Archbold, OH – Machine safety violations at Napoleon Spring Works have lead to $484,007 in OSHA fines. Federal inspectors cited the company for 21 violations, including two willful and nine repeat, following incidents of crushed and amputated fingers at the garage door parts manufacturer. An additional
10 violations were categorized as “serious.”
The willful and repeat violations stem from Napoleon Spring Works having been fined for similar violations in October, 2013. In the course of the 2012 inspection, the company was cited for exposing employees to both injury and amputation risk because of insufficient safeguards on various machinery. An OSHA representative stated that Napoleon Spring Works “made improvements” following the 2013 citations, “but then fell off” with their machine safety protocols.
Two recent incidents brought Napoleon Spring Works back to OSHA’s attention. Last October an employee loading and unloading parts suffered a crushed finger and an amputated finger while working on a mechanical power press that stamps out parts. OSHA’s report found that that machine lacked the proper safeguards to protect employees.
The following month, another employee lost a finger while trying to unjam a hinge-making machine. OSHA found that incident to have been the result of a failure in lockout/tagout practices since power to the machine had not being fully turned off while the employee was troubleshooting it. This was considered a “repeat” violation, and Napoleon Spring Works was cited for nott using lockout-tagout procedures for machinery and a failure to follow power control procedures.
Napoleon Spring Works were also cited for “serious” violations including exposing workers to electrical hazards and not wearing proper safety equipment when handling electrical equipment.
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