The US Labor Department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced Monday that Lorain, Ohio-based Republic Steel has agreed to pay a $2.4 million fine and "settle alleged health and safety violations" at four of its facilities.
OSHA cited the company for violations including failing to provide workers with adequate protection against falls, failing to protect employees who service or maintain machines and failing to provide machine guarding to protect workers from hazardous machinery.
"The comprehensive settlement, in which the company agrees to abate all cited hazards and implement numerous safeguards to prevent future injuries, addresses more than 100 safety and health violations found by OSHA at the company's facilities during inspections conducted in the fall of 2013," said OSHA’s news release.
The settlement also covers citations the company contested from two previous inspections, including the June 2013 arc flash incident at the Lorain facility.
The United Steelworkers were involved in crafting the agreement, the union said in a news release. "The settlement includes a very comprehensive injury and illness prevention program that goes far beyond simple compliance with OSHA standards," said the release. "Under the program, Republic and the USW will work together to find and fix workplace hazards” including an agreement to “hire additional safety and health staff; conduct internal safety and health inspections with representatives of the United Steelworkers; establish and implement a comprehensive safety and health management program to identify and correct hazardous working conditions; hire third-party auditors to assure that hazards are identified and improvements are made; and meet quarterly with OSHA staff to assure implementation of this agreement."
