OSHA Inspection: MIDWEST SPECIALTY PRODUCTS LLC

Issued

Jan 16, 2025

Penalty

Initial $9,104 · Current $5,462 Reduced

General-duty citation text

29 CFR  1910.22(a)(1):  All places of employment, passageways, storerooms, service rooms, and walking-working surfaces are kept in a clean, orderly, and sanitary condition.  On or about October 28, 2024, at a facility located at 110 Washington Street in Winneconne, WI; the employer did not keep all places of employment in a clean, orderly and sanitary condition. Paper pieces, paper particulate, and other materials were allowed to accumulate under the electrical panels located between the Laminators and Wheel areas of the facility. Employees were exposed to potential fire hazards from the accumulations of combustible materials.

Issued

Jan 16, 2025

Abate by

Jun 1, 2026

Penalty

Initial $12,744 · Current $7,646 Reduced

General-duty citation text

29 CFR  1910.147(c)(4)(i):  Procedures shall be developed, documented and utilized for the control of potentially hazardous energy when employees are engaged in the activities covered by this section:  On or about October 28, 2024, at a facility located at 110 Washington Street in Winneconne, WI; the employer had not developed, documented, and implemented energy control procedures to ensure employees performing tooling changes, adjustments and/or cleaning were protected from hazardous energy sources prior to engaging in the servicing and/or maintenance tasks. The employer did not develop, document, or implement written procedures when employees conducted:  a) Setup of Wheel 1 and Wheel 2 machines. Employees entered the spaces behind the Wheels to string and align paper on the wheels.  b) Changeovers of the Bretting 1 and Bretting 2 machines. Employees entered the machines to change out equipment such as, but not limited to vacuum plates, cutoff units, and star wheels.  Note: Exception: The employer need not document the required procedure for a particular machine or equipment, when all of the following elements exist: (1) The machine or equipment has no potential for stored or residual energy or reaccumulation of stored energy after shut down which could endanger employees; (2) the machine or equipment has a single energy source which can be readily identified and isolated; (3) the isolation and locking out of that energy source will completely deenergize and deactivate the machine or equipment; (4) the machine or equipment is isolated from that energy source and locked out during servicing or maintenance; (5) a single lockout device will achieve a locker-out condition; (6) the lockout device is under the exclusive control of the authorized employee performing the servicing or maintenance; (7) the servicing or maintenance does not create hazards for other employees; and (8) the employer, in utilizing this exception, has had no accidents involving the unexpected activation or reenergization of the machine or equipment during servicing or maintenance.

Issued

Jan 16, 2025

Abate by

Feb 14, 2025

Penalty

Initial $0 · Current $0

General-duty citation text

29 CFR  1910.147(f)(3)(ii)(D):  Each authorized employee shall affix a personal lockout or tagout device to the group lockout device, group lockbox, or comparable mechanism when he or she begins work, and shall remove those devices when he or she stops working on the machine or equipment being serviced or maintained:  On or about October 28, 2024, at a facility located at 110 Washington Street in Winneconne, WI; each employee conducting servicing and maintenance did not affix a personal lockout device to the group lockout device. Changeovers of the Bretting machines were conducted by teams of two employees. None of the employees in either team had affixed a personal lockout device to their respective machines' built in group lockout hasps.

Issued

Jan 16, 2025

Penalty

Initial $7,282 · Current $4,369 Reduced

General-duty citation text

29 CFR  1910.178(l)(6):  The employer shall certify that each operator has been trained and evaluated as required by this paragraph (l). The certification shall include the name of the operator, the date of the training, the date of the evaluation, and the identity of the person(s) performing the training or evaluation.  On or about October 28, 2024, at a facility located at 110 Washington Street in Winneconne, WI; the employer did not certify that each operator of the powered stackers at the Bretting machines had been trained, evaluated, and authorized to utilized the powered industrial vehicles.

Issued

Jan 16, 2025

Abate by

Jun 1, 2026

Penalty

Initial $12,744 · Current $7,646 Reduced

General-duty citation text

29 CFR  1910.212(a)(1):  One or more methods of machine guarding shall be 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. Examples of guarding methods are-barrier guards, two-hand tripping devices, electronic safety devices, etc.:  At a facility located at 110 Washington Street in Winneconne, WI:  a) On or about October 28, 2024, Machine Operator employees were exposed to struck-by and entanglement hazards posed by the wheel of the Wheel #2 line during production. An interlocked gate was bypassed and did not prevent the employee from entering the area behind and below the rotating wheel.  b) On or about November 21, 2024, Wheel Packer employees were exposed to amputation hazards posted by the Seybold Paper Cutters (guillotines) of Wheel #1 and Wheel #2 lines during production. Employees reached under the blades of the paper cutters to advance, position, and remove the paper product to be cut by the blades. The machines were equipped with two-hand controls; however, both paper cutters had experienced downward drifting, and one experienced an unintentional cycling.