A Syracuse, New York, iron foundry faces accumulated penalties of nearly $1 million after the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) again cited the employer for workplace health and safety violations, the agency announced November 15.
Frazer & Jones LLC operates one of the nation’s largest ductile and malleable iron foundries, which has been operating for more than 150 years. OSHA previously cited Frazer & Jones in 2023 with two serious violations. In 2021, the company reached a settlement agreement with the Labor Department, agreeing to correct 60 violations and pay $276,189 in penalties from a 2019 inspection.
In October, the agency again cited Frazer & Jones for exposing employees to the risks of fire and explosion, thermal and chemical burns, falls, and other hazards. OSHA issued health and safety citations after identifying four willful, 13 repeat, seven serious, and three other-than-serious violations. The agency is seeking $990,186 in new penalties.
Agency inspectors found that Frazer & Jones exposed employees to the following hazards:
- Fire and explosion from natural gas vent lines that were uncapped during industrial furnace maintenance;
- Struck-by injuries while operating cranes, hoists, and lifting devices with identified deficiencies;
- Falls from walking and working surfaces that weren’t protected by guardrails;
- Asphyxiation from hazardous atmospheres for workers entering the kiln, a permit-required confined space, for maintenance;
- Caught-in dangers from failing to lock out energy sources before machine maintenance;
- Thermal burns while lighting burners with a natural gas torch;
- Chemical burns while using hazardous chemicals without labels and emergency eyewash stations that were inaccessible to employees working with corrosive chemicals; and
- Overexposure to respirable crystalline silica without either engineering controls or respiratory protection.
OSHA’s Syracuse area office cited Frazer & Jones for similar violations during its 2019 inspection—deficient confined space safeguards; exposing employees to crystalline silica, silica dust, and combustible dust; caught-between, fall, and struck-by hazards; inadequate respiratory protection; and unsafe work floors and walking surfaces. OSHA also cited the employer in 2019 for a blocked exit route, inaccessible or unavailable fire extinguishers, a lack of effective pest removal, and failure to prevent the buildup of bird feces on equipment.
The 2021 settlement agreement specified enhanced abatement measures the employer needed to take, which included the following:
- Semiannual inspections of the facility by a safety consultant.
- Addressing the consultant’s recommendations for action and sharing them with the facility’s labor management safety committee and the corporate parent’s board of directors.
- Creating systems for receiving and responding to employee complaints.
- A ventilation consultant would evaluate the facility’s dust control system for overhaul.
“Frazer & Jones’ troubling history of exposing its employees to serious hazards must end,” Jeffrey Prebish, OSHA’s Syracuse area office director, said in an agency statement. “Despite their agreement to correct violations, they once again failed to implement proper safeguards.”
“OSHA will continue to perform its mission and hold employers accountable when they fail to meet their legal obligations to protect the safety and health of their workers,” he continued.
According to OSHA, Frazer & Jones of Syracuse employs about 150 people, who cast components for use by the automotive, construction, electrical, natural gas, oil and gas, rail, tool, and utility industries throughout the United States.