On July 11, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced it issued a pair of six-figure fines to employers in Missouri and New Jersey.
BCP Ingredients Inc., located in Verona, Missouri, and a wholly owned subsidiary of Balchem Corp., faces the larger of the fines—$393,798—after agency inspectors found dozens of serious safety and health violations at the company’s chemical plant. In October 2021, the agency cited the same facility for 24 serious safety and health violations.
OSHA also issued a hazard alert letter for inadequate medical evaluation procedures for workers exposed to ethylene oxide.
Cited safety violations included:
- Inadequate process safety management procedures and monitoring;
- Failing to develop an emergency evacuation plan;
- Failing to train workers on actions to take in the event of a chemical release;
- Exposing respirators to ethylene oxide while in storage; and
- Allowing electrical safety hazards.
“Ethylene oxide is a colorless and flammable gas and unsafe exposure can cause cancer and other serious health issues,” Karena Lorek, OSHA’s Kansas City, Missouri, area director, said in an agency statement. “The company’s failure to address its previous violations and follow OSHA regulations is troubling. BCP needs to bring its monitoring procedures into compliance immediately and re-evaluate its engineering processes to make sure its employees are kept safe and healthy.”
BCP Ingredients produces choline, nutrient encapsulation, chelated minerals, and functional ingredients for feed and animal supplements as part of Balchem’s Animal Nutrition and Health Division. The Verona facility also produces food ingredients primarily for the baking industry.
New Jersey contractor faces $333K in OSHA fines
Main Line Contractor Corp. of Newark, New Jersey, faces $333,052 in OSHA penalties for 21 violations cited in southern and central New Jersey inspections.
OSHA says the employer exposed employees to potentially deadly falls at six worksites in early 2023.
The agency opened its initial investigation in January 2023 at a Mount Laurel worksite under OSHA’s Regional Emphasis Program (REP) for falls in construction. In addition to Region 2’s emphasis program on falls in construction, OSHA this year launched a National Emphasis Program (NEP) on falls across industries.
The agency conducted five more inspections at Main Line worksites in January, February, and March. Inspectors discovered the company intentionally exposed employees to falls of up to 30 feet by not providing them with the required personal protective equipment or making sure they used fall protection on-site when available.
OSHA’s construction industry fall protection standard (29 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) §1926.501) remains the agency’s most frequently cited standard, cited 5,260 times in fiscal year (FY) 2022.
“After our inspection identified violations at the Mount Laurel jobsite, the company continued to defy the law and put their employees at risk of serious debilitating injuries or worse,” Paula Dixon-Roderick, OSHA’s Marlton, New Jersey, area director, said in an agency statement. “Main Line must bring their company into compliance immediately before tragedy strikes.”
Incorporated in 2022, Main Line Contractor Corp. provides framing and sheathing services at residential construction sites throughout New Jersey, according to OSHA.