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In the wake of the proposed
fines of $ 2.5 million arising from the March
27, 2000, explosion and fire at the Phillips Chemical Company's Houston
Chemical Complex in Pasadena, Texas, we reviewed OSHA's record of
other such announcements to see which industries were most commonly cited
and why. We also wanted to see how many companies were cited at such a
high level. The following table lists proposed violations that OSHA has
made between May 1, 1998 and October 15, 2000 that exceed $500,000; they
are listed in order of the highest dollar value. In some cases more than
one company was named under a single set of fines but they arose out of
the same set of violations (usually during construction work).
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$ Fine
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Company
|
Date Issued
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Industry
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Violations
Targeted
|
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$ 2.5 M
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Phillips Chemical
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9/22/2000
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Petrochemical
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Inadequate operator
training, PSM deficiencies
|
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$ 1.6 M
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Archer Daniels
Midland
(Settled for $ 650K on 1/19/2000)
|
12/2/1998
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Food Processing
|
Control of Confined
Spaces
|
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$ 1.5 M
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Eric K. Ho, Ho Ho
Ho Express, Inc., and Houston Fruitland, Inc.
|
9/18/1998
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Construction
|
PPE, training
during asbestos removal.
|
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$ 910 K
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Interstate Brands
Corp.(IBC)
|
7/16/1998
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Food Processing
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PPE during asbestos
removal.
|
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$ 821K
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Tomasco Mulciber,
Inc.
|
9/21/1999
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Auto Parts
Manufacturing
|
Broad safety &
health violations.
|
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$ 724 K
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Gold Kist Inc.
|
8/6/1998
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Food Processing
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Broad safety &
health violations.
|
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$ 600 K
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Concept Sciences,
Inc. (CSI)
|
8/11/1999
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Chemical
|
Broad safety &
health violations.
|
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$ 537 K
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Avondale Industries
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4/7/1999
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Shipyard
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Fall Protection
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$ 531 K
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B.R.S. Products
|
10/20/1999
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Manufactures steel
doors & frames
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Broad safety &
health violations.
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$ 517 K
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Norstar Building
Corp., Pyramid Framing Contractor Inc., and Cornerstone Masonry
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4/5/1999
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Construction
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Fall Protection
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As it turns out, the Phillips case
generated the highest proposed OSHA fine by a wide margin. It will
remain to be seen whether further discussions will reduce this amount.
Typically reductions by the time a settlement takes place are
substantial. Citations arising out of the well-known 1989 explosion
at the same Phillips Houston Area Chemical Complex were the largest
proposed penalty ($ 5.6 million) and largest settlement ($ 4.0 million) in OSHA's
history.
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AcuTech Consulting,
©2002, All Rights Reserved
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