Federal workplace safety investigators are seeking $97,000 in fines from a Hartford area wholesale grocery supplier for repeated safety violations in two of its warehouses.
The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) cites C&S Wholesale Grocers for alleged repeat and serious violations of safety standards following inspections of warehouses in Windsor Locks and Suffield.
The bulk of the citations and fines address the recurrence of hazards cited during a 2008 OSHA inspection of the Windsor Locks warehouse.
OSHA said inspectors from its Hartford office found damaged storage racks, an ungrounded energized dock light, an energized wall outlet box lacking a knockout plug, and unguarded moving machine parts at Windsor Locks; no auxiliary lighting for powered pallet jacks at Suffield that were operating in areas where the dock lights were not in working order; and exposed energized electrical conductors on loading dock lamps at both locations.
Since OSHA cited the company in July 2008 for similar hazards, these latest conditions resulted in the issuance of seven repeat citations with $82,500 in proposed fines, the agency said.
Three serious citations, with $15,000 in fines, were issued for allowing the use of man basket lifts on powered industrial trucks without first obtaining the manufacturer’s approval, exposed live electrical parts and exposed electrical conductors.
C& S can comply with the citations and pay the fines within 15 days or appeal them.
