Dupont Yard is a Georgia-based company that has been in the forest products industry since 1982. According to the company's website, Dupont Yard manufactures lumber, wooden posts — primarily those that you see on farms or along the highway — and it also has a mulch production facility and bagging plant.
OSHA was called out to investigate the facility in late January 2018, after an employee suffered a partial hand amputation as well as other injuries while working on unguarded machinery.
The agency found that the company not only allowed employees to operate unguarded machinery, but it also failed to have an emergency stop switch on a planer mill which exposed workers to caught-in, crushing and amputation hazards. As a result, Dupont Yard now faces nearly $110,000 in proposed fines.
OSHA Area Director Margo Westmoreland said in a press release, “This employer’s disregard for safety is leaving employees vulnerable to preventable hazards.”
But this is not Dupont Yard's first rodeo with OSHA. Since 2010, the company has now been hit with 49 violations
After an inspection in 2015, the company was placed in OSHA's Severe Violator Enforcement Program, which requires follow-up inspections to make sure the company is compliant with the law.
At the time, OSHA Area Director Robert Vazzi scolded the company, "Every day, Dupont Yard employees are being put at risk of serious injury, including amputations, burns or blindness, and in some cases even death."
OSHA held Dupont Yard accountable to the tune of $179,388, plus you know, a spot on that severe do better program. However, the company entered a formal settlement with OSHA, for $25,000. In 2013, the company faced $279,400 in penalties for 22 violations. The company settled for $84,000.
Since 2010, the company has been hit with $483,088 in proposed fines and they’ve been on the hook for $126,400. It’s not chump change, but it’s not $500,000
IEN reached out to Dupont Yard, but company officials have not responded to requests for comment.
This is IEN Now.
