O prof eduardo siqueira envia informação sobre punições aplicadas a fábrica de móveis em que ocorreram acidentes / irregularidades repetidas. Mostra a conduta que está sendo usada nos EUA e discute comparando coma situação brasileira. ele propõe que esse tema seja mais debatido. Vale a pena ler sobre esse programa Severe Violator Enforcement Program.
PB
Ashley Furniture faces $1.76M in fines after OSHA finds more than 1,000 worker injuries at Wiscon...
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- Ashley Furniture faces $1.76M in fines after OSHA finds more than 1,000 worker injuries at Wiscon...
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Olá companheir@s:
Abaixo mais um exemplo do que a atual administração da OSHA, liderada por gente progressista, tem feito a respeito de violações repetidas e sérias das normas de saúde e segurança por empresas. Na verdade se trata de violação de normas mais do que conhecidas na área de segurança do trabalho. Nada do outro mundo em ambientes industriais para fabricação de móveis. Reparem a classificação das violações como repetidas, sérias e não sérias, o valor das multas, e o tal programa Severe Violator Enforcement Program, q prioriza inspeções em empresas com história de violações das normas. Depois de proposta a multa, a empresa vai contestar e o processo se arrasta por algum tempo. A empresa vai de todas as maneiras tratar de reduzir o valor da multa. O processo demora e pode até chegar depois de idas e vindas no órgão federal chamado Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, cuja página é http://www.oshrc.gov.
Considero importante que pensemos as questões legais e de cumprimento das normas no Brasil com perspectiva comparada, a nível internacional. O modelo dos EUA não segue os padrões de muitos países que historicamente criaram suas instituições de inspeção e cumprimento das leis dentro do modelo tripartite da OIT.
Food for thought.
Abraços,
Eduardo Siqueira MD, ScD
Associate Professor
College of Public and Community Service (CPCS)
Coordinator of Transnational Brazilian Project
The Mauricio Gastón Institute for Latino Community Development and Public Policy
UMass Boston
100 Morrissey Boulevard
Boston, MA 02125-3393
e-mail: carlos.siqueira@umb.edu
website: http://works.bepress.com/carlos_siqueira
ph: (617) 287-4863
fax: (617) 287-5788
From: Versen, Joseph H - OPA [mailto:Versen.Joseph.H@DOL.GOV]
Sent: Monday, February 02, 2015 11:01 AM
To: Undisclosed recipients:
Subject: Ashley Furniture faces $1.76M in fines after OSHA finds more than 1,000 worker injuries at Wisconsin site in past 36 months
| |
U.S. Department of Labor | Feb. 2, 2015
Ashley Furniture faces $1.76M in fines after OSHA finds
more than 1,000 worker injuries at Wisconsin site in past 36 months
Largest furniture retailer in the U.S. exposes employees to amputations, other hazards
ARCADIA, Wis. – In a three-and-a-half year period, 4,500 employees at Ashley Furniture Industries Inc., in Arcadia, experienced more than 1,000 work-related injuries. One worker became another terrible statistic when he lost three fingers in July 2014 while operating a dangerous woodworking machine without required safety mechanisms in place. Of the injuries recorded, more than 100 were caused by similar machinery.
After the incident, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration conducted an inspection of the facility. Investigators identified 12 willful, 12 repeated and 14 serious safety violations at Ashley Furniture’s Arcadia location, carrying a total of $1,766,000 in penalties. The company has also been placed in the Severe Violator Enforcement Program for failure to address these safety hazards. OSHA previously cited the Arcadia facility in 2014 after an employee suffered a partial finger amputation.
“Ashley Furniture has created a culture that values production and profit over worker safety, and employees are paying the price,” said U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez. “Safety and profits are not an ‘either, or’ proposition. Successful companies across this nation have both.”
Dr. David Michaels, the assistant secretary of labor of occupational safety and health, said, “Ashley Furniture intentionally and willfully disregarded OSHA standards and its own corporate safety manuals to encourage workers to increase productivity and meet deadlines. The company apparently blamed the victims for their own injuries, but there is clear evidence that injuries were caused by the unsafe conditions created by the company. OSHA is committed to making sure that the total disregard Ashley Furniture has shown to safety stops here and now.”
Forbes lists Ashley Furniture Industries, a furniture manufacturer with worldwide distribution, as the 117th largest private company in America. With annual revenue of $3.85 billion as of October 2014, the company employs about 20,000 workers at 30 locations nationally. The Arcadia plant is also the largest employer in Wisconsin’s rural Trempealeau County, with a population of about 30,000.
The 12 willful and 12 repeated violations were cited after OSHA found that the company did not take the necessary steps to protect its workers from being injured by moving machine parts. It did not prevent machines from unintentionally starting when workers were performing tooling and blade changes on woodworking machinery, and also failed to provide adequate safety mechanisms to prevent contact with those moving parts. These types of violations are among the most frequently cited by OSHA and often result in death or permanent disability.
A willful violation is one committed with intentional, knowing or voluntary disregard for the law’s requirement, or with plain indifference to employee safety and health. OSHA issues repeated violations if an employer previously was cited for the same or a similar violation of any standard, regulation, rule or order at any other facility in federal enforcement states within the last five years.
OSHA also cited Ashley Furniture Industries for 14 serious violations, including not training workers on safety procedures and hazards present when servicing machinery. The company also lacked adequate drenching facilities for workers exposed to corrosive materials; it committed three electrical safety violations, and it did not equip some of its machines with readily-accessible emergency stop buttons.
An OSHA violation is serious if death or serious physical harm can result from a hazard an employer knew or should have known exists.
View the current citations at http://www.osha.gov/ooc/citations/Ashley_Furniture_Industries_Inc_987512_01-29-15.pdf
Ashley Furniture Industries, Inc., has had 33 federal OSHA inspections and 23 state plan inspections since 1982. In its 33 previous inspections, OSHA issued citations for 96 serious, four repeat and 38 other-than-serious violations. Four inspections were initiated as a result of finger amputations, with Arcadia’s 2014 incident being the most recent. Ashley Furniture’s workers’ compensation carrier is Twin City Fire Insurance Company, part of the Hartford Insurance Group.
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 Eau Claire Area Office at 715-832-9019.
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.
# # #
Media Contacts:
Scott Allen, 312-465-4768, allen.scott@dol.gov
Rhonda Burke, 312-909-6630, burke.rhonda@dol.gov
Release Number: 15-133-NAT
U.S. Department of Labor news materials are accessible at http://www.dol.gov. The department’s Reasonable Accommodation Resource Center converts departmental information and documents into alternative formats, which include Braille and large print. For alternative format requests, please contact the department at (202) 693-7828 (voice) or (800) 877-8339 (federal relay).
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