According to a press release from those fine folks at the U.S. Labor Department’s OSHA, the U.S. Postal Service processing and distribution center in Tucson was cited for a safety violation for the “improper operation of a powered industrial truck.”
Slam.
OSHA delivered a $70,000 “proposed penalty” to the post office:
Press release:
OSHA’s investigation of the facility, located at 1501 S. Cherrybell Stravenue, was prompted by a complaint that an untrained, uncertified supervisor had operated a powered industrial truck during an evening shift. The truck, which is used to move large quantities of mail, requires training and certification to operate. When two of three certified truck operators did not report for their shift, a supervisor without training or certification operated the truck, exposing workers to potential injuries. A willful violation is one committed with intentional knowing or voluntary disregard for the law’s requirements, or with plain indifference to worker safety and health.
“Training and certification for powered trucks is required to prevent injuries and save lives, and it should be a top safety priority for all USPS facilities,” said Zachary Barnett, director of OSHA’s Phoenix Area Office.
Violations of OSHA’s powered industrial truck standard are among the top five types of violations most commonly cited by OSHA in fiscal year 2012.
The U.S. Postal Service has 15 business days from receipt of its citation and penalty 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 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 Phoenix office at 602-514-7250.
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.
This article appears in Sep 20-26, 2012.
I just HATE it when an employees does someone elses job and did NOT have certification!! Helpful employees just plain SUCK.
We all know that the USPS does not have the money for a fine that large.
Maybe OSHA could publicly draw and quarter the offender. Or is HHS in charge of drawing and quartering.
I have to lie down now, The thought of someone steeping out of their assigned duties to get the bigger job done makes me so faint I can’t stand up.
[Hmmmn… do you think this supervisor might have realized that they didn’t have the training and was extra careful because of it?]
Yeah, GuiseppeKnows & Bluesfan, just don’t let that parking valet at UMC operate on you. Some helpful employees are very dangerous when doing something that they know nothing about.
OSHA is nothing but a bunch of previously injured nit pickers out to extract revenge. How about a public dress-down, like “Gee, you shouldn’t have done that. Don’t do it again.”
Yeah PVK, and next time if he kills or injures someone by doing something that he’s been told not to do, they can dock his pay an hour or two to really teach him a lesson.
There are reasons for safety in the workplace. Some of us like to go home at the end of the day with all our vitals intact.
JoelFriday, for the most part, I agree with you. Somebody needs to watch over the workplace. I guess I have a chip on my shoulder concerning OSHA. I used to work in the tower industry, building and maintaining TV and radio broadcast towers, and I’ve seen OSHA people come onto our sites and bust us for not having our warning signs at the correct height (by an inch or two), gas cans that weren’t where OSHA thought they should be, or some other insignificant “violation”. Would they go up 2000 feet in the air to inspect? Not a chance! We could have had huge safety issues up top, and they never would have known it. We literally put our lives on the line every day in that business, and we were as mindful of safety as we could be. As for the post office issue, I’m not familiar with what, exactly, a “powered industrial truck” is, but I’m picturing a device similar to what’s used in commercial warehouses for moving and stacking sizable loads, and while a supervisor may not be ‘certified’ or ‘trained’ for it’s operation, I’d expect a supervisor to be somewhat knowledgeable about the equipment under his or her command. If an experienced supervisor can’t do that, they aren’t a supervisor, they’re an administrator, and are in the wrong job.
OSHA is worthless. When an unsafe practice at Sun Van was reported, the fact that there was no law against it was the only response. Most modern countries in the world have laws – or at least guidelines – protecting workers that don’t exist in the United States. No wonder there are so many Americans on workplace caused Social Security Disability.