제  목 : AMERICAN ROCKWOOL AGREES TO PAY $412,300 OSHA PENALTY
  일  자 : 1998년 09월
  제공처 : Internet

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 ┃  AMERICAN ROCKWOOL AGREES TO PAY $412,300 OSHA PENALTY     ┃
 ┃  AND TO IMPROVE SAFETY AND HEALTH AT PLANTS IN TEXAS AND   ┃
 ┃  NORTH CAROLINA                                            ┃
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   American Rockwool, Inc., is agreeing to extensive safety and health
  improvements at its two plants, including the one at Nolanville, Tex.,
  where six employees were made ill by potentially lethal carbon monoxide
  gas, and to pay the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
  $412,300 in penalties, OSHA announced today.

  OSHA cited the company on Sept. 11, 1997, at Nolanville for willful
  violations of the confined spaces standard and a serious violation of
  the hazard communication standard. OSHA initially proposed penalties
  totaling $824,600 but agreed to reductions based on the company's agree-
  ment to improve safety and health.

  "This agreement includes important provisions to protect the safety and
  health of Rockwool employees," Secretary of Labor Alexis M. Herman said.
  "Following the OSHA confined spaces standard would have prevented exposing
  employees to deadly gases. All workers need the assurance that they are
  working in safe and healthful conditions."

  American Rockwool, one of 10 leading manufacturers of commercial and
  residential insulation, employs 92 workers in its manufacturing facility
  in Nolanville, a small town near Austin. Its headquarters are in Spring
  Hope, N.C., where it has a plant with 60 employees.

  "This agreement avoids the burden and cost of prolonged litigation and
  also furthers the efforts of American Rockwool and OSHA to provide a safe
  workplace," said Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and
  Health Charles N. Jeffress.

  At Nolanville, the firm uses cupola furnaces in manufacturing rock wool
  insulation. On March 13, 1997, six employees were sickened by carbon
  monoxide gases while either doing maintenance work in a cupola or during
  rescue attempts. The fire department rescued two of them.

  OSHA cited the firm for 11 willful violations (one for each of 11 employ-
  ees who had been exposed to the gases) for lack of employee training on
  entering permit-required confined spaces; two willful violations for
  failing to have a permit-required confined space program and failing
  to post danger signs; and one serious violation for lack of training in
  hazard communication.

  OSHA's standard on permit-required confined spaces outlines practices and
  procedures to protect workers from the dangers of lack of oxygen or toxic
  atmospheres when they enter a confined space such as the furnace cupola.

  Under the settlement agreement the company will:

      ㅇ Implement a comprehensive, ongoing confined space program in all its
  corporate facilities which have confined spaces subject to the OSHA
  standard by Oct. 31.

      ㅇ Provide training in confined space policies and procedures for all
  employees whose work is regulated by the OSHA standard by Oct. 31
  and maintain records of the training;

      ㅇ Communicate with employees about its compliance activities under
  the confined space standards and the terms of the settlement
  agreement.

      ㅇ Conduct a comprehensive safety and health audit by an independent
  professional in the Nolanville plant in order to identify and
  eliminate occupational safety and health hazards. The professional
  is to be approved by OSHA and the audit is to be completed by Dec.
  31. The company will then have 60 days to correct any deficiencies
  found by the audit.

      ㅇ Follow the principles of OSHA's Voluntary Guidelines for Safety and
  Health Program Management. This includes affirming the fundamental
  importance of safety and health protection for every Rockwool
  employee; establishing safety and health goals and objectives;
  holding managers and supervisors accountable for achieving those
  objectives; and committing sufficient resources and safety and
  health personnel to conduct annual safety and health program reviews
  and periodic worksite inspections for hazards at the Nolanville
  facility.