The OSHA Section Leader and the President of the company should be held criminally accountable. Fining a company after the fact does not “punish” the persons responsible for allowing the unsafe conditions to develop. A fine of any type given to a company after the fact puts great burden on a company. The workers are out of work during recovery. The company is not producing goods (sugar in this case) and is not receiving income. If the company can not recover the employees lose their jobs. The company goes out of business. The $8,777,500 may be put to better use helping workers recover.
OSHA was put in place to increase safety in the work place. OSHA failed in the case of Imperial Sugar. The President of the company failed to maintain a safe work place. $8,777,500 indicates many “unsafe” conditions. This many unsafe conditions do not happen over night. OSHA did not inspect, or is uneducated, or lied. The President of the company is directly responsible for the working conditions of the company. The President did not inspect, or is uneducated, or lied. Both the OSHA Section Leader’s and the President’s actions should be reviewed by a court. No fines should ever be levied after the fact.
No fines after the fact? Get serious! Are you part of their legal counsel or just an apologist for willful diregard of all worker safety programs??
I’ve inspected two dozen sugar refineries in this country in the last 15-20 years and I can tell you that the occupancy will always have some dust accumulation problems. But the level of what they had was shameful. Its also a claim waiting to happen for both the property and boiler carrier (not to mention the casualty side)who’s loss control folks couldn’t have missed if it they were doing their jobs. If folks were killed at one of my plants because I wasnt doing my job, I’d feel so bad I might need help. I can buy you a series of effect vessels for example, but I cant replace your Dad. Or your Mom. Or Brother. Or Uncle. Part of my charge is helping to guard property, but the human side can never be dismissed or forgotten.
Its shameful disavowal of responsibility by corporate apologists which lets world think American no longer leads the world in anything except overpaid management.
Fining the “big bad company” after the fact does no good. The chain of command/responsibility needs to be fined. The OSHA inspectors who failed to note the “shameful” conditions need to be fined. Fining the company just puts people out of work.
Are you an educated Safety Professional or a person from another part of an organization that was given safety responsibility? Your comments on how this should be handled are disturbing.
The one thing that this article did for me is got my attention. I will be taking a closer look at the conditions that I work in. My heart goes out to all of the family members that this has touched. It was the total of the fines that got my attention, which made me stop and take the time to read the article. Even though the fines will make it hard on the company and it’s workers, I truely believe if they save one more life they would be well worth it.
What disturbs me is one month after the devastating catastrophe, the companys other plant has done very little to ensure its workers safety. It is obvious that these big fines and even the lifes of their workers is not enough to make them get serious about their workers safety. It sounds like if the fines put the company out of business, it might save a few lifes.
OSHA fines are basically calculated via a matrix that considers things such as number of people exposed to the hazard, gravity of the hazard, company size, and good faith effort. So the fines sometimes do not seem high. http://www.OSHA30hourtraining.com has some great training on this OSHA topic.
I have found that most occupational injury and illness related costs including fines, fees, workers comp., etc.. could be avoided with a proper safety training program, and with the arrival of online training, like at http://www.easysafetyschool.com/, getting trained and staying safe is now easier than ever.
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The OSHA Section Leader and the President of the company should be held criminally accountable. Fining a company after the fact does not “punish” the persons responsible for allowing the unsafe conditions to develop. A fine of any type given to a company after the fact puts great burden on a company. The workers are out of work during recovery. The company is not producing goods (sugar in this case) and is not receiving income. If the company can not recover the employees lose their jobs. The company goes out of business. The $8,777,500 may be put to better use helping workers recover.
OSHA was put in place to increase safety in the work place. OSHA failed in the case of Imperial Sugar. The President of the company failed to maintain a safe work place. $8,777,500 indicates many “unsafe” conditions. This many unsafe conditions do not happen over night. OSHA did not inspect, or is uneducated, or lied. The President of the company is directly responsible for the working conditions of the company. The President did not inspect, or is uneducated, or lied. Both the OSHA Section Leader’s and the President’s actions should be reviewed by a court. No fines should ever be levied after the fact.
No fines after the fact? Get serious! Are you part of their legal counsel or just an apologist for willful diregard of all worker safety programs??
I’ve inspected two dozen sugar refineries in this country in the last 15-20 years and I can tell you that the occupancy will always have some dust accumulation problems. But the level of what they had was shameful. Its also a claim waiting to happen for both the property and boiler carrier (not to mention the casualty side)who’s loss control folks couldn’t have missed if it they were doing their jobs. If folks were killed at one of my plants because I wasnt doing my job, I’d feel so bad I might need help. I can buy you a series of effect vessels for example, but I cant replace your Dad. Or your Mom. Or Brother. Or Uncle. Part of my charge is helping to guard property, but the human side can never be dismissed or forgotten.
Its shameful disavowal of responsibility by corporate apologists which lets world think American no longer leads the world in anything except overpaid management.
Read my total comment.
Fining the “big bad company” after the fact does no good. The chain of command/responsibility needs to be fined. The OSHA inspectors who failed to note the “shameful” conditions need to be fined. Fining the company just puts people out of work.
The whole object is to prevent accidents!
Are you an educated Safety Professional or a person from another part of an organization that was given safety responsibility? Your comments on how this should be handled are disturbing.
The one thing that this article did for me is got my attention. I will be taking a closer look at the conditions that I work in. My heart goes out to all of the family members that this has touched. It was the total of the fines that got my attention, which made me stop and take the time to read the article. Even though the fines will make it hard on the company and it’s workers, I truely believe if they save one more life they would be well worth it.
What disturbs me is one month after the devastating catastrophe, the companys other plant has done very little to ensure its workers safety. It is obvious that these big fines and even the lifes of their workers is not enough to make them get serious about their workers safety. It sounds like if the fines put the company out of business, it might save a few lifes.
OSHA fines are basically calculated via a matrix that considers things such as number of people exposed to the hazard, gravity of the hazard, company size, and good faith effort. So the fines sometimes do not seem high. http://www.OSHA30hourtraining.com has some great training on this OSHA topic.
I have found that most occupational injury and illness related costs including fines, fees, workers comp., etc.. could be avoided with a proper safety training program, and with the arrival of online training, like at http://www.easysafetyschool.com/, getting trained and staying safe is now easier than ever.