Georgia Workers Compensation News

OSHA Proposes Over $191,000 In Penalties For Construction Co.

The U.S. Labor Department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited Stoughton, Mass.-based Stone and Webster Construction's maintenance division, and proposed penalties totaling $191,700, for failing to properly record injuries and illnesses at Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) nuclear plants in Tennessee and Alabama.

"OSHA's investigation revealed that Stone and Webster failed to record a total of 84 incidents involving company maintenance worker injuries at Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant, Athens, Ala.; Sequoyah Nuclear Plant, Soddy Daisy, Tenn.; and Watts Bar Nuclear Plant, Spring City, Tenn.," said Cindy Coe Laseter, OSHA's regional administrator in Atlanta.

Officials from the TVA, which operates the three facilities, contacted OSHA when they noticed discrepancies on the OSHA 300 Log used to record work-related injuries and illnesses. OSHA regulations require employers, with few exemptions, to maintain accurate records of fatalities, injuries and illnesses and post a summary of these incidents each year at job sites.

The company received one willful citation, with a proposed penalty of $63,000, for failing to record injuries and illnesses in 2004, 2005 and 2006 at the Browns Ferry site and $1,800 in proposed penalties for failing to accurately record injuries that resulted in days away from work and restricted work activity at the facility.

OSHA also proposed a $63,000 penalty for similar willful recordkeeping violations for the years 2004, 2005 and 2006 at Sequoyah and 2004 and 2006 at Watts Bar. In addition, the Watts Bar plant received a proposed $900 penalty for failing to record an injury that resulted in restricted work activity.

Data from the OSHA 300 Log is used to identify workplace safety and health problems and helps the agency to implement programs to abate the associated hazards. The information is also used for the Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics' Annual Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses, the nation's primary source of occupational injury and illness data.

The company has 15 working days to contest the citations and proposed penalties before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. The sites were inspected by staff from OSHA's area offices in Birmingham, Ala., Room 1050, 950 22nd St., North; phone: (205) 731-1534; and Nashville, Tenn., Suite C-205, 2002 Richard Jones Rd., phone: (615) 781-5423.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing a safe and healthful workplace for their employees. OSHA's role is to assure the safety and health of America's working men and women by setting and enforcing standards; providing training, outreach and education; establishing partnerships; and encouraging continual process improvement in workplace safety and health. For more information about recordkeeping requirements and other safe work practices, visit www.osha.gov.

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