June 22, 2016

Towing parts manufacturer continues to expose workers to machine,
electrical hazards at Mentor manufacturing facility

Employer name: Trailer Component Manufacturing Inc., operating as Buyers Product Company
Mentor, Ohio

Citations issued: June 20, 2016

Investigation findings: The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has issued three repeated and eight serious violations to Trailer Components Manufacturing, which operates as Buyers Product Company.

The January inspection was initiated after the OSHA received a complaint alleging unsafe working conditions at the towing components manufacturer that also makes tool boxes and snow plows.

Inspectors from the agency's Cleveland area office found the company continued to expose workers to hazards cited in 2012 by failing to:

• Conduct annual inspections of energy control procedures to prevent unintentional machine operation.
• Properly install electrical equipment.
• Effectively guard machine operating parts.

OSHA also found the employer failed to provide workers with personal protective equipment, or train them about hazardous chemicals in use in the facility.

Quote: "It is always disappointing to cite a company for hazards they previously committed to correcting in their facility," said Howard Eberts, OSHA's area director in Cleveland. "Lack of machine safety procedures can lead to amputation and other debilitating injuries. Buyers Product Company is responsible for protecting workers on the job."

Proposed Penalties: $99,000

View Citations here.

To ask questions, obtain compliance assistance, file a complaint, or report amputations, eye loss, 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 Cleveland Area Office at 216-447-4194.

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Media Contacts:

Scott Allen, 312-353-6976, allen.scott@dol.gov
Rhonda Burke, 312-353-6976, burke.rhonda@dol.gov

Release Number: 16-1218-CHI

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