BWAY Corporation, a Chicago manufacturer of rigid metal, plastic, and hybrid containers, faces $503,380 in proposed penalties after OSHA responded to four separate reports of workers suffering injuries at the facility

Chicago Container Manufacturer Faces $503K in OSHA Penalties
September 26, 2017


A Chicago manufacturer of rigid metal, plastic, and hybrid containers faces $503,380 in proposed penalties after inspectors from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) responded to four separate reports of workers suffering injuries at the facility, the federal agency announced.

As a result of its investigations, OSHA cited BWAY Corporation for five repeated and five serious safety violations of machine safety procedures, and placed the company in its Severe Violator Enforcement Program. In the past five years, 15 workers suffered amputations at the Chicago plant.



OSHA found one employee suffered two broken bones in his hand after it was crushed by a piece of equipment. Three other employees suffered amputations from unguarded chain and sprocket assemblies.

The agency issued repeated citations for failing to train workers in lockout/tagout procedures that prevent unintentional machine movement, and inadequate machine guarding on a mechanical power press, belts and pulleys, and chains and sprockets. The five serious citations involve failing to lockout equipment prior to clearing jams and inadequate machine guarding on multiple pieces of equipment.

Based in Atlanta, Georgia, the company has 27 facilities and about 4,000 employees in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico – with about 500 employees in Chicago.

The company has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA’s area director, or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

About BWAY

For more than a century, BWAY has offered packaging solutions for large manufacturers, container distributors and small businesses. Today, we are a market leader in the general line packaging industry by providing rigid metal and plastic containers across North America.

Our rigid metal containers include paint cans, steel pails, aerosol cans, F-style containers, monotop cans, pour top cans, ammunition boxes and an oil can. We also manufacture rigid plastic packaging including pails, drums, and hybrid paint cans.

Approximately 75 percent of our business comprises general line packaging used by industrial manufacturers. Roughly 20 percent of our containers are allocated to food products. The remaining five percent accounts for production of ammunition boxes.

BWAY has annual sales exceeding $1 billion. We have approximately 3,000 dedicated, well-trained employees who deliver exceptional products to customers. Our organization maintains modern, well-capitalized manufacturing facilities that are geographically aligned to ensure fast order fulfillment and superior customer service.

Fall protection again topped the list of OSHA's Most-Cited Standards for 2017; inadequate or unprovided training is involved in many or most of the violations cited by OSHA

OSHA Unveils FY2017 Top Ten Most-Cited Standards

Fall protection again topped the list, which was revealed Sept. 26 at the NSC conference before a standing-room-only crowd. 

Sep 26, 2017

INDIANAPOLIS, IN -- 

OSHA's Patrick Kapust revealed the Top Ten list of most-cited OSHA standards for fiscal year 2017 on Sept. 26 during a standing-room-only Learning Lab session at the National Safety Congress & Expo here in the Indiana Convention Center. Not only were attendees standing all along the walls of the meeting room in the expo hall for this presentation, but many others were lined up outside to watch and photograph Kapust's slides as he talked.

Kapust, CSP, is deputy director of OSHA's Directorate of Enforcement Programs and has worked for OSHA since 1991.


"This list doesn't change much year to year. The order may change," he said. "I encourage folks to use this list and look at your own workplaces" to make sure the hazards addressed in the Top Ten list of standards are addressed," he added.

The FY2017 Top Ten:

1. Fall Protection, 1926.501, 6,072 violations

2. Hazard Communication, 1910.1200, 4,176 violations

3. Scaffolding, 1926.451, 3,288 violations

4. Respiratory Protection, 1910.134, 3,097 violations

5. Lockout/Tagout, 1910.147, 2,877 violations

6. Ladders, 1926.1053, 2,241 violations

7. Powered Industrial Trucks, 1910.178, 2,162 violations

8. Machine Guarding, 1910.212, 1,933 violations

9. Fall Protection -- Training Requirements, 1926.503, 1,523 violations

10. Electrical Wiring Methods, 1910.305, 1,405 violations

Four of the Top Ten involve fall exposures, and Kapust explained that inadequate or unprovided training is involved in many or most of the violations cited by OSHA in four of the standards on the list.

With respiratory protection, medical evaluations often are not done and fit testing also is often undone, he said, adding, "These are readily fixable, easy to take care of."

SUFFOCATED TO DEATH: OSHA is investigating the weekend death of Melvin Gant Jr., 28, of South Carolina at the Nucor Steel plant in Decatur aftre hi slipped into vat containing the waste product of finished rolled steel

Melvin Gant Jr., 28, of South Carolina.  RIP

OSHA investigating fatal Nucor accident

By Anna Beahm Staff Writer
September 27, 2017



The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the weekend death of a man at the Nucor Steel plant in Decatur, authorities said.


Decatur police said Saturday that Melvin Gant Jr., 28, of South Carolina, slipped into what Decatur police called a “vat containing the waste product of finished rolled steel” while doing his normal duties. His death was ruled accidental by Decatur police.


This waste product is better defined as furnace dust, said Morgan County Coroner Jeff Chunn.


“It’s basically the burnoff product from the electrode from the furnaces. It’s a very fine dust,” Chunn said.


OSHA spokesman Michael D’Aquino said the accident happened in the bag house on the east side of the plant.


There, the air and dust coming off the furnaces is collected and funneled into a large hopper, Chunn said. It is later packaged and removed from the plant.


Gant fell into one of the large hoppers while he was working in the bag house, Chunn said.


Chunn said Gant’s death was caused by suffocation from the fine dust. No life-saving techniques could be administered, police said.


Gant had been working for Nucor in Decatur off and on for several years, but did not have a Decatur-area residence listed, Chunn said.


Gant was a contractor for Nucor with Atlantic Recovery, said Mike Lee, vice president and general manager of Nucor Steel in Decatur.


"On behalf of all our Nucor Steel Decatur teammates, I want to express my sympathies to the family and friends of Mr. Gant. We are deeply saddened by this event," Lee said.


Gant’s death is the second serious injury or fatality reported to OSHA since the plant opened, OSHA reports show. The only other injury filed with OSHA was reported in December 2010, according to an OSHA database.


D’Aquino said in an email he did not know how long the investigation would take.


“We have to wait for the investigation to be completed before we know what the findings are, if any,” he said.


Operations at the plant were suspended Saturday but returned to normal Sunday afternoon.

FEMALE WORKER INJURED: OSHA investigating an industrial accident that happened Monday at Del Monte Foods Inc. in Plover, WI

PLOVER, WIS. (WSAW) The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating an industrial accident that happened Monday at Del Monte Foods Inc. in Plover.


First responders were called to the facility after getting a report of an accident with an entrapped female patient, according to Stevens Point Assistant Fire Chief Joe Gemza. The woman was transported to Aspirus hospital in Wausau because it is a level 2 trauma hospital, said Gemza. There is no update on the patient's condition.

When reached for comment, Del Monte Foods Operations Manager Mark Zblewski told NewsChannel 7 it is company policy not to release information about workplace accidents to the public.

Del Monte Foods Inc. informed OSHA of the accident and is cooperating with the investigation, according to Scott Allen, OSHA Regional Director of Public Affairs. No details will be available until after the investigation is complete, said Allen.

Off-Duty LAPD Officer Edgar Verduzco, 26, was driving a 2016 Chevy Camaro “at a high rate of speed” on the southbound 605 when he rear-ended two vehicles and killed a teenage boy and his parents (Oscar, Maribel and Mario Davila of Riverside)

Off-Duty LAPD Officer Arrested in Possible DUI Crash That Killed Teen Boy, His Parents on 605 Freeway

Posted 7:40 AM, September 27, 2017, by Tracy Bloom, Mark Mester and Chris Wolfe, Updated at 11:03PM, September 27, 2017


An off-duty LAPD officer was arrested following a suspected DUI crash that killed a teenage boy and his parents on the 605 Freeway late Tuesday night, authorities said Wednesday.


Three people were killed in a fiery crash on the 605 Freeway that was triggered by a suspected DUI driver, according to CHP. .(Credit: OnScene.TV)

Off-Duty LAPD Officer Edgar Verduzco, 26, was driving a 2016 Chevy Camaro “at a high rate of speed” on the southbound 605 when he rear-ended two vehicles — a 2014 Nissan and a 2010 Scion — south of Saragosa Street at around 10:15 p.m., according to a California Highway Patrol news release.

The impact caused the Nissan to catch fire and become fully engulfed in flames, trapping all three occupants inside. Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics arrived at the scene a short time later and pronounced all three dead, the release stated.

Their names have not been released by L.A. County coroner's officials, who told KTLA the bodies were very badly burned and it would take some time to identify them.

But family members confirmed they were parents Maribel and Mario Davila and their teenage son, Oscar. The Riverside family includes three other sons, all older than Oscar, who were not involved in the crash.

The Scion driver, identified only as a 31-year-old woman, suffered minor injuries in the collision. It was unclear whether she was taken to a hospital.

Verduzco, who sustained a broken nose in the collision, was arrested, the release stated. Alcohol is believed to have been a factor in the crash, according to CHP.

Shortly before the crash, video posted on his Instagram account had the hashtag #dontdrinkanddrive. It was apparently filmed at a bar, and beer glasses could be seen in the background.


Authorities were investigating a triple fatal crash on the 605 Freeway in Whittier on Sept. 26, 2017. (Credit: KTLA)

The suspect was arrested on suspicion of felony DUI and vehicular manslaughter, Perez said. He is being held on $100,000 bail, inmate records showed.

Verduzco is an officer with the Los Angeles Police Department who was off-duty at the time, according to CHP.

“I cannot tell you how angry and disappointed I am that a Los Angeles police officer would disregard the law and cause an accident with such awful, awful consequences," LAPD Chief Charlie Beck said during an early-afternoon news conference, where he delivered brief remarks about the arrest.

Verduzco worked in the department for about two years, Beck said, describing his time at LAPD as "unremarkable." The officer came to the department from the U.S. Army, where he had served for about four years.

The chief added that he believed Verduzco had served in Afghanistan.

Earlier Beck released a statement regarding the crash, saying that the department sends its "deepest sympathies" to the family, and that an administrative investigation is underway.

"The Department has no tolerance for driving under the influence and holds its officers to the highest standards of professionalism both on and off-duty," he wrote in the statement. "It is particularly troubling when one of our own police officers violates drunk driving laws, which is why a drunk driving offense always results in a personnel complaint which can lead to dismissal."

The crash, which remains under investigation, prompted the hourslong closure of the 605 Freeway overnight. All lanes were reopened Wednesday morning.



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The Los Angeles police officer who had been arrested following a deadly crash in which alcohol possibly played a role was released from custody on Thursday, according to inmate records.


LAPD Officer Edgar Verduzco is seen in an image uploaded to his Instagram account July 29, 2017.

Edgar Verduzco, 26, left Men's Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles around 5:10 p.m. due to insufficient grounds to file charges, the L.A. County Sheriff's Department inmate database shows.

Earlier in the day, Officer Al Perez with the California Highway Patrol — which is investigating the incident — told KTLA the agency had not yet submitted a formal complaint to the District Attorney's office and did not expect to before the 48-hour deadline for holding prisoners without a warrant.

The Los Angeles Police Department confirmed Verduzco was assigned to his home with pay as the investigation continues.

He had been arrested on suspicion of felony driving under the influence and vehicular manslaughter.

The police officer was off duty Tuesday night when around 10:15 p.m. his Chevy Camaro smashed into the back of a Nissan carrying a teenager and his two parents, identified by family as Oscar, Maribel and Mario Davila of Riverside. All three died after their vehicle caught fire and burst into flames.

A woman in a second car that was impacted also sustained minor injuries, and Verduzco suffered a broken nose.

Video posted to the 26-year-old's Instagram account around 7 p.m. Tuesday used a hashtag to caution viewers against drinking and driving. It showed an animated avatar sitting in a car atop what appeared to be a counter at a bar with glasses of beer.

It was not immediately clear Thursday evening whether the Calfornia Highway Patrol planned to file a warrant for Verduzco's arrest. The agency is continuing to investigate the collision and said they are awaiting blood test results.