Region 2 News Release: 13-417-NEW/BOS 2013-035
March 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

Niagara Falls, NY, manufacturer cited by US Labor Department's OSHA after
inspection finds 9 serious workplace safety and health violations
Tulip Corp. faces more than $47,000 in proposed fines

BUFFALO, N.Y. – The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Tulip Corp. with nine alleged serious safety and health violations for exposing workers to airborne lead and other hazards following an October 2012 complaint inspection at its manufacturing facility on Highland Avenue in Niagara Falls. The manufacturer of plastic containers faces proposed fines of $47,700.

"Exposure to lead can damage the blood-forming, nervous, urinary and reproductive systems. Impaired health and disease can result from periods of exposure that can be as short as days or as long as several years," said Art Dube, OSHA's area director in Buffalo. "It is the employer's responsibility to minimize exposure levels, train employees and ensure all safeguards are in place."

OSHA's inspection found that workers were overexposed to airborne concentrations of lead. The airborne lead levels measured at the facility were 1.71 times the permissible exposure limit of 50 micrograms per cubic meter of air averaged over an eight-hour period. In addition, appropriate protective work clothing and equipment, including gloves, hats or respirators, were not used when employees were exposed to lead above the permissible exposure limit; all surfaces were not maintained as free as practicable of accumulations of lead; and employees entering lunchroom facilities with protective clothing or equipment were not required to remove surface lead dust by vacuuming or other acceptable cleaning methods. Other cited hazards included workroom floors not maintained in a dry condition and prohibited use of an electrical cord. 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.

"One means of eliminating hazards, such as these, is for employers to establish an injury and illness prevention program in which workers and management continually work to identify and eliminate hazardous conditions," said Robert Kulick, OSHA's regional administrator in New York.

Common symptoms of acute lead poisoning are loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, stomach cramps, difficulty sleeping, fatigue, moodiness, headache, joint or muscle aches, and anemia. For more information about lead exposure, visit http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/lead/index.html.

Tulip Corp. 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 Buffalo office at 716-551-3053.

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, audio tape or disc from the COAST office upon request by calling 202-693-7828 or TTY 202-693-7755.