Dive Brief:
- The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited New Jersey scrap metal recycler Park Stein Inc. with 16 violations and more than $121,000 in potential fines.
- Park Stein — which does business as Parkway Iron and Metal Company Inc. — failed to maintain a front-end loader safely and improperly stored compressed gas cylinders, OSHA found. The report also said the company didn't have adequate respiratory or hearing conservation programs.
- OSHA has also placed Park Stein in its Severe Violator Enforcement Program. The company has been cited for many of these issues in the past.
Dive Insight:
OSHA opened this inspection in December 2015 after the city of Clifton reported potential hazards at the facility, but it was already well-acquainted with the company. Park Stein was cited for 19 violations at a proposed cost of nearly $78,000 in May 2012. This came after previous violations in March 2010.
"Park Stein's regular use of a front-end loader that was so poorly maintained as to create a hazard to its employees reflects a willful lack of regard for the safety of employees at the facility," said Lisa Levy, director of OSHA's Hasbrouck Heights Area Office, in a press release.
Allowing these types of working conditions to exist, after repeated violations, contributes to negative public perception of the waste industry at a time when it's trying to emphasize safer practices.
To help increase transparency for potentially hazardous workplaces OSHA recently announced a new rule that will make injury and illness data public.
