The Occupational Safety and Health Administration said a Macon company exposed workers to levels of a dangerous chemical eight times higher than allowed -- and it’s not the first time.
Two of the three violations alleged against Aerospace Defense Coatings of Georgia are repeat violations, said the agency. OSHA is seeking $83,160 in fines, according to citations issued Tuesday. The company coats and paints metals.
The citations claim the company’s work areas were unsafe. OSHA claims that break room dining tables were also left covered with dangerous levels of hexavalent chromium, the same chemical featured in the movie “Erin Brockovich.”
A company official promised to get a message to President and CEO Thomas Scott, who did not return the phone call.
In a statement, Nadira Janack, assistant area director for OSHA, said that “Aerospace Defense Coatings of Georgia was previously cited for the same violations and has failed to take action to protect workers from the hazards associated with hexavalent chromium exposure. Management needs to take immediate action to eliminate these hazards from the workplace.”
According to the citations, Aerospace Defense Coatings didn’t leave a place for employees to change their clothes to use protective gear. That spread contamination, with hexavalent chromium found on the steering wheel and interior door handle of an employee’s car. The fine in that citation, termed a willful violation, is proposed at $61,600.
The citations also include two alleged repeat violations, with proposed fines of $10,780 each. Over eight hours, one employee was allegedly exposed to average levels of hexavalent chromium at 41 micrograms per cubic meter, far above the federal limit of 5. The other citation comes from breakroom tables, where levels were found as high as 0.3565 micrograms, a level the agency says is too dirty.
The complaints stem from an October 2012 inspection, said Michael D’Aquino, an OSHA spokesman in Atlanta.
In 2011, OSHA agreed to reduce fines to about $168,000 after finding employees had been exposed to as many as 50 times the legal limits. The agency had proposed fines of $300,000 for 19 violations it called serious, repeated or willful.
OSHA says exposure to chromium can cause respiratory damage, lung cancer, skin rashes and chrome ulcers.
The company’s web site includes praise from Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. and Cessna Aircraft Co. The company said it’s also approved to serve hundreds of other companies including Delta Airlines, the Department of Defense, Lockheed Martin and NASA.
The company has 15 business days to comply, discuss or appeal the citations.
Read more here: http://www.macon.com
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