JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- A local company is being hit with a dozen safety violations following the death of a worker last year.
Lawrence Daquan "Day" Davis, 21, was crushed by a palletizer last August. He was a temporary worker with Remedy Intelligent Staffing, and it was his first day on the job when the incident happened.
"A worker's first day at work shouldn't be his last day on earth," said Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health David Michaels. "Employers are responsible for ensuring the safe conditions of all their employees, including those who are temporary."
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited Bacardi Bottling Corporation with 12 safety violations. OSHA says Davis was cleaning glass from under the hoist of a palletizing machine when an employee restarted the palletizer. OSHA claims Bacardi Bottling failed to train temporary employees on utilizing locks and tags to prevent the accidental start-up of machines and to ensure its own employees utilized procedures to lock or tagout machines.
OSHA hit Bacardi Bottling with two willful violations for failing to develop, document and utilize lockout/tagout procedures for the control of potentially hazardous energy and train temporary workers on lockout/tagout procedures.
"We are seeing untrained workers - many of them temporary workers - killed very soon after starting a new job. This must stop," said Michaels. "Employers must train all employees, including temporary workers, on the hazards specific to that workplace - before they start working. Had Bacardi done so, this tragic loss of life could have been prevented."
Bacardi Bottling also received nine serious violations for exposing workers to trips, struck-by and fire hazards where fixed permanent conveyors crossed through the aisle; obstructing exit routes; exposing workers to falling bottles and debris from overhead conveyors and electrical shock hazards. The employer also failed to provide an adequate number of lockout/tagout devices to perform lockout/tagout procedures of energy sources on various equipment, conduct an adequate periodic review of the energy control procedures, perform servicing and maintenance on machines and equipment without training in the methods and means for energy isolation, and require workers to wear safety goggles and long sleeves when using air guns at 90 pounds per square inch.
Proposed penalties for the willful and serious violations total $192,000.
One other-than-serious violation has been cited for storing a mixing tank within 12 inches of the electrical panel box.
OSHA proposed $192,000 in fines. The
citations can be read on the OSHA website.
