The arm of a mechanic working at a U.S. mail facility in North Carolina was amputated last year after coming into contact with a machine that had a security guard removed, he said. found the U.S. Department of Labor.
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Health and Safety Administration said it inspected the Greensboro facility after the injury in late September. The agency released its findings in a press release on Friday.
The U.S. Postal Service operates the Greensboro Network Distribution Center. The federal inspectorate identified “serious and repeated safety violations, including failure to ensure that security guards were in place as needed and to allow conveyor belt protectors to be routinely removed, leaving workers at risk.” to suffer injuries, “the press release said.
The agency said the facility also did not train staff to work near conveyors or proper methods to operate equipment safely. And the installation allowed workers without proper training and protective equipment to perform tests on live electrical equipment, according to the press release.
The agency said its citations include $ 170,918 in proposed fines. Citations said the facility “exposed employees to the risk of amputation” in September and November 2021.
“The U.S. Postal Service ignored long-established security standards and put workers at risk,” said OSHA Area Director Kimberley Morton. “The USPS has an obligation to eliminate hazards to ensure safe working conditions and to prevent another worker from suffering a tragic injury and life-threatening injury.”
USPS may request an informal conference with the OSHA Area Director or answer the findings, according to the press release.
U.S. Postal Service media contacts did not immediately respond to an email requesting comments Sunday.
More than 4,700 workers suffered fatal injuries at work in the U.S. in 2020, nearly 11 percent less than in 2019 and the lowest death toll in seven years, the Department of Labor reported in December.
- In:
- North Carolina
- OSHA
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