The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited a cosmetics and pharmaceutical manufacturing company based in Edison, NJ, saying the company exposed its temporary workers to numerous health and safety hazards.
According to a Feb. 24 MyCentralJersey.com article, Bentley Laboratories LLC received 14 serious citations, ranging from failure to properly train personnel on chemical hazards to failing to protect workers from loud noises, failing to offer training for controlling “hazardous energy,” and failing to properly guard machines to prevent accidental amputations and injuries.
OSHA’s Oct. 16, 2014 inspection took place in response to a complaint filed against Bentley Laboratories, which manufacturers skin creams, lotions, shampoos and other cosmetics. During the manufacturer’s peak season, up to 50 temporary workers were exposed to these hazards.
As many as one in four transport-related accidents in the workplace involve a forklift truck, making them highly frequent if the right precautions aren’t taken to protect worker safety. At Bentley Laboratories’ facility, where there were no efforts taken to guard workers from machinery, forklift-related incidents like these were a major hazard to temporary workers.
OSHA’s standards classify a serious violation as any situation where there is a “substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known.”
Joulé Clinical and Scientific Staffing Solutions, a staffing company that provides services to Bentley Laboratories, also received three serious violations from OSHA during the inspection. The staffing company failed to implement a hazardous communication program and did not provide adequate hazard training to workers.
OSHA’s proposed fines for the two companies total $53,000. Bentley Laboratories and Joulé both had 15 days from receipt of the violations to either comply with the fines, request a conference with OSHA officials or contest the fines in an appeal, MyCentralJersey.com reports.