The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited ABC Coke in Birmingham for 27 safety and health violations following the death of a worker in March. Proposed penalties total $124,000.

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.   An other-than-serious violationis one that has a direct relationship to job safety and health, but probably would not cause death or serious physical harm.

ABC Coke’s ovens are filled from above by means of transport vehicles, which drop coal down through chutes into the ovens. In the situation leading to the incident, the operator left his controls to attempt to un-jam a coal chute that had become jammed. Through miscommunication, another employee took the controls and moved the transport vehicle, which hit the worker, crushing him between a guardrail and the jammed coal bin chute.

OSHA cited the company for one serious safety violation related to the fatality: failing to develop and utilize lockout/tagout procedures for the energy source of the coal transport vehicle. Such procedures would have prevented the vehicle from moving while the worker was un-jamming the coal chute.

The company was also cited for 22 serious safety violations, including not wearing seatbelts while operating a forklift, open-sided floors and platforms that were not guarded, missing mid-rails and top-rails on platforms, open-sided stairs without handrails on both sides, storing unsecured propane and oxygen cylinders, unguarded fixed ladder cages, unapproved storage cabinets for flammable liquids, lack of an eyewash station, permitting unauthorized personnel to ride on powered industrial trucks, unguarded machine equipment, numerous instances of exit routes that were not marked and various electrical deficiencies.

The company was also cited for one other-than-serious safety violation for failing to mark the approved load rating for a storage room in a building or other structure.

A separate health inspection revealed two serious violations, including allowing employees to have beards while wearing respirators and failing to label hazardous chemical containers. One other-than-serious health violation was cited for not labeling containers used for contaminated clothing.

"This fatality could have been prevented had the employer ensured that proper procedures were developed and implemented," said Roberto Sanchez, OSHA's Area Director in Birmingham. "It is the employer's responsibility to assess workplace hazards and ensure corrective measures are taken to protect employees."

ABC Coke, which employs about 1,200 workers, has 15 business days from receipt of the citations and proposed 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.

is a division of Drummond Company.

 

 

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ABC Coke