Federal safety and health inspectors found 16 violations at the Hillside trucking terminal of Central Transport LLC and has proposed penalties of USD145,420.

That October action of the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) followed the agency's previous five citations in September for violations at a Central Transport trucking terminal in Rock Island, Illinois. Proposed penalties are USD108,020.

"Central Transport has been repeatedly cited for unsafe conditions and equipment," says Angeline Loftus, area director for OSHA's Chicago north office in Des Plaines, Illinois. "Companies that repeatedly violate basic safety standards consistently put their employees at risk of serious injury and death."

For all operations, parent firm Central Transport International Inc employs about 4,300 staff, has North American operations in 170 locations and is based in Warren, Michigan.

Based on a complaint, OSHA's inspection in Hillside included an evaluation of forklift use as required by the agency's local emphasis program for powered industrial vehicles. OSHA implemented the program to reduce fatalities and injuries caused by forklifts. OSHA says those incidents were the source of 105 occupational fatalities during fiscal years 2005 through 2013 in the states of Illinois, Wisconsin and Ohio.

Willful violations in Hillside involve the alleged failure to remove from service forklifts that needed repair.

Alleged repeat violations in Hillside included failure to have platform guardrails in place on platforms, failure to train workers on chemical hazards, failure to provide eye-drenching facilities for areas where corrosive chemicals were in use and failure to maintain the yard and terminal roadway free of potholes and hazards.

Central Transport is contesting the Hillside and Rock Island findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

OSHA cited Central Transport in 2009, 2010 and 2013 for similar violations at locations in Georgia, Ohio and Mississippi. A repeat violation exists when an employer previously has been cited for the same or a similar violation of a standard, regulation, rule or order at any other facility in federal enforcement states within the last five years.

OSHA is an agency of the US Department of Labor.