ATLANTA - An Atlanta chemical manufacturer faces nearly $290,000 in fines from the federal government after officials found close to 70 serious safety violations at its facility, the U.S. Department of Labor announced. Violations included fall hazards and potential exposure to cancer-causing chemicals.

According to USDOL, Southern Industrial Chemicals, Inc., operating as SIC Technologies, was cited for 67 “serious violations” after a safety and health inspection found the company had exposed its workers to a “series of workplace dangers associated with chemicals and struck-by hazards.”

OSHA Atlanta-West Area Office Director Jeffery Stawowy said the company failed to make safety and health a priority due to how it had been operating.

“Chemical exposures can lead to incurable and life-altering conditions, so it’s vital that employers take immediate steps to recognize and mitigate life-threatening hazards like those found in this investigation,” Stawowy said.

In the report from OSHA inspectors, officials noted that the company had not ensured that “each walking-working surface can support the maximum intended load,” stating that items had fallen through the roof and ceiling of the chemistry lab due to “soft spots from water damage.”

OSHA found in their inspection that Southern Industrial Chemicals did not provide its employees with protection from hazards that exposed them to chemicals that cause cancer, eye irritation and skin sensitization.

The company was shown to have not required respirators for employees when working with chemicals on-site, and that the manufacturer “does not have a respiratory program,” nor did it require medical evaluations to determine if employees could use respirators, nor were available respirators fit tested, according to OSHA.

Additionally, employees were exposed to fall hazards as a result of using a movable ladder to access the chemistry lab’s roof to collect supplies and turn the production water on or off. The hazardous wastewater treatment tank was also included in the violation, with OSHA noting that the company had exposed employees to fall hazards by requiring workers to go up to the treatment tank without a stairway landing for safe access.

Another violation involved a situation where employees had to access a phosphoric acid holding tank with a 13-foot extension ladder on a slippery floor created by chemical residue.

Other issues noted by OSHA were unprotected sides and edges on the roof, on platforms where chemical batches are produced, fall hazards at the wastewater tank platform and the cleaner tank platform, and in areas where employees were required to dump hazardous waste and collect water where walking-working surfaces were not protected from falling into any hole or pit by covers, among others.

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited the company with violations for failing to:

• Provide feasible engineering controls to reduce employee exposures to hexavalent chromium.
• Establish and implement a respiratory protection program and provide a medical evaluation before workers were fit-tested or required to use respirators.
• Develop and implement a comprehensive hazard communication program for the handling and use of hazardous chemicals.
• Provide laboratory employees with information and training on hazardous chemicals in the lab.
• Provide changing rooms for contaminated protective clothing to prevent cross-contamination of employees’ regular clothes.
• Provide suitable facilities for quick drenching or flushing of the eyes and body.
• Use drums and containers that meet appropriate federal regulations for the waste they contained.
• Ensure chemical drums and pallets were stacked on storage racks in a secure manner.
• Provide proper training and certification of employees using powered industrial trucks.
• Develop and implement an energy control program, including written lockout procedures, and training for employees required to perform cleaning and maintenance involving dangerous machinery.
• Develop and implement a permit-required, confined space program for employees required to enter tanks and vessels.
• Guard unused portions of a bandsaw to prevent unintended contact with the saw blade.

“Employers must evaluate and effectively control respiratory hazards in the workplace and establish a hazard communication program that meets or exceeds federal safety standards to protect workers. Our hazard communication overview provides employers with the knowledge to get this done and make their workplaces safer for all,” Stawowy said.

The federal agency sent a letter to Southern Industrial Chemicals outlining the deficiencies and ordering corrective actions to be taken to come back into compliance on Feb. 20. OSHA proposed a $289,439 penalty for the variety of workplace dangers at the plant.

According to OSHA, Southern Industrial Chemicals had 15 days from receipt of the citations and penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA or contest the findings before the OSHA Review Commission.