Illinois Environmental Firm Cited for Willful and Serious Health Violations
A Mokena Illinois company is facing fines totaling $122,760 for exposing employees to respiratory and other hazards.
Our Illinois workers' compensation lawyers are concerned about the growing number of Illinois companies exposing workers to respiratory hazards. Earlier this year, we posted to our Chicago Workers' Compensation Attorney Blog regarding some efforts being made by the federal government to help prevent occupational lung diseases.
A U.S. Labor Department's OSHA inspection of Future Environmental yielded one willful health and nine serious safety violations. Inspectors discovered that employees cleaning waste tanks were exposed to confined space and respiratory hazards. The tanks they were cleaning, which previously had stored petroleum hydrocarbons, were at a Channahon work site.
An area OSHA spokesperson considered the employer's actions totally unacceptable for not providing suitable personal protective equipment, not recognizing a dangerous hazard and failing to monitor the workers.
The one willful health violation was for not ventilating, eliminating or controlling respiratory hazards and not providing continuous air quality monitoring in a confined space. This willful violation carries a potential $69,300 fine. There were several serious safety violations concerning personal protective equipment, confined space safety, respirator training and respiratory hazard identification training. These violations totaled $53,460 in proposed fines.
Confined spaces that require a permit may have: potentially hazardous or hazardous atmosphere's, have material that could surround an entrant, have floors and walls that taper which could trap entrants and could contain a number of other dangerous physical hazards. Employers must let workers know of the location and existence of all these potential hazards.
Workers should never enter a permit-required confined space without proper training or a permit for entry. All workers must understand and review the employer's protocols and procedures prior to entering any permit-required confined spaces. They must also know when and how to get out.
Be aware of all physical hazards you will encounter. Prior to and while inside the confined space, monitor and test the air quality for toxicity, explosive or flammability hazards as needed. Use the equipment for entry provided by your employer, which should include fall protection, air-monitoring, lighting, communication and ventilation. Keep in constant contact with your entry supervisor of any changing condition so appropriate evacuation or rescue efforts can be carried out if necessary. The entry supervisor is vital for having a safe confined space work environment. They must be knowledgeable of the dangers in the space and what effects they could have on the workers.
Entry Supervisors must:
-Confirm that the safeguards required for the job have been put into practice.
-Verify that rescue personnel are available and can be summoned immediately if needed.
-Complete appropriate paperwork including canceling the written permit and terminating the confined space entry if necessary.
-Remove any worker who is not authorized to enter the permit-required confined space.
-Periodically, check that the entry operation is going as planned in a manner consistent with the confined space permit requirements and that suitable entry conditions are being maintained.
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