy control procedures at least annually to ensure that the procedures and the requirement of this standard were being followed:  (a) Weaber, Inc., 1231 Mount Wilson Road, Lebanon, Pennsylvania - The employer did not conduct a periodic inspection of lockout/tagout procedures, in accordance with the standard, in that the employer did not conduct an inspection annually for each lockout/tagout procedure, including, but not limited to, for the head rig outfeed conveyor rollcase #1 and for south stacker machinery, during calendar year 2023, exposing employees to machinery hazards such as caught in and struck by.  Abatement certification required within 10 days after abatement date. The certification shall include a statement that abatement is complete, date and method of abatement, and state employees and their representatives were informed of this abatement.

Issued

Jul 1, 2024

Abate by

Mar 3, 2025

Penalty

Initial $0 · Current $16,000

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1910.219(c)(3): Vertical or inclined shafting seven feet or less from the floor or working platform was not enclosed with a stationary casing:   (a) South Stacker - The even ender, 37 to 47 inches above the work platform, did not have a stationary casing enclosing the vertical shaft from the motor, exposing employees to an entanglement hazard, on or about January 30, 2024.  Abatement certification required within 10 days after abatement date. The certification shall include a statement that abatement is complete, date and method of abatement, and state employees and their representatives were informed of this abatement.

Issued

Jul 1, 2024

Abate by

Mar 3, 2025

Penalty

Initial $10,140 · Current $16,000

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1910.265(c)(18)(i): Construction, operation, and maintenance of conveyors was not in accordance with American National Standard B20.1-1957, incorporated by reference as specified in �1910.6, as follows:  Safety guards were not provided on all types of equipment at driving mechanisms, terminals, and take-ups where the unguarded parts may constitute a hazard to the operating personnel:  (a) South Stacker - When working from the elevated work platform that ran along the north side of the lumber chain conveyor, employees had exposure to a caught-in hazard from the unguarded sprocket wheel and chain on the horizontal shaft at the top of the lumber unscrambler and from the unguarded sprocket wheel and chain on a shaft at the start of the lumber chain conveyor, on or about January 30, 2024.  Abatement certification required within 10 days after abatement date. The certification shall include a statement that abatement is complete, date and method of abatement, and state employees and their representatives were informed of this abatement.

Issued

Jul 1, 2024

Abate by

Mar 3, 2025

Penalty

Initial $76,054 · Current $16,000 Reduced

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1910.147(c)(4)(ii): The energy control procedures did not clearly and specifically outline the scope, purpose, authorization, rules, and techniques to be utilized for the control of hazardous energy, including, but not limited to items of this section:  (a) Weaber, Inc., 1231 Mount Wilson Road, Lebanon, Pennsylvania - Employees performed servicing and maintenance activities, including, but not limited to, clearing stuck slabs on head rig outfeed conveyor rollcase #1 and cleaning under and fixing chains on the lumber chain conveyors at the south stacker.  The lockout/tagout program and procedures lacked the specificity needed to enable employees to safely and effectively control hazardous energy when performing the servicing and maintenance activities on the machinery and equipment, exposing employees to hazards such as electrical, caught in, and struck by, on or about January 23, 2024, as follows:  ? Neither the general lockout/tagout program nor the machine-specific procedure for head rig outfeed conveyor rollcase #1 said that lockout/tagout applied to clearing stuck slabs.  ? Machine-specific procedures, including for head rig outfeed conveyor rollcase #1 and for the various south stacker machines, did not give the specific types and locations of machine operating controls.  The machine-specific procedures all had the same generic statements regarding operating controls, which said to "depress the stop button, open the toggle switch, etc."  ? The machine-specific procedure for south stacker unscrambler and pop-ups (lockout procedure KL-ST-03) identified electric and pneumatic energy sources.  Above and below a photo of piping and a valve, this procedure gave the pneumatic energy source isolation point as Air Valve AV_KL-1, but in sequential step 4(b), gave the pneumatic energy source as Air Valve AV_ST-1.  In addition, this machine-specific procedure did not include specific instructions on how to dissipate the pneumatic energy.  ? Machine-specific procedures for different south stacker machines showed the same photo, which depicted piping with a valve, for pneumatic and hydraulic energy sources.  Unscrambler and Pop-ups lockout procedure KL-ST-03 identified the photo as Air Valve AV_KL-1, and Stacker Carriage lockout procedure KL-ST-06 identified the photo as Main Stacker hydraulic pump.    ? Machine-specific procedures for different south stacker machines showed the same photo, which depicted an electrical disconnect, for electric and pneumatic energy sources.  Stacker Carriage lockout procedure KL-ST-06 identified the photo as the electrical disconnect located at the drive, and Lug Loader lockout procedure KL-ST-10 identified the photo as Air Valve AV-ST-02.  ? The general lockout/tagout program said that if lockout/tagout involved more than one employee that each employee must apply a lock to each energy isolating device or to a hasp applied to each energy isolating device while machine-specific procedures specified using a lockout box.  Weaber, Inc. was previously cited for a violation of this occupational safety and health standard CFR 1910.147(c)(4)(ii), which was contained in OSHA inspection number 1556880, citation number 1, item number 1 and was affirmed as a final order on March 8, 2022, with respect to a workplace located at 11117 Skyline Drive, Titusville, PA 16354.  Abatement certification and documentation required within 10 days after abatement date. The certification shall include a statement that abatement is complete, the date and method of abatement, and state that employees and their representatives were informed of this abatement.  Abatement documentation shall include documents demonstrating that abatement is complete, such as evidence of the purchase or repair of equipment, photographic or video evidence of abatement or other written records.

Issued

Jul 1, 2024

Abate by

Mar 3, 2025

Penalty

Initial $0 · Current $0

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1910.147(d): The established procedures for the application of energy control (the lockout or tagout procedures) were not done in sequence as required by 29 CFR 1910.147(d)(1) through (6):   (a) Sawmill - While clearing stuck slabs on the head rig outfeed conveyor rollcase #1, employees did not turn off rollcase #1 [per 1910.147(d)(2) requirements].  As a result, the remaining applicable energy control elements, involving machine isolation [(d)(3)], lockout/tagout device application [(d)(4)], dissipation of residual energy [(d)(5)(i)], and verification of isolation [(d)(6)], did not get implemented to protect employees from equipment servicing hazards, such as getting caught-in moving machine parts, on or about January 23, 2024.  (b) South Stacker - When going on top of the grating between the chain strands of the lumber chain conveyor to remove bad boards, employees turned off the chains but did not implement the remaining applicable energy control elements, involving machine isolation [(d)(3)], lockout/tagout device application [(d)(4)], dissipation of residual energy [(d)(5)(i)], and verification of isolation [(d)(6)], exposing employees to equipment servicing hazards, such as getting caught-in moving machine parts, on or about January 30, 2024.  (c) South Stacker - At the end of the shift, employees went underneath the south stacker machinery to clean.  The employees turned off the machinery but did not implement the remaining applicable energy control elements, involving machine isolation [(d)(3)], lockout/tagout device application [(d)(4)], dissipation of residual energy [(d)(5)(i)], and verification of isolation [(d)(6)], exposing employees to equipment servicing hazards, such as getting caught-in moving machine parts, on or about January 29, 2024.  Weaber, Inc. was previously cited for a violation of an equivalent Occupational Safety and Health Standard CFR 1910.147(d)(2) through (d)(5), which was contained in OSHA inspection number 1556880, citation number 1, item number 2 and was affirmed as a final order on March 8, 2022, with respect to a workplace located at 11117 Skyline Drive, Titusville, PA 16354.  Abatement certification and documentation required within 10 days after abatement date. The certification shall include a statement that abatement is complete, the date and method of abatement, and state that employees and their representatives were informed of this abatement.  Abatement documentation shall include documents demonstrating that abatement is complete, such as evidence of the purchase or repair of equipment, photographic or video evidence of abatement or other written records.