Republic Steel agrees to $2.4 million OSHA settlement

Staff/wire report

Republic Steel has agreed to pay $2.4 million in penalties, stemming from inspections by U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration that turned up more than 100 safety and health violations at the company’s facilities in Lorain, Canton and Massillon, Ohio, and Blasdell, N.Y.

According to a statement on OSHA’s website, the company agreed to abate all cited hazards and put in place safeguards to prevent future injuries. OSHA said it opened its inspection in fall 2013, after an employee was seriously injured after falling through the roof of a building at the Lorain plant.

The agreement also settled contested citations from two previous inspections regarding a June 2013 arc-flashing incident in Lorain and an August 2013 case alleging fall hazards at the Canton facility.

The violations cited in the fall inspection included failures to provide fall protection, to implement lockout procedures, and to properly guard machines to protect workers from dangerous equipment.

In addition to fixing those hazards, Republic Steel agreed to hire more safety staff, conduct internal inspections with representatives of the United Steelworkers of America union and hire third-party audits, among other things.

“The terms of this agreement to improve conditions and training are unprecedented,” Dr. David Michaels, assistant secretary of Labor for OSHA, said in a statement. “The company has committed to supporting extensive worker participation, an important role for the joint health and safety committee, and implementation of a comprehensive safety and health program to better protect Republic Steel employees.”