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Region 3 News Release: III-99-02-23-013-DE
Tues., February 23, 1999
Contact: Leni Uddyback
OFFICE:(215) 596-1130

DUPONT COMPANY AGREES TO PAY $70,000 OSHA PENALTY AND INITIATES SAFETY AND HEALTH IMPROVEMENTS AT SEAFORD PLANT

E.I. DuPont DeNemours & Company (DuPont Company) will pay a $70,000 penalty for safety and health recordkeeping violations at its Seaford, DE plant, and will implement a series of employee health and safety improvements under an agreement announced today by the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). The agreement settles recordkeeping citations issued against the company.

DuPont was issued one unclassified citation and two other-than-serious citations as a result of an OSHA inspection, initiated on August 24, 1998, in response to a complaint filed by an employee, whose cumulative trauma injury was not acknowledged by the company as work-related.

The unclassified citation was due to DuPont's failure to record 117 occupational injury and illness cases during 1997 and 1998 that should have been recorded. Additionally, two citations were issued because certain injury and illnesses cases were recorded incorrectly.

"We are pleased that DuPont has a chosen to work cooperatively with us to improve the safety and health conditions for its workers," says Lacy J. Sutton, area director at the Wilmington OSHA office, "This agreement not only alleviates the need for a long and costly litigious process, it also ensures a safer environment for the 1200 employees who work at the DuPont Seaford plant."

Under the settlement agreement, DuPont will pay the $70,000 penalty, as well as initiate the following safety and health improvements:

1. DuPont will conduct a corporate-wide review of its injury/illness records for the past five years and correct any deficiencies found;

2. DuPont will review all unrecorded cases for compensability and affected employees will be compensated for any previous expenses incurred due to the work-related injuries;

3. DuPont will provide training on OSHA injury/illness recordkeeping requirements to employees at the plant with recordkeeping responsibilities;

4. All DuPont Seaford employees will receive ergonomic training related to the ergonomic hazards in their jobs;

5. All DuPont Seaford employees will receive information on Workers' Compensation regulations and procedures; and

6. The DuPont Seaford plant will evaluate additional steps to address on-going ergonomic hazards at the plant.

DuPont is required to report to OSHA its progress in complying with this agreement as well as federal recordkeeping requirements.

The inspection was conducted by the Wilmington, DE Area Office, 1 Rodney Square, Suite 402, 920 King St., Wilmington, DE, (302) 573-6115.