The US Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited Thomasville Lumber Co. for 24 alleged safety and record keeping violations and proposes penalties of USD159,700. Thomasville Lumber processes yellow pine products from logs.
OSHA staff from its Mobile, Alabama office began an inspection in the firm's Thomasville plant in December 2010 as part of a national emphasis program to prevent workplace amputations.

One of five willful violations involves not requiring that lockout or tagout of equipment be performed only by authorised employees. The other four involve failure to maintain complete and accurate entries in its OSHA log between 2007 and 2010.

Thirteen serious violations were cited. Training for forklift operators did not include information available in the operator's manual, employees operated a forklift with a non-operating horn and the forklift operator's visibility was impaired by a plastic tarp used during rain storms.

OSHA says the company allowed employees to perform service or maintenance on equipment without first locking it out to prevent unintentional start-up, failed to provide locks to employees, operated machines with missing guards, used a platform that did not have a standard railing, allowed employees to use improperly installed stairs, used stairs that lacked a standard handrail, allowed employees to access electrical boxes with unused openings that were not effectively closed and without a cover, and used flexible electrical cords that were not approved for wet locations.

Among six less serious violations, OSHA alleges the company did not post the load capacity in a forklift cab.

"Employers must provide their employees with safe workplaces and be committed to their safety," says Cindy Coe, regional administrator for OSHA in Atlanta, Georgia. "OSHA will not hesitate to impose significant penalties when it finds that workers are being endangered on the job, and when employers intentionally disregard their responsibility to completely and accurately maintain injury logs that can help them identify problem areas."

The company has 15 working days from receipt of the citations to contest them and the proposed penalties before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

OSHA is observing its 40th anniversary as a regulatory agency.