Region 1 News Release: 13-249-BOS/BOS-13-25
Feb. 13, 2013
Contact: Ted Fitzgerald Andre J. Bowser
Phone: 617-565-2075 617-565-2074
Email: fitzgerald.edmund@dol.gov bowser.andre.j@dol.gov

US Labor Department's OSHA cites Dayville, Conn., cosmetics manufacturing
plant for electrical, confined space, mechanical and chemical hazards
US Cosmetics Corp. faces more than $53,000 in proposed fines

HARTFORD, Conn. – The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited U.S. Cosmetics Corp. with 20 alleged serious violations at its manufacturing plant on Louisa Viens Drive in Dayville. The safety and health inspections, which began in October 2012, were conducted under OSHA's Site-Specific Targeting Program that directs enforcement resources to workplaces where the highest rates of injuries and illnesses occur. Proposed fines total $53,561.

"These citations address a cross section of electrical, mechanical, chemical and other hazards that can exist in a manufacturing environment, but which must be addressed systematically and effectively to protect the safety and health of workers at this plant," said Warren Simpson, OSHA's area director in Hartford. "Left uncorrected, they expose employees to the hazards of electrocution, arc blasts, lacerations, falls and being trapped or overcome in confined spaces."

OSHA's Hartford Area Office inspection found that the employer failed to develop and implement an electrical safety-related work practices program for employees performing live electrical diagnostic work and supply personal protective equipment to employees performing live trouble-shooting, or who verified that electrical equipment was properly de-energized. Additionally, maintenance personnel had not been trained regarding safe electrical work practices and personal protective equipment.

OSHA also identified deficiencies in the plant's program regulating employees' entry into confined spaces to perform work. These included entry permits that did not address entry procedures, safeguards and hazards, not locking out hazardous power sources before entry and no rescue service or retrieval equipment to remove employees during an emergency in a confined space. The inspection found instances of unguarded machinery; fall and tripping hazards; unlabeled containers of hazardous chemicals; ungrounded containers used to dispense flammable liquids; lack of quick drenching facilities for employees working with caustic chemicals; and ungrounded electrical equipment, damaged power cords and other electrical hazards. A serious violation occurs when there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known.

The company has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and proposed penalties to comply, meet with OSHA's area director or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

To ask questions, obtain compliance assistance, file a complaint, or report workplace hospitalizations, fatalities or situations posing imminent danger to workers, the public should call OSHA's toll-free hotline at 800-321-OSHA (6742) or the agency's Hartford office at 860-240-3152.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA's role is to ensure these conditions for America's working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance. For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov.

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U.S. Department of Labor news materials are accessible at http://www.dol.gov. The information above is available in large print, Braille or CD from the COAST office upon request by calling 202-693-7828 or TTY 202-693-7755.