Boomerang Tube continues to expose workers to
life-threatening hazards. OSHA cites
Liberty, Texas, employer for 18 violations; fines total $283,600
HOUSTON – Already in the Severe Violator Enforcement Program for willful violations, Boomerang Tube LLC in Liberty continued to put workers in harm's way and exposed them to unguarded machinery, failure to shut down machinery and other hazards, a July 2014 follow-up inspection by the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration found. OSHA cited the company for 18 violations. Proposed penalties total $283,600.
"When Boomerang Tube neglects to fix hazards that expose workers to possible injuries or worse, it callously puts workers in harm's way. That is unacceptable," said David Doucet, OSHA's area director in the Houston North Area Office. "Boomerang Tube employees deserve to work in an environment free of hazards that threaten their livelihoods and lives."
In 2011, OSHA placed Boomerang Tube in its SVEP, which mandates targeted follow-up inspections to ensure compliance with the law. The program focuses on recalcitrant employers who endanger workers by committing willful, repeat or failure-to-abate violations. OSHA conducted this follow-up inspection to assess whether the previously cited violations from the June 2011 inspection were abated.
OSHA's Houston North Area Office cited Boomerang Tube for four repeat violations and a $154,000 penalty for failure to utilize lockout/tagout procedures when performing machine service or maintenance; not installing point of operation and general machine guarding; and failure to guard electrical panels, which potentially exposed workers to more than 50 electrical volts. A repeat violation exists when an employer has been cited previously for the same or a similar violation of a standard, regulation, rule or order at any other facility in federal enforcement states within the last five years. OSHA cited Boomerang Tube for similar violations in June 2011.
OSHA assessed a $70,000 penalty for one willful violation. The agency found that Boomerang Tube failed to protect workers from falls of heights from 4 to 15 feet in a storage yard and from an open-sided floor with no walls that exposed workers to falls to a lower level. A willful violation is one committed with intentional, knowing or voluntary disregard for the law's requirements, or with plain indifference to worker safety and health.
The agency cited the company for 10 serious violations, with a $59,600 penalty, for failure to provide crane control markings to prevent the operator from moving the crane in the wrong direction and dropping the load; improperly using the lifting eye on the welder and not on other machinery; and failure to use fuel gas and oxygen cylinder valve protection caps. Additional serious violations included slip hazards; inadequate material storage; an unguarded grinder; and lack of covers for electrical outlets. A serious violation occurs when there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known. Three other violations, with no monetary penalty, were cited for electrical hazards.
Patterson Tubular Services, the employer of eight workers at the Boomerang Tube facility, was cited for one serious violation for failure to utilize lockout/tagout procedures when performing machine maintenance. Proposed fines total $7,000 for the Channelview employer.
View Boomerang Tube and Patterson Tubular Services citations at http://www.osha.gov/ooc/citations/BoomerangTubeLLC983919.pdf* and http://www.osha.gov/ooc/citations/PattersonTubular983942.pdf*.
Headquartered in St. Louis, Boomerang Tube employs about 550 workers and manufactures tubing and pipe products. The company has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and penalties to comply, request an informal conference with the Houston North Office area director, or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.
To ask questions, obtain compliance assistance, file a complaint or report workplace hospitalizations, fatalities or situations posing imminent danger to workers, the public should call OSHA's toll-free hotline at 800-321-OSHA (6742) or the agency's Houston North Area Office at 936-760-3800.
Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA's role is to ensure these conditions for America's working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education, and assistance. For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov.