US Department of Labor’s OSHA cites Gilster-Mary Lee Corp. in Steeleville,
Representing manufacturing, production, maintenance and sanitation workers in the baking, confectionery, tobacco and grain milling industries.
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09 Apr US Department of Labor’s OSHA cites Gilster-Mary Lee Corp. in Steeleville,

Posted at 15:46h in Health & Safety by

STEELEVILLE, Ill. – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Gilster-Mary Lee Corp. for six safety violations – including three willful – after two maintenance employees conducting welding operations sustained serious burns to their upper bodies as the result of an explosion within a dust collector at the company’s Steeleville pasta manufacturing plant on Oct. 6, 2011.

“Gilster-Mary Lee Corp. has a responsibility to protect workers conducting welding operations from known hazards in its manufacturing plants, including explosive dust,” said Karl Armstrong, director of OSHA’s Fairview Heights Area Office. “OSHA is committed to protecting workers on the job, especially when employers fail to do so.”

At the time of the incident, the two maintenance workers were repairing a hole in the side of a metal trough containing a screw conveyor that was leaking granulated sugar within several feet of an operational dust collector. The dust collector exploded due to a spark from the welding operations.

The three willful violations include failing to eliminate dust deflagration and explosion hazards on indoor dust collectors and air material separators, contain dust during the bagging of powdered sugar, shut down ducts and conveyor systems during welding operations (which had been responsible for carrying a spark to the nearby dust collector), and ensure that electrical equipment installed in areas exposed to combustible dust was approved and safe for those locations. A willful violation is one committed with intentional, knowing or voluntary disregard for the law’s requirements or plain indifference to employee safety and health.

Three serious violations include failing to inspect areas where welding was to be performed, prohibit welding in the presence of explosive atmospheres and ensure the safe use of welding processes in the presence of combustible dust. 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.

Due to the willful violations, OSHA has placed Gilster-Mary Lee Corp. 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 willful, repeat or failure-to-abate violations. For more information about the program, visit http://s.dol.gov/J3.

Prior to this inspection, the food manufacturer had been inspected by OSHA 30 times since 2002, resulting in citations for 46 violations, some involving combustible dust explosion, deflagration and other fire hazards cited at the company’s Steeleville and Momence plants in 2008 and 2009, respectively.

Gilster-Mary Lee Corp. is headquartered in Chester. The company employs more than 2,000 workers at 12 facilities located in Chester, Steeleville, Momence and Centralia, Ill.; Joplin, Jasper, Perryville and McBride, Mo., and Wilson, Ark.

The citations can be viewed at: http://www.osha.gov/ooc/citations/GilserMaryLeeCorporation_107443_04062012.pdf*.

Proposed penalties total $231,000. The company has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA’s area director or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

To ask questions, obtain compliance assistance, file a complaint, or report workplace hospitalizations, fatalities or situations posing imminent danger to workers, the public should call OSHA’s toll-free hotline at 800-321-OSHA (6742) or the agency’s Fairview Heights office at 618-632-8612.

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.

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