2 North Texas-Area Facilities Fined by Federal Safety Regulators

Federal safety regulators have fined two different companies over safety violation in facilities located in North Texas.

The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration fined steel fabricator, K-T Galvanizing Company Inc., $53,200 for 13 serious violations found in its facility in Venus, Texas.

Additionally, the MillerCoors Fort Worth brewery was fined $77,000 after an investigation in to an employee’s finger was amputated at the brewery’s maintenance shop.

The violations found by investigators with Fort Worth Area Office at the K-T Galvanizing site include:

• Not having a written hearing conservation program.
• Failing to conduct a hazard assessment.
• Not having a hazard communication program.
• Failing to evaluate permit required confined spaces.
• Not having safety latches on hooks.
• No functional seatbelts on forklifts.
• Forklift manufacturer name plates, safety decals were not legible.
• Forklift training was not conducted by a qualified person.
• Forklifts with safety issues were not taken out of service and repairs made before placing them back into service.
• Forklifts were not inspected for safety before using them.
• Not having work rest and tongue guard on a bench grinder.
• Several electrical violations.

K-T Galvanizing Company Inc. is based in Katy, Texas, and has 70 employees, 35 at the Venus facility.

OSHA’s Fort Worth-based investigators issued citations for one willful and one serious violation against MillerCoors.

The agency issued a willful citation when investigators discovered that lathes in the maintenance shop lacked required safety guards that could have prevented the amputation. A serious citation was issued because those same lathes did not have emergency stops installed.

“MillerCoors completely disregarded the safety of the workers who operate machinery to maintain the equipment in the facility,” said Jack A. Rector, OSHA’s Area Director in Fort Worth. “This employer owes it to the many, many consumers who purchase the Miller Brewery’s products to do what was necessary to protect the employees who work hard to produce it from workplace hazards.”

MillerCoors Brewery employs about 700 employees at the Fort Worth brewery and about 40,000 throughout the nation.

Source: OSHA