The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) conducted an inspection of Unlimited Steel Inc. in Austin, Texas, after an employee was seriously injured in a Texas work accident on April 28, 2020. The company was cited by OSHA for three alleged serious OSHA safety violations. The initial total in proposed penalties amounted to $13,109. The current total in penalties associated with this OSHA inspection is $9,176.
Unlimited Steel; Standard Cited:5A0001 OSH Act General Duty Paragraph; Alleged Serious Violation of a Safety Standard; Initial Proposed Penalty $5,398
An essential and basic duty of every employer is to provide a job and a place to work in which employees are safe from recognized hazards that are either likely to cause employees serious physical harm or death or are causing such hazardous conditions. In this case, OSHA says that the types of hazard employees were not adequately protected from were struck-by hazards.
The text for this citation goes on to say that on or about April 28, 2020, and at times prior thereto, employees that were using a forklift to guide steel arch sections were exposed to a struck-by hazard in the following instances:
- Ironworkers were either under the load or near the ends without tethers while raising the arch upright.
- The load was unstable and off-center because a single fiber web sling was attached to the arch on one section.
See Part 1 of this ongoing series to learn more about the citations issued to the employer by OSHA.
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