OSHA Inspection: HAILIANG COPPER TEXAS INC

Issued

Sep 25, 2024

Abate by

Nov 22, 2024

Penalty

Initial $10,648 · Current $6,920 Reduced

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1910.22(a)(3): The employer did not ensure that walking-working surfaces are maintained free of hazards such as sharp or protruding objects, loose boards, corrosion, leaks, spills, snow, and ice.  a) On or about March 28, 2024, at the Furnace; working surface areas had two non-operational machines that moved along raised rails in which employees had to both step over and stand in between while they were working; where employees are performing duties to lift, move, and melt copper.  b) On or about April 25, 2024, at the Pancake; working surfaces areas for two machines had coiler tables that moved along two raised rails in which employees had to both step over and stand in between while they were working; where employees are performing duties to create a copper coil - pancake.  c) On or a April 25, 2024, at the Rolling and Double Cascade Machines; the employees were working on surface areas that were slippery with oil and had raised rails; where they were standing to perform copper coiling and adjusting the diameter of the copper tubing.  d) On or about May 1, 2024, at the Little Pancake machine; working surface areas had two places where different floor elevations presented a trip hazard for employees monitoring the conveyor belt and retrieving little pancakes.

Issued

Sep 25, 2024

Abate by

Oct 22, 2024

Penalty

Initial $12,421 · Current $8,075 Reduced

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1910.29(a)(1): The employer did not ensure each fall protection system and falling object protection meets the requirements in this section.   On or about April 3, 2024, at the Furnace; yellow caution tape and yellow straps were being used to keep employees from falling from heights of more than four feet while performing work in the melting and casting department.

Issued

Sep 25, 2024

Abate by

Oct 22, 2024

Penalty

Initial $12,421 · Current $8,075 Reduced

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1910.29(b)(1): The employer did not ensure that guardrail systems met the requirement that the top edge height of top rails, or equivalent guardrail system members, that are 42 inches (107 cm), plus or minus 3 inches (8 cm), above the walking-working surface.   On or about April 3, 2024, at the Furnace; employees were working near and stepping over a guard rail in which the top rail is approximately 22.5 inches high, while the employees add bags of charcoal/graphite and stir the charcoal/graphite to the direct area of the melting process of copper.

Issued

Sep 25, 2024

Abate by

Nov 22, 2024

Penalty

Initial $10,648 · Current $6,920 Reduced

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1910.138(a): Appropriate hand protection was not used when employee's hands were exposed to hazards such as those from skin absorption of harmful substances; severe cuts or lacerations; severe abrasions; punctures; chemical burns; thermal burns; and harmful temperature extremes.  On or about April 25, 2024, at the Rolling machine; employees were exposed to lacerations while using cotton gloves to grab the end of copper tubing with jagged edges as it was being fed from a section of the machine while performing operations to coil/roll the copper tubing.

Issued

Sep 25, 2024

Abate by

Nov 22, 2024

Penalty

Initial $7,098 · Current $4,610 Reduced

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1910.144(a)(1)(iii): Emergency stop bars, stop buttons or switches which letters or other markings appear, used for emergency stopping of machinery were not red.  On or about March 28, 2024, a yellow emergency stop button at the Annealing machine processing line was not conspicuous and blended with the machine.

Issued

Sep 25, 2024

Abate by

Nov 22, 2024

Penalty

Initial $12,421 · Current $8,075 Reduced

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1910.147(c)(4)(i): Procedures were not developed, documented and utilized for the control of potentially hazardous energy when employees were engaged in activities covered by this section:   On or about March 26, 2024, at the Pancake machine, employees were performing periodic changes to wheels that set copper tubing diameters on the machine without the employer developing energy control procedures.

Issued

Sep 25, 2024

Penalty

Initial $7,098 · Current $4,610 Reduced

General-duty citation text

29 CFR  1910.147(c)(5)(ii): Lockout and tagout (LO/TO) devices were utilized for other purposes than controlling energy:   On or about March 28, 2024, at the furnace and processing line; a yellow barrier fence with an entrance gate that was locked with a LO/TO device was used to prevent access of the operating Annealing machine.

Issued

Sep 25, 2024

Abate by

Nov 22, 2024

Penalty

Initial $12,421 · Current $8,075 Reduced

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1910.147(c)(6)(i): The employer did not conduct a periodic inspection of the energy control procedure at least annually to ensure that the procedure and the requirement of this standard were being followed.  On or about March 28, 2024, the employer did not conduct a periodic inspection of energy control procedures for the machines being used in the plant.

Issued

Sep 25, 2024

Abate by

Oct 22, 2024

Penalty

Initial $10,648 · Current $6,920 Reduced

General-duty citation text

29 CFR  1910.176(c): Storage areas were not kept free from accumulation of materials that constituted hazards from tripping, fire, explosion or pest harborage:  On or about May 3, 2024, at the last three aisles of the Finished Product storage area; employees were retrieving supplies for the Annealing machine line from obstructed aisleways while having to walk around or climb over material to access the supplies.

Issued

Sep 25, 2024

Abate by

Oct 22, 2024

Penalty

Initial $10,648 · Current $6,920 Reduced

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1910.179(b)(5): Rated load markings on crane(s) were not clearly legible from the ground or the floor.  On or about March 28, 2024, employees were using three Smart cranes at the Annealing machine that did not have their load ratings marked on them while being used on the processing line to unload copper coils.

Issued

Sep 25, 2024

Abate by

Nov 22, 2024

Penalty

Initial $7,098 · Current $4,610 Reduced

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1910.179(j)(1)(ii)(b): A complete periodic inspection of crane(s) had not been conducted in the past 12 months.  On or about March 28, 2024, employees were using three Smart cranes that have not had a periodic inspection within the last 12 months to off load copper coils at the off-loading section of the Annealing machine's processing line.

Issued

Sep 25, 2024

Abate by

Oct 22, 2024

Penalty

Initial $12,421 · Current $8,075 Reduced

General-duty citation text

29 CFR  1910.184(c)(2): Slings shortened with knots or bolts or other makeshift devices.   On or about May 1, 2024, at the Smasher machine; employees were using yellow straps as slings tied together by hand to increase the strap length to lift copper with an overhead crane while moving copper to and from the compactor.

Issued

Sep 25, 2024

Abate by

Oct 22, 2024

Penalty

Initial $12,421 · Current $8,075 Reduced

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1910.184(f)(1): Wire-rope slings did not  have permanently affixed and legible identification markings as prescribed by the manufacturer  that indicated the recommended safe working load for the type(s) of hitch(es) used, the angle upon which it is based, and the number of legs if more than one.  On or about April 3, 2024, at the Furnace; employees were using a wire rope sling that did not have the safe working load affixed while they were loading, moving, guiding, and lowering copper into the copper melting process with the use of an overhead crane.

Issued

Sep 25, 2024

Abate by

Oct 22, 2024

Penalty

Initial $12,421 · Current $0 Reduced

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1910.184(f)(5)(iii): Kinking, crushing, bird caging or any other damage resulting in distortion of the wire rope structure.  On or about April 3, 2024, at the Furnace; employees were using a wire rope sling that had distorted wiring between the overhead crane and the load while they were loading, moving, guiding, and lowering copper into the copper melting process.

Issued

Sep 25, 2024

Abate by

Oct 22, 2024

Penalty

Initial $12,421 · Current $8,075 Reduced

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1910.212(a)(1): One or more methods of machine guarding were not provided to protect the operator and other employees in the machine area from hazards such as those created by point of operation, ingoing nip points, rotating parts, flying chips and sparks.  On or about April 25, 2024, and at times prior thereto, employees operating the Straight Tube machine without guards are exposed to copper tubing as a projectile.

Issued

Sep 25, 2024

Abate by

Oct 22, 2024

Penalty

Initial $12,421 · Current $8,075 Reduced

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1910.212(a)(1): One or more methods of machine guarding were not provided to protect the operator and other employees in the machine area from hazards such as those created by point of operation, ingoing nip points, rotating parts, flying chips and sparks.  On or about April 25, 2024, and at times prior thereto, employees operated the Level Winding machine without guards to protect from the ingoing nip point while guiding copper wire/tubing with their hands as it was being wound onto a spinning spool.

Issued

Sep 25, 2024

Abate by

Dec 23, 2024

Penalty

Initial $12,421 · Current $8,075 Reduced

General-duty citation text

29 CFR  1910.212(a)(1): One or more methods of machine guarding was not provided to protect the operator and other employees in the machine area from hazards such as those created by point of operation, ingoing nip points, rotating parts, flying chips and sparks.   On or about April 5, 2024, and at times prior thereto, employees operated Inner Grooving machines without guards to protect from pinch points while feeding copper tubing through rollers to cut and form the inner grooving of the copper.

Issued

Sep 25, 2024

Abate by

Nov 22, 2024

Penalty

Initial $12,421 · Current $8,075 Reduced

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1910.212(a)(1): One or more methods of machine guarding was not provided to protect the operator and other employees in the machine area from hazards such as those created by point of operation, ingoing nip points, rotating parts, flying chips and sparks.   On or about April 25, 2024, and at times prior thereto, employees operated the Double Cascade machine without guards to protect from the moving parts while adjusting the cascades and copper tubing.

Issued

Sep 25, 2024

Penalty

Initial $12,421 · Current $8,075 Reduced

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1910.212(a)(1): One or more methods of machine guarding was not provided to protect the operator and other employees in the machine area from hazards such as those created by point of operation, ingoing nip points, rotating parts, flying chips and sparks.  On or about March 28, 2024, and at times prior thereto, employees operated the Annealing machine with unguarded ingoing nip points from rollers throughout the processing line while moving racks of copper coils.

Issued

Sep 25, 2024

Penalty

Initial $10,648 · Current $6,920 Reduced

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1910.219(c)(4)(ii): The unused keyways of projecting end(s) were not filled or covered.  On or about March 28, 2024, employees worked at the Annealing machine's processing line with protruding shafts that had unguarded key ways while walking along the automated line to move racks of copper coils.

Issued

Sep 25, 2024

Abate by

Oct 22, 2024

Penalty

Initial $12,421 · Current $8,075 Reduced

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1910.303(b)(6): Deteriorating agents. Unless identified for use in the operating environment, no conductors or equipment shall be located in damp or wet locations; where exposed to gases, fumes, vapors, liquids, or other agents that have a deteriorating effect on the conductors or equipment; or where exposed to excessive temperatures.  On or about May 1, 2024, on the Little Pancake machine; employees accessed an electrical control box with the power cables submerged in a pit of standing water while operating the Little Pancake machine.

Issued

Sep 25, 2024

Abate by

Oct 22, 2024

Penalty

Initial $1,774 · Current $1,150 Reduced

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1904.29(a): The employer did not use an OSHA 300, 301 and 300A Form or equivalent.  On or about March 28, 2024, the employer did not utilize an OSHA 301 form or equivalent for the required reporting for an injured employee in 2024.