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U.S. Department of Labor | June 29, 2016
Sunfield Inc. faces near record penalty
for an automotive parts industry company
HEBRON, Ohio – The
U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety
and Health Administration issued 57 citations for safety violations to
Sunfield Inc., an Ohio auto parts’ manufacturer. The agency has also proposed
the company pay more than $3.42 million in total fines for its failure to disconnect machinery from a power supply and prevent
sudden movement before maintenance and service, and to train workers in how to operate
machine presses safely and to service and maintain them.
The fines assessed are one of the largest OSHA penalties
ever filed against a company in the automotive parts industry.
Federal investigators inspected Sunfield’s Hebron plant
after two workers suffered severe injuries in separate incidents in January and
February 2016. The facility has an extensive history of federal safety
violations dating back 20 years. The company, which investigators found to have
a high rate of employee turnover, supplies parts for several major Japanese and
domestic automakers.
OSHA today issued citations for 46 egregious willful, two
willful, one repeated and eight serious safety violations with penalties
totaling $3,426,900 to Sunfield. The agency also placed
the company in OSHA’s Severe Violator
Enforcement Program for failure to address these safety hazards. Most of
the violations involve lack of machine safety procedures which expose workers
to amputation, lacerations and other injuries.
“When companies prioritize production and profit over the
health and safety of their workforce, too often it is the workers that pay the
price,” said U.S. Secretary of
Labor Thomas E. Perez. “OSHA’s investigation found the company’s leadership
failed in its obligation to properly train workers for the jobs they were hired
to do, and created a culture that routinely tolerated willful and serious
safety violations.”
OSHA investigation found:
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On Jan. 6, 2016, a 22-year-old male temporary worker
employed by the staffing agency, Employers Overload, suffered multiple
lacerations and a fractured right elbow, while removing scrap from a blanking
press after operating machine parts caught his arm because safety light
curtains were not operating correctly. OSHA’s investigation found a supervisor
had identified the safety issue two hours prior to the injury, and failed to place
the equipment out of service. The injured worker had been on the job just six
months.
–
On Feb. 18, 2016, a full-time 58-year-old Sunfield
employee had to undergo surgical amputation of his right arm above the elbow
after his arm was crushed as he removed scrap on a robotic press line.
Investigators again found that the machine’s danger zone did not have adequate
safe guards to prevent employees from coming in contact with operating machine
parts. He had been on the job for just a year.
Prior to these inspections, Sunfield had
an extensive history of OSHA violations. Since 1997, 16 of 20 inspections
conducted found multiple violations. In total, the agency has issued 118
citations that have addressed numerous machine hazards similar to those cited
today and resulted in 90 serious, eight willful and five repeated violations to
the company, which has repeatedly assured OSHA that it would address the unsafe
conditions.
“Sunfield made and broke countless
promises to improve safety conditions and eliminate serious hazards on the
factory floor. The company also ignored its own corporate safety manuals and
its safety manager’s warnings that workers lacked the training to protect
themselves. And still, the company risked the safety and well-being of its
employees as they operated dangerous and powerful industrial machines,”
said Dr. David
Michaels, assistant secretary of labor of Occupational Safety and Health.
“Sunfield has shown a total disregard for
its workers, the kind rarely seen since the darkest days of the past when
callous industrialists ruled and put profits before human suffering and common
decency,” Michaels added. “This has to stop. We hope that today’s action brings
an end to these conditions and convinces this employer that their behavior is
intolerable.”
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 service and maintenance
such as clearing scrap, and also failed to provide adequate safety mechanisms
such as guards, locking devices and other procedures 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.
The agency also found multiple electrical safety violations
including lack of personal protective equipment, workers exposed to “live”
electrical parts, and use of damaged equipment.
Under OSHA’s regulations,
temporary and host employers are both responsible
for ensuring employees are trained about safety hazards in the facility where
they are placed to work. Three
agencies, Atrium
Personnel and iforce of Heath, as well as Employers
Overload of Newark have been cited
by OSHA for failing to provide lockout/tagout training for affected employees
and for failing to provide mechanical power press safe operation training prior
to sending temporary employees to the site. Each company faces proposed
penalties of $7,000.
View citations for January
and February
investigations.
With a daily workforce of about 175, Sunfield Inc. is a
motor vehicle metal parts stamping operation established in 1993. The Hebron
site is the only U.S. plant. The parent company, Ikeda Manufacturing Company
LTD. is headquartered in Ota-City, Gunma, Japan.
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 amputations, eye loss, 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 Columbus
office at 614-469-5582.
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, 312-353-6976, allen.scott@dol.gov
Rhonda Burke, 312-353-6976, burke.rhonda@dol.gov
Release Number: 16-1323-CHI
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