A company alleged to have put the lives and limbs of its employees in danger was fined by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to the tune of $1 million, reports the Southeast Texas Record.
The offending company, Piping Technology and Products Inc. of Houston was found deficient on 13 willful and 17 serious violations of worker safety regulations in Houston.
OSHA’s allegations focused on the fact that the workers of the company were in danger of amputations and other serious injuries. These included dangers from machinery.
According to OSHA's Piping Technology announcement:
The employees were permitted to cut metal I-beams and pipes without the proper machine guarding, which exposed them to possible severe injuries. Inspectors also found that during machine maintenance, workers were exposed to the unexpected release of stored energy because of improper safeguards.
Workers were also faced with exposed band saws and other dangerous machinery.
Piping Technology was founded in 1975 by Durga Agarwal, in a garage in Southeast Houston, and has grown to 600 employees, reports the Pravasi Herald.
The willful violations were the costliest for Piping Technology. A willful violation to OSHA is one committed with intentional knowing or voluntary disregard for the law's requirements, or with plain indifference to employee safety and health. Each such infraction is worth a $70,000 fine.
The fine is a lesson for Houston manufacturers that when in doubt, they should regularly consult with employment attorneys to make sure that they are not violating any regulations.
Related Resources:
- Find a Houston Employment Law attorney (FindLaw)
- Top 5 Texas Employment Law Stories of 2011 (FindLaw's Houston Employment Law Blog)
- OSHA FAQ (FindLaw)
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