WHISTLE BLOWER CASE AGAINST PILGRIM'S PRIDE SETTLED

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
US Department of Labor's OSHA settles whistleblower case
against Pilgrim's Pride in Mount Pleasant, Texas
MOUNT PLEASANT, Texas – The U.S. Department of Labor has entered into a settlement agreement with Pilgrim's Pride Corp. in Mount Pleasant to resolve an investigation by the department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration into the company's termination of an employee who raised environmental complaints, in violation of the whistleblower provision of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act.

"Employees must feel free to exercise their rights under the law without fear of termination or other retaliation by their employers," said John M. Hermanson, OSHA's regional administrator in Dallas. "The Labor Department is committed to vigorously protecting the whistleblower rights of all workers."

OSHA initiated an investigation upon receiving a complaint from a manager for water reclamation at the company's chicken processing plant who had alerted the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality when process and storm water containing excessive amounts of chromium, lead and mercury were discharged into the environment. According to the complainant, Pilgrim's Pride stated that the TCEQ did not need to be notified and that sharing the information was not in the company's best interest, and consequently terminated the complainant's employment.

Prior to OSHA issuing its investigative findings, the parties reached an agreement in which the employer will pay the complainant $50,000. Pilgrim's Pride also has agreed to post a notice to employees advising them of their whistleblower rights, purge any derogatory information in the employee's personnel file directly related to the incident and provide a neutral job reference. In exchange, the employee will not seek reinstatement.

OSHA enforces the whistleblower provisions of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act and 20 other statutes protecting employees who report violations of various airline, commercial motor carrier, consumer product, environmental, financial reform, food safety, health care reform, nuclear, pipeline, public transportation agency, railroad, maritime and securities laws. Under the various whistleblower provisions enacted by Congress, employers are prohibited from retaliating against employees who raise various protected concerns or provide protected information to the employer or the government.

Any employee who believes he or she has been retaliated against for engaging in protected conduct may file a complaint with the secretary of labor for an investigation by OSHA's Whistleblower Protection Program. Detailed information on employer whistleblower rights, including fact sheets, is available online at http://www.whistleblowers.gov.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA's role is to ensure these conditions for America's working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance. For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov.

Editor's note: The U.S. Department of Labor does not release names of employees involved in whistleblower complaints.

NORTHFOLK SOUTHERN RAILWAY CO. ORDERED TO PAY $800,000 AFTER TERMINATION OF INJURED WORKER

FROM:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Norfolk Southern Railway Co. ordered by US Labor Department's OSHA to pay more than $800,000 after terminating injured workers
Investigation found violations of Federal Railroad Safety Act whistleblower provisions
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has found that Norfolk Southern Railway Co. violated the whistleblower protection provisions of the Federal Railroad Safety Act and consequently has ordered the company to pay three whistleblowers $802,168.70 in damages, including $525,000 in punitive damages and attorneys' fees. Additionally, the company has been ordered to expunge the disciplinary records of the whistleblowers, post workplace notices regarding railroad employees' whistleblower protection rights and provide training to its employees about these rights.

Three concurrent investigations were completed by OSHA's offices in Columbia, S.C.; Nashville, Tenn.; and Harrisburg, Pa. The investigations revealed reasonable cause to believe that the employees' reporting of their workplace injuries led to internal investigations and, ultimately, to dismissals from the company.

A laborer based in Greenville, S.C., was terminated on Aug. 14, 2009, after reporting an injury as a result of being hit by the company's gang truck. The railroad charged the employee, a laborer, with improper performance of duties. OSHA found that the employee was treated disparately in comparison to four other employees involved in the incident. The laborer was the only employee injured and, thus, the only employee who reported an injury. He also was the only employee terminated. OSHA has ordered the railroad to pay punitive damages of $200,000 as well as compensatory damages of $110,852 and attorney's fees of $14,325.

In Louisville, Ky., an engineer at a Norfolk Southern facility was terminated on March 31, 2010, after reporting an injury as a result of tripping and falling in a locomotive restroom. The railroad, after an investigative hearing, charged the employee with falsifying his injury. OSHA found that the investigative hearing was flawed and orchestrated to intentionally support the decision to terminate the employee. OSHA has ordered the railroad to pay the employee $150,000 in punitive damages, $50,000 in compensatory damages and $7,375 in attorney's fees.

On July 22, 2010, a railroad conductor based in Harrisburg, Pa., was terminated after reporting a head injury sustained when he blacked out and fell down steps while returning from the locomotive lavatory. The company, after an investigative hearing presided over by management officials, found the employee guilty of falsifying a report of a work-related injury, failing to promptly report the injury, and making false and conflicting statements. The day before the injury, the employee had been lauded for excellent performance, highlighted by no lost work time due to injuries in his 35-year career. OSHA found that the investigative hearing was flawed, and there was no evidence the employee intended to misrepresent his injury. OSHA is ordering the railroad to pay the employee $175,000 in punitive damages, $76,623.27 in back wages plus interest and $17,993.43 in compensatory damages, as well as all fringe benefits.

"Firing workers for reporting an injury is not only illegal, it also endangers all workers. When workers are discouraged from reporting injuries, no investigation into the cause of an injury can occur," said Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Dr. David Michaels. "To prevent more injuries, railroad workers must be able to report an injury without fear of retaliation. The Labor Department will continue to protect all employees, including those in the railroad industry, from retaliation for exercising these basic worker rights. Employers found in violation will be held accountable."

These actions follow several other orders issued by OSHA against Norfolk Southern Railway Co. in the past year. OSHA's investigations have found that the company continues to retaliate against employees for reporting work-related injuries and has effectively created a chilling effect in the railroad industry.

Any party to this case can file an appeal with the Labor Department's Office of Administrative Law Judges.

Norfolk Southern Railway Co. is a major transporter/hauler of coal and other commodities, serving every major container port in the eastern United States with connections to western carriers. Its headquarters are in Norfolk, Va., and it employs more than 30,000 union workers worldwide.

OSHA enforces the whistleblower provisions of the FRSA and 20 other statutes protecting employees who report violations of various securities laws, trucking, airline, nuclear power, pipeline, environmental, rail, maritime, health care, workplace safety and health regulations, and consumer product safety laws.

Under the various whistleblower provisions enacted by Congress, employers are prohibited from retaliating against employees who raise various protected concerns or provide protected information to the employer or to the government. Employees who believe that they have been retaliated against for engaging in protected conduct may file a complaint with the secretary of labor for an investigation by OSHA's Whistleblower Protection Program.

SUBSIDIARY OF NESTLE SA CITED BY OSHA FOR SAFETY VIOLATIONS AFTER WORKER CRUSHED TO DEATH

FROM:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
US Labor Department’s OSHA cites Tribe Mediterranean Foods for safety violations following death of a worker in Taunton, Mass.
Employees lacked necessary training to prevent ‘needless and avoidable loss of life’

BRAINTREE, Mass. — The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Tribe Mediterranean Foods, a subsidiary of Nestle SA that manufactures Tribe brand hummus products, for 18 alleged violations of workplace safety standards following the death of a worker at its Taunton production plant. OSHA's South Boston Area Office opened an inspection on Dec. 16, 2011, after a contract employee who was cleaning and sanitizing a machine used in the hummus manufacturing process was caught, pulled into the machine and crushed to death between two rotating augers.

OSHA's investigation found that Tribe Mediterranean Foods had not trained the deceased worker and six other workers who cleaned plant machinery on hazardous energy control or "lockout/tagout" procedures. These are the procedures employers must put into effect and train workers to follow to shut down machines and lock out their power sources before cleaning or performing maintenance on them. The purpose of lockout/tagout procedures is to ensure that the machines are not operating, and cannot unexpectedly activate and harm workers. OSHA requires that employers train workers so that they understand the purpose of the energy control procedures, and have the knowledge and skills required to safely utilize them.

"The employer knew it needed to train these workers so they could protect themselves against just this type of hazard but failed to do so. The result was a needless and avoidable loss of life," said Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Dr. David Michaels. "In this case, Tribe Mediterranean Foods' knowledge and continuous disregard for an obvious and deadly hazard was so pronounced that we are issuing seven willful citations for lack of training, one for each untrained worker exposed to the hazard."
When there is a particularly egregious lack of compliance and exposure to hazards, OSHA can issue citations on a per-instance basis, in this case, representing one willful violation for each untrained employee exposed to a hazard.

OSHA has issued Tribe Mediterranean Foods citations for two additional willful violations, one for failing to adequately train maintenance workers to recognize hazardous energy sources, and one for failing to develop and utilize lockout/tagout procedures. A willful violation is one committed with intentional knowing or voluntary disregard for the law's requirements, or with plain indifference to worker safety and health.
Citations for three repeat violations have been issued for failing to conduct periodic inspections of the energy control procedures, inadequate guarding of rotating blades on blending tanks, and an exposed chain and sprocket on a conveyor. A repeat violation can be cited when an employer previously has been cited for the same or a similar violation of a standard, regulation, rule or order at any facility in federal enforcement states within the last five years. OSHA cited Tribe Mediterranean Foods, doing business as FoodTech International Inc., in October 2009, for similar hazards at its New Haven, Conn., plant.
Finally, Tribe Mediterranean Foods has been issued citations covering six serious violations for electrical, slipping, fall, pallet jack and additional machine guarding hazards. A serious violation occurs when there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known.

The citations can be viewed at Http://www.osha.gov/ooc/citations/TribeMediterraneanFoodsIncorporated_315145953_0612_12.pdf.
Tribe Mediterranean Foods, which faces a total of $702,300 in proposed fines, has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and proposed penalties to comply, meet with OSHA or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

Due to the willful and repeat violations and the nature of the hazards, OSHA has placed Tribe Mediterranean Foods in its Severe Violator Enforcement Program, which mandates targeted follow-up inspections to ensure compliance with the law. The program focuses on recalcitrant employers that endanger workers by committing certain willful, repeat or failure-to-abate violations.
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Tribe Mediterranean Foods is a subsidiary of Tivall 1993 LTD, which is owned by Osem Investments Limited, a subsidiary of Nestle SA. The Osem Group of companies produces and distributes certified-kosher food products in Israel, Europe and the United States. In addition to Osem and Migdanot Habayit products, the company imports, markets and distributes throughout the United States products from Wissotzki, Matzot Rishon, Matzot Karmel, Einat, Couscous Maison, Milos, Progress, Tempo, Beit Hashita, Beigel & Beigel, Manamim, Creative and Menora Candles.

The workers' compensation carrier insuring Tribe Mediterranean Foods through parent company OSEM Foods is Liberty Mutual Insurance Co.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA's role is to ensure these conditions for America's working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance.

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR WORKS TO PREVENT HEAT-RELATED ILLNESSES

FROM:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
US Labor Department kicks off summer campaign to prevent heat-related illnesses and fatalities among outdoor workers
Educational materials and mobile application available
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has kicked off a national outreach initiative to educate workers and their employers about the hazards of working outdoors in hot weather. The outreach effort builds on last year's successful summer campaign to raise awareness about the dangers of too much sun and heat.

"For outdoor workers, 'water, rest and shade' are three words that can make the difference between life and death," Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis said. "If employers take reasonable precautions, and look out for their workers, we can beat the heat."

Every year, thousands of workers across the country suffer from serious heat-related illnesses. If not quickly addressed, heat exhaustion can become heat stroke, which has killed — on average — more than 30 workers annually since 2003. Labor-intensive activities in hot weather can raise body temperatures beyond the level that normally can be cooled by sweating. Heat illness initially may manifest as heat rash or heat cramps, but quickly can become heat exhaustion and then heat stroke if simple prevention steps are not followed.

"It is essential for workers and employers to take proactive steps to stay safe in extreme heat, and become aware of symptoms of heat exhaustion before they get worse," said Dr. David Michaels, assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health. "Agriculture workers; building, road and other construction workers; utility workers; baggage handlers; roofers; landscapers; and others who work outside are all at risk. Drinking plenty of water and taking frequent breaks in cool, shaded areas are incredibly important in the hot summer months."

In preparation for the summer season, OSHA has developed heat illness educational materials in English and Spanish, as well as a curriculum to be used for workplace training. Additionally, a Web page provides information and resources on heat illness — including how to prevent it and what to do in case of an emergency — for workers and employers. The page is available athttp://www.osha.gov/SLTC/heatillness/index.html.

OSHA also has released a free application for mobile devices that enables workers and supervisors to monitor the heat index at their work sites. The app displays a risk level for workers based on the heat index, as well as reminders about protective measures that should be taken at that risk level. Available for Android-based platforms and the iPhone, the app can be downloaded in both English and Spanish by visiting http://s.dol.gov/RI.

In developing last year's inaugural national campaign, federal OSHA worked closely with the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration and adapted materials from that state's successful campaign. Additionally, OSHA is partnering with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for the second year to incorporate worker safety precautions when heat alerts are issued across the nation. NOAA also will include pertinent worker safety information on its heat watch Web page athttp://www.noaawatch.gov/themes/heat.php.

WORKER'S' MEMORIAL DAY

FROM:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Workers' Memorial Day Summit in Los Angeles 
In observance of Workers' Memorial Day, Secretary Solis last week announced a major new outreach and education campaign to prevent deadly falls at construction sites. Solis, speaking at the Action Summit for Worker Safety and Health at East Los Angeles College, said, "This is how we can honor the fallen: by standing up together with courage and conviction and saying two words that will echo across this country: Never Again." The Occupational Safety and Health Administration will lead the awareness campaign. The event brought together business, trade organizations, union and government officials and workers committed to eliminating workplace deaths and the needless suffering experienced by workers and families across the nation.

A Memorial March, and a Powerful Moment
Labor Department agencies and staff joined with the nation last week in commemorating Workers' Memorial Day with events from California to Maine. The events gave worker advocates, union representatives, state and local government officials and others the opportunity to reflect on the terrible costs of unsafe working conditions. At one Philadelphia event, a Workers' Memorial Day procession took on an unexpected, urgent meaning. The event was organized by the Philadelphia Area Project on Occupational Safety and Health, and it closed with a march from the Sheet Metal Workers' Hall to Penn's Landing on the Delaware River, where the assembled mourners read the names of fallen workers and floated roses into the river in their honor. Along the way, members of the procession spotted two workers in a forklift elevated 18 feet above the ground, doing electrical work on a lamp in the Penn's Landing parking lot. Neither worker was using proper fall protection. Several Occupational Safety and Health Administration officials immediately left the procession to remove the workers and address safety issues. As the forklift was lowered, a clip snapped that was holding in place the cage being used as the workspace — a potentially fatal incident if not for the intervention of OSHA officials. The incident proved that memory is not always a passive exercise, and the awareness generated by an event like Workers' Memorial Day can ensure the immediate safety of workers.

OSHA's Michaels Honors Fallen Workers
On the eve of Workers Memorial Day, Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Dr. David Michaels gave remarks at the memorial ceremony hosted by the National Labor College in Silver Spring, Md., to honor those who have died on the job. Michaels was joined by United Mine Workers President Cecil Roberts and the Association of Flight Attendants International Vice President Sara Nelson in a program that also paid tribute to first responders and public employees as part of the college's mission to serve the educational needs of the labor movement. Speaking from the campus' famed National Workers Memorial, Michaels invoked the inspiration drawn from these lives as a driving force behind OSHA's mission to protect workers from preventable workplace hazards. "We must remember that no job is a good job unless it's a safe job," Michaels said. "We resolve to honor their memory by pursuing our shared mission to ensure the safety and health of America's workforce." The event followed an earlier observance at the Labor Department, during which employees observed a moment of silence to honor fallen workers.

DELTA AGREES TO COMPLY WITH OSHA ON WORKER SEAT BELT COMPLIANCE MEASURES

FROM:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Delta Air Lines signs agreement with US Department of Labor’s OSHA on seat belt compliance measures to protect airline industry workers

OSHA also issues hazard alert to other airlines urging compliance
WASHINGTON — Delta Air Lines Inc. has signed a corporatewide settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration in order to protect workers who operate baggage handling vehicles.

The agreement covers approximately 90 of the Atlanta-based company's airport sites that fall under federal OSHA's jurisdiction, as well as 16,000 Delta employees and 6,000 baggage handling vehicles. Under the agreement, Delta will come into compliance with applicable requirements for the use of seat belts by ensuring that all types of the company's baggage handling vehicles are equipped with them and that employees use the seat belts while operating the vehicles on specified airport routes.

"OSHA's corporatewide settlement agreements are highly effective tools for ensuring that companies address hazards that can injure or kill their workers," said Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Dr. David Michaels. "This kind of widespread change within corporations can go a long way toward keeping workers across the country safe and healthy at the end of every workday."

The agreement is the result of a citation issued to Delta following a workplace fatality in which an employee operating a baggage tug vehicle without wearing a seat belt was ejected from the vehicle and died. OSHA cited Delta for violating 29 Code of Federal Regulations 1910.132, which requires employers to provide employees with personal protective equipment, including — in this case — seat belts.

According to the agreement, Delta has committed to an abatement schedule that will result in full compliance within two years. During the first year, Delta will train its employees on the proper use of seat belts and install seat belts on those pieces of equipment that currently lack them. During the second year of the agreement, the company will fully enforce seat belt use among its employees, as well as hire safety consultants to monitor the company's implementation of its seat belt use program and report the results to OSHA.

In addition to entering into the agreement with Delta, OSHA will address this hazard throughout the airline industry. The agency recently sent a hazard alert letter to airlines across the nation reminding them that they are obligated to comply with applicable seat belt use requirements.

DOL CITES BUSINESSES AFTER 6 DIE AND 2 INJURED IN GRAIN ELEVATOR EXPLOSION

FROM:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Bartlett Grain in Atchison, Kan., cited for willful and serious violations by US Labor Department after 6 die, 2 injured in grain elevator explosion
Contractor Kansas Grain Inspection Services also cited
ATCHISON, Kan. — Bartlett Grain Co. L.P. faces five willful and eight serious safety violations cited by the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration following an October 2011 grain elevator explosion in Atchison that killed six workers and left two others hospitalized.

The willful violations include allowing grain dust — which is nine times as explosive as coal dust — to accumulate, using compressed air to remove dust without first shutting down ignition sources, jogging (repeatedly starting and stopping) inside bucket elevators to free legs choked by grain, using electrical equipment inappropriate for the working environment and failing to require employees to use fall protection when working from heights.

"The deaths of these six workers could have been prevented had the grain elevator's operators addressed hazards that are well known in this industry," said Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis. "Bartlett Grain's disregard for the law led to a catastrophic accident and heartbreaking tragedy for the workers who were injured or killed, their families and the agricultural community."

The serious violations involve a lack of proper preventive maintenance, certification and lubrication of grain handling equipment; inadequate emergency action plan training for employees and contractors; a lack of employee and contractor training on job hazards; and a housekeeping program that was deficient because it did not prevent grain dust accumulations.
The citations to Bartlett Grain, which is based in Kansas City, Mo., carry $406,000 in proposed fines.

Topeka-based Kansas Grain Inspection Services Inc., a contractor employed by Bartlett Grain, also is being cited for one willful violation involving a lack of fall protection for employees working on the top of rail cars; one serious violation, the lack of a hazard communication program; and one other-than-serious violation, not providing basic advisory information about respirators to employees. These violations carry total proposed penalties of $67,500.

"OSHA standards save lives, but only if companies comply with them," said Dr. David Michaels, assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health. "Bartlett Grain has shown what happens when basic safety standards are ignored, and this agency simply will not tolerate needless loss of life."

A willful violation is one committed with intentional knowing or voluntary disregard for the law's requirements, or with plain indifference to worker safety and health. A serious violation occurs when there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known. An other-than-serious violation is one that has a direct relationship to job safety and health, but probably would not cause death or serious physical harm.

Over the past 35 years, there have been more than 500 explosions in grain handling facilities across the United States that have killed more than 180 people and injured more than 675. Grain dust is the main source of fuel for explosions in grain handling. This dust is highly combustible and can burn or explode if enough becomes airborne or accumulates on a surface and finds an ignition source (such as a hot bearing, overheated motor or misaligned conveyor belt, as well as heat or sparks from welding, cutting and brazing operations). OSHA standards require that both grain dust and ignition sources be controlled in grain elevators to prevent potentially deadly explosions.

Both companies have 15 business days from receipt of the citations and penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA's area director in Wichita, or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

OSHA TO EMPHASIZE NURSING AND RESIDENTIAL CARE FACILITIES

FROM U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

US Labor Department’s OSHA announces new National Emphasis Program for Nursing and Residential Care Facilities

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration today announced a new National Emphasis Program for Nursing and Residential Care Facilities to protect workers from serious safety and health hazards that are common in medical industries. OSHA develops national emphasis programs to focus outreach efforts and inspections on specific hazards in an industry for a three-year period. Through this NEP, OSHA will target nursing homes and residential care facilities in an effort to reduce occupational illnesses and injuries.

In 2010, according to the department's Bureau of Labor Statistics, nursing and residential care facilities experienced one of the highest rates of lost workdays due to injuries and illnesses of all major American industries. The incidence rate for cases involving days away from work in the nursing and residential care sector was 2.3 times higher than that of all private industry as a whole, despite the availability of feasible controls to address hazards. The data further indicate that an overwhelming proportion of the injuries within this sector were attributed to overexertion as well as to slips, trips and falls. Taken together, these two categories accounted for 62.5 percent of cases involving days away from work within this industry in 2010. For this NEP, OSHA will target facilities with a days-away-from-work rate of 10 or higher per 100 full-time workers.

"These are people who have dedicated their lives to caring for our loved ones when they are not well. It is not acceptable that they continue to get hurt at such high rates," said Dr. David Michaels, assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health. "Our new emphasis program for inspecting these facilities will strengthen protections for society's caretakers."

Health care workers face numerous serious safety and health hazards, and the NEP will provide guidance to OSHA compliance staff on the policies and procedures for targeting and conducting inspections specifically focused on the hazards associated with nursing and residential care. These hazards include exposure to blood and other potentially infectious material; exposure to other communicable diseases such as tuberculosis; ergonomic stressors related to lifting patients; workplace violence; and slips, trips and falls. Workers also may be exposed to hazardous chemicals and drugs.

OSHA CITES TEXAS CO. FOR NOT KEEPING WORKERS FAR ENOUGH FROM ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT

The following excerpt is from the Department of Labor website:

“SAN ANTONIO — The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Fresh From Texas with eight serious violations for exposing workers to numerous electrical hazards at the company's facility in San Antonio, as well as two other-than-serious violations for inadequate record keeping. Proposed penalties total $40,500.

"Electrical hazards can lead to the loss of a worker's life by electrocution. OSHA will not tolerate an employer failing to take responsibility for keeping the workplace safe," said Jeff Funke, OSHA's area director in San Antonio. "Fortunately, in this case, no one was injured."

The serious violations include failing to ensure that workers were provided with adequate working space around electrical equipment and that the working space was not used for storage, properly cover electrical equipment such as condenser units, ensure high-voltage equipment was not exposed to forklift traffic, protect electrical circuits from overload to prevent a possible fire and remove damaged electrical cords from service. A serious violation occurs when there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known.
The other-than-serious violations include failing to adequately describe occupational injuries and illnesses on the OSHA 300 log and properly certify the OSHA 300A summary form for injuries and illnesses. An other-than-serious violation is one that has a direct relationship to job safety and health, but probably would not cause death or serious physical harm.

The company employs about 150 workers who package and transport produce from the San Antonio site. It has 15 business days from receipt of the citations to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA's San Antonio Area Office or contest the citations and penalties before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.”