Largest and Most Common OSHA Fines for Monument and Stone Cutting Companies
Monumental Monument Challenges: Operating a monument company can present some unique hazards – potential for silicosis, hearing loss and, lifting heavy objects also presents unique musculoskeletal hazards – but is your facility also in compliance with OSHA? OSHA fines for monument builders and stone workers can exceed $100,000 if left unchecked! A quick google search yields story after story of OSHA citations and hefty fines:
"US Department of Labor cites Ohio stone manufacturer for repeatedly exposing workers to machine hazards - [They face] $203K in fines for machine safety violations" - OSHA
"[Stone manufacturer] ordered to pay nearly $345K in fines after OSHA finds
company continued to expose workers to scaffolding hazards" - OSHA
"Stone fabricator cited for exposing workers to crushing hazards; proposed fine of $156,310" - OSHA
These are just a few of the troubling headlines! Even if you have safety signage up, written safety plans updated, and have conducted training in the past year, you still probably spend more on safety than you think. The following items are some of the most frequent OSHA safety fines for monument builders and stone workers:
- Silica hazards & respiratory safety
- Falling stone or crushing hazards / struck-by hazards
- Amputation hazards / improper machine guards
- Improper lockout/tagout procedures
- Improperly stored flammable liquids
- Inadequate PPE for workplace hazards
- Inadequate employee safety training
- Noise hazards
- Exposure to fall hazards / improper employee safeguards
- Fire extinguishers
- Inadequate written safety programs / missing required safety programs
Since employers not employees have to bear the cost of occupational injuries, what do these violations actually mean to a monument company?
Depending on a monument company’s workers' compensation plan and other insurance, these costs may be spread out over several years, but in the end, it is still employers who pay for on-the-job injuries.
Certified Safety Training, the official compliance provider to the Monument Builders of North America, developed the following checklist to ensure your monument or stone cutting company is safe and in compliance with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).