Workers at a United States Postal Service (USPS) mail sorting facility were exposed to electrical hazards, OSHA inspectors found, and it wasn’t the first USPS location to have such hazards.
A Jan. 14th inspection at the USPS facility on Chicago’s Clark Street found that workers were exposed to electrical hazards because electrical power taps were not used in accordance with manufacturer's recommendations and electrical equipment such as an industrial fan were not grounded properly, resulting in the two repeated violations.
OSHA issues repeated violations when an employer has been previously cited for the same or a similar violation in the past five years. The Postal Service was cited for similar hazards in 2014 in Groton, Connecticut and Ludington, Michigan.
The four serious violations involved the use of unapproved electrical equipment, use of improperly spliced cords, and not providing strain relief for all electrical cords. The Postal Service also failed to mark permanent aisles, resulting in an other-than-serious violation.
Proposed Penalties: $63,540.
