Lowe’s Distribution Center in Illinois Fined $182K by OSHA

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited the Lowe’s Home Centers Inc. regional distribution center in Rockford, Ill., with $182,000 in proposed penalties for failure to document and report employee injuries and illnesses, as required by OSHA safety and health regulations.

As the result of a May inspection, OSHA issued Lowe’s Home Centers Inc. four willful citations with a proposed penalty of $160,000 for alleged continuous failure to correctly classify injuries or illnesses and not correctly recording the number of days a worker was away from work due to injury or illness in the OSHA 300 log.

The distribution center also received two repeat violations with proposed penalties of $20,000 and two other-than-serious violations with proposed penalties of $2,000 for other recordkeeping violations. OSHA requires employers to record and maintain occupational injuries and illnesses on the OSHA 300 log.

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.

Source: OSHA