OSHA levies second fine on Pueblo company

By KAREN VIGIL
THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited a Pueblo company, Eldorado Stone, for the second time in 10 months.

OSHA previously cited the architectural stone veneer company on Dec. 14, initially alleging 25 violations and settling for a $73,700 fine.

John Healy, area director for OSHA, said he learned through a third party that an Eldorado employee was injured on the job April 21 and began a new investigation.

"The injury was a partial amputation of a finger. That was the reason for the inspection, Healy said.

"While we were there we also conducted a follow-up (inspection) from the prior inspection that we had done last year."

OSHA documents note the incident as one resulting from a repeat violation.

It indicates that a mixer machine located on the mixing platform "was inadequately guarded."

"The interlock (safety feature) was not operational. When you open a door or a gate, that is supposed to shut something down," Healy said.

The OSHA citation states that the "employee received serious injuries to his hand when feeding materials into the mixer."

Eldorado Stone was fined $49,250 for the machine-guarding violation, as well as five others. Healy said OSHA settled for $26,275, in return for Eldorado Stone's cooperation and concern.

The other violations state: Employees were exposed to the hazard of being struck by flying fragments of a pressurized vessel used to spray colorant.

An emergency exit was obstructed and another was difficult to open due to material immediately outside the door.

Each exit was not clearly visible or properly marked.

Material stored in tiers was not properly stored to secure against sliding and collapse.

Electrical equipment was not removed from service even though an extension cord and power cords were damaged or strained.

Healy said OSHA settled with Eldorado Stone on Sept. 14. Aside from paying the fine and correcting the safety violations, OSHA ordered Eldorado officials to attend an OSHA safety and health conference. The seminar, which is hosted by the Pueblo Safety Council, is scheduled Oct. 10.

Healy said safety standard progress has been made at Eldorado Stone.

"The company has made improvements in the facility. We are pleased with the progress. But they are not quite there."

Daniel Garson, vice president of manufacturing of San Marcos, Calif-based Eldorado Stone, said steps have been taken to avoid another amputation injury.

"We have redundant guarding in place to ensure that doesn't happen again. We feel that we are really working closely with OSHA," Garson said.

He said Eldorado Stone is asking for opinions on workplace issues companywide and views its relationship with OSHA as positive.

"They have different programs that are available to us. We had asked for their opinion to go forward. We'll probably be looking at the new programs to take the next step to improve our plant safety," Garson said.

He said a new plant manager team has taken over the Pueblo Airport Industrial Park operation since the amputation accident.

"We have a new plant manager team that we see is very positive, that we feel really good about," Garson said.

In fact, he said, the Pueblo plant's safety record has improved considerably over the past couple of years.

"One of the contributions to that, I think has been OSHA's involvement," Garson said.

The local Eldorado plant employs approximately 200 workers.