Oklahoma Milling Company Fined $146K for Workplace Safety Violations

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Shawnee Milling Co. in Shawnee, Okla., with 25 alleged serious violations following an inspection at the company’s facility in Shawnee that found multiple safety and health hazards. Proposed penalties total $146,000.

OSHA’s Oklahoma City Area Office began its investigation Nov. 23, 2010, at the company’s facility on South Broadway Street. About 276 workers produce consumer products such as flour, cornmeal and animal feed at the facility.

The violations include failing to properly reclassify confined spaces from permit-required to non-permit-required, to have the mandatory confined space entry permits, to provide adequate respirators to employees for emergency evacuation in the event of toxic chemical release, to provide an adequate lockout/tagout program of energy sources and to provide required machine guarding.

Shawnee Milling has 15 business days from receipt of the citations to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA’s area director in Oklahoma City or contest the citations and proposed penalties before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

Source: OSHA