OSHA proposes $49K fine for NorthWestern Energy

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration has issued citations to NorthWestern Energy for one repeat and two serious safety violations after an employee was injured while working on high-voltage equipment.

Christine Webb, OSHA area director in Billings, explained, "An apprentice lineman came into contact with 7,200 volts and was seriously injured because this employer failed to implement safety standards, even though the company previously had been cited for similar violations at its Corwin Springs, Montana, facility."

The repeat citation was issued for failing to implement a minimum distance from high-voltage equipment.

A repeat citation is issued when an employer previously has been cited for the same or a similar violation of a standard, regulation, or rule at any other facility in federal enforcement states within the last five years.
NorthWestern Energy was cited with two serious violations for failing to train workers on equipment used to energize electrical lines, and to examine, clean and test electrical equipment.

A serious citation is issued when there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known.

OSHA has proposed penalties totaling $49,000 for the citations.

NorthWestern Energy has 15 days from receiving notice of the citation to either comply or contest the action.

2 companies fined over deaths OSHA accuses

Two northwest Ohio companies have been fined by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration for alleged safety violations that may have contributed to employee deaths. And two other area firms received fines above $50,000 for violations.

Charles Jones Produce LLC of Oak Harbor was fined $17,600 this month after one of the company's employees died in October, according to OSHA. The worker reportedly was struck and killed by a fork truck being driven by another employee. OSHA says the firm failed to ensure the truck driver's path was clear, among other violations.

Guardsmark LLC, a security services firm in Lima, was fined $18,900 last month after OSHA said it improperly modified an industrial truck used for security patrols. OSHA Area Director Jule Hovi said a death resulted from the alleged safety hazards, which took place in July, but she did not provide details of the accident.

Charles Jones Produce has scheduled a meeting for Tuesday with OSHA officials, while Guardsmark has not responded to the citation, Ms. Hovi said. Neither company could be reached for comment Friday.

Separately, Chase Brass & Copper Co. LLC in Montpelier was fined $57,600 this month for violations found in September during a routine inspection. The company allegedly did not properly protect employees from potential falls, breathing hazards, and cadmium exposure, among other citations. The company has not contacted OSHA, Ms. Hovi said.

In a statement, Chase Brass said, "We take worker health and safety very seriously and are working with OSHA to address these citations."

INEOS USA LLC, a chemical production facility in Lima, was fined $62,500 this month for reportedly failing to provide proper ventilation and exposing employees to explosion hazards, along with other alleged violations. Ms. Hovi said an inspection that took place in July stemmed from an employee complaint. The company has not contacted OSHA about the citations, she said. INEOS could not reached for comment Friday.

Contractor Cited For Labor Violations At Midtown Mall

By Darren Dodge

Binghamton, NY (WBNG Binghamton) The contractor who had been doing renovation work at the former Midtown Mall has been cited for labor violations.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) fined demolition Contractor M.J. Scoville $52,500 for 2 willful and 7 serious violations.

OSHA says Scoville exposed workers to fall and lead hazards.
The former Midtown Mall burned down just 4 weeks ago.
The OSHA report says at the 83 Court Street site, inspectors found employees were exposed to potential falls of up to 40 feet as they tore down walls when working on the 4th floor elevator shaft and 14 foot falls from an unguarded scaffold.
The OSHA investigation also found Scoville failed to perform personal air monitoring to track lead exposure levels for demolition workers.
M.J. Scoville has 15 business days to respond to the citations and proposed penalties.
It must comply with OSHA regulations by then, and can also contest the citations.
83 Court Street is the former Midtown Mall, which was being gutted to turn into student housing.
It was burned badly in a fire the week before Christmas.
No cause has been found.

NIPSCO reaches $600MM settlement with EPA for violation claims at its coal-fired facilities

Source: Northern Indiana Public Service Company

Following discussions with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, NIPSCO has finalized a settlement outlining about $600 million in new environmental investments, conservation initiatives, and clean energy programs designed to improve the environmental and economic sustainability of northern Indiana.

Outlined in the settlement are environmental controls and clean air technology that further reduce nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide and particulate matter emissions at the company's coal-fired electric generation facilities.

The settlement is the 17th reached by the EPA and DOJ as part of a national initiative to control emissions from coal-fired power plants under the Clean Air Act's New Source Review requirements. It follows a 2004 Notice of Violation of the EPA's New Source Review process alleging that NIPSCO made upgrades or modifications to its generating facilities in the 1980s and 1990s without obtaining the proper permits.

NIPSCO is among more than 50 U.S. electric companies receiving a Notice of Violation since 1998 as part of the EPA initiative, and NIPSCO maintains that it acted in accordance with the regulations and conducted only routine maintenance and upgrades on the units. This settlement resolves all matters related to the New Source Review and future claims through 2018.

Importantly, the investments contemplated in the settlement support and complement the environmental improvements NIPSCO has already made to date.

Benefits of the Settlement

By the close of 2018, NIPSCO will invest approximately $600 million in improved environmental technology and related projects. Key benefits of these investments will include:

• Cleaner Air: NIPSCO's electric generating fleet is expected to be among the cleanest in Indiana, with NOx emissions lowered by an additional 35 percent from current rates, SO2 emissions lowered by an additional 80 percent from current rates, and other benefits, such as reduced fleet vehicle emissions and improved air quality monitoring, will be achieved. These improvements will have an added benefit of helping NIPSCO achieve compliance with anticipated tighter future emission standards.

• Jobs and Economic Development: Installation of new environmental controls at NIPSCO's R.M. Schahfer, Bailly and Michigan City generating stations are projected to create hundreds of new jobs for locally contracted companies during the next eight years, as well as new positions within the company.

• Conservation and Clean Energy: NIPSCO also will invest $9.5 million over the next five years in new environmental conservation and clean energy projects, including:

- Working with local communities and organizations to develop new publicly available electric vehicle charging stations – powered exclusively with renewable energy

-Replacing and retrofitting diesel engines with hybrid and/or electric vehicles throughout our service territory

- Partnering with the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore and other regional conservation groups to acquire and conserve environmentally sensitive properties in the region

Under the terms of the settlement, NIPSCO will also pay a $3.5 million civil penalty. The additional environmental investments have been planned as part of anticipated ongoing capital spending.

OSHA cites La. plant for workplace violations

PLAQUEMINE, La. (AP) — Federal workplace safety regulators have cited a plant in Plaquemine with 14 serious violations for exposing workers to multiple safety and health hazards at the facility.

Proposed penalties announced Tuesday against Georgia Gulf Chemicals & Vinyls LLC total $55,000. The company specializes in the production of chlorine, caustic soda, vinyl chloride monomer, vinyl resins, phenol and acetone.

Dorinda Folse, director of the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration's office in Baton Rouge, said they opened an investigation on July 20 after an inspector saw violations by employees while conducting a separate probe of a different company contracted to do maintenance work inside the facility.

The violations include failing to illuminate exit routes, train workers performing preventive maintenance on safety critical instruments, and ensure eyewashes had adequate flow and capped nozzles.

Georgia Gulf, headquartered in Atlanta, Ga., has 15 days to comply, request an informal conference with Folse's office or contest the citations and penalties before an independent commission.

Copyright © 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Former ODOT exec sentenced

Dennis Kratoch nets seven years in prison.

(Cleveland) - Former ODOT District 12 Facilities Manager Dennis Kratochvil was sentenced to seven years in prison Thursday.

Kratochvil has paid $110,000 in restitution to the Ohio Department of Transportation and was ordered to pay $11,000 in fines.

On October 18, the 68-year-old pleaded guilty to 14 felony counts. The Chagrin Falls resident was the main target in this ODOT corruption case.

The Ohio Inspector General’s Office and the Ohio State Highway Patrol conducted the investigation. In April 2007, an allegation was made that Kratochvil had committed ethics violations by fishing with vendors over whom he had contract authority.

The investigation revealed Kratochvil at the center of a massive interlocking web of schemes involving ODOT contracts. For over a decade, he, former District 12 Equipment Supervisor Terry Kosmata and ODOT storekeeper Kevin Horrigan rigged and steered hundreds of competitively bid contracts to favored vendors in exchange for gratuities.

These gratuities included hunting and fishing trips to Texas and Alaska, gambling junkets to Las Vegas, expensive meals and bar tabs, boating trips and hot tub parties with strippers, and cash bribes delivered to Kratochvil at ODOT District Headquarters in Garfield Heights.

Under indictment, Kratochvil threatened another co-defendant who was also a State’s witness against Kratochvil. On the day this co-defendant was waiting on the judge outside the courtroom to enter a plea of guilty, Kratochvil called him on his cell phone and threatened his life.

Sixteen of the seventeen defendants in this ODOT case have been sentenced on corruption-related charges and have paid a total of $611,840 in restitution.

The center of this criminal activity was ODOT’s District 12 headquarters located in Garfield Heights. The case of ODOT vendor Dennis B. Kratochvil (Dennis L. Kratochvil’s son) is pending.

(Copyright 2011 Clear Channel and/or the Associated Press, all rights reserved.)

OSHA and WRR settle on fine, new safety measures

Eau Claire (WQOW) - WRR reaches a settlement with OSHA, regarding safety violations discovered after last June's explosion and fire.

In December, OSHA proposed fining WRR $787,000. The agency says WRR failed to prevent potentially catastrophic chemical fires and explosions.

Now the two sides have reached an agreement on settling the case. WRR has been fined $340,000. The firm also plans to hire a consultant to develop a program for the safe processing of chemicals. WRR is also ordered to submit quarterly reports to OSHA for the next 3 years, and the company cannot ask for warrants if OSHA makes a surprise inspection.

An OSHA spokesperson says WRR was very cooperative in the negotiations.

OSHA Fines LM Wind Power Following Worker Fatality Investigation

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited LM Wind Power Blades Inc. of Grand Forks, N.D., with five safety violations for exposing workers to fall and crushing hazards that ultimately took one worker's life. 

OSHA began an investigation in July following the death of an employee working from a scissor lift who was crushed by a nearby crane. The employer is being cited with one willful, three serious and one other-than-serious citation.  

"A worker's life was needlessly lost because the employer failed to identify and eliminate the hazards prior to allowing this employee to perform the work," said Tom Deutscher, OSHA's area office director in Bismarck. "It's critical for employers to assess conditions before letting work begin." 

The alleged willful violation is for failing to ensure employees were adequately protected against struck-by and/or crushing hazards from a nearby crane. OSHA defines a willful violation as one committed with intentional knowing or voluntary disregard for the law's requirements, or plain indifference to worker safety and health. 

The three violations involve failing to use a body belt while on an aerial lift, climbing the guardrails of a scissor lift without fall protection and failing to safely position cranes for maintenance operations.  

OSHA says a serious citation is issued when there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known. 

The other-than-serious violation is for failing to provide adequate warning or "out of order" signs. An other-than-serious violation is one that has a relationship to job safety and health but would not directly cause death or serious physical harm. 

Proposed penalties total $92,000.  

When reached for comment, Helle Larsen Andersen, senior manager for communication at LM Wind Power, declined comment other than to say, "The safety of our workers is our prime concern."  

LM Wind Power has 15 business days from receipt of the citations to contest them before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. Prior to contesting, they may request an informal conference with OSHA's area director in Bismarck, N.D. 

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA's role is to ensure these conditions for America's working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance.  

SOURCE: Occupational Safety and Health Administration