NEW BRITAIN — A New Britain based company is facing $77,000 in fines after an OSHA investigation found employees were exposed to chemical, fire, explosion and mechanical hazards.
OSHA says they found 24 serious violations at Metallurgical Processing Inc. during inspections in January.
Officials say they were brought in after employees complained about working conditions.
Cited hazards include: not training and providing protective clothing and tools to employees who performed live electrical work; not inspecting a piping system carrying anhydrous ammonia; lack of a pressure relief valve on a nitrogen tank; and improper storage of incompatible chemicals and combustible materials. The company also lacked a complete and adequate program regulating employees’ work in confined spaces and adequate safeguards for employees required to wear respirators.
“To ensure the health and well-being of its employees, Metallurgical Processing Inc. must address and correct these hazards immediately,” said Warren Simpson, OSHA’s area director in Hartford. “Employers need to be proactive about safeguarding their employees against work-related hazards. It’s not just good policy, it is good business.”
If you want to file a complaint or or report amputations, losses of an eye, workplace hospitalizations, fatalities or situations posing imminent danger to workers, call OSHA’s toll-free hotline at 800-321-OSHA (6742) or the agency’s Hartford Area Office at 860-240-3152.
