Energy sources including electrical, mechanical, hydraulic, pneumatic, chemical, thermal or other sources in machines and equipment can be hazardous to workers. During the servicing and maintenance of machines and equipment, the unexpected startup or release of stored energy could cause injury to employees.

A fatality at Pennsylvania paving contractor prompted an OSHA inspection of the company that resulted in 17 safety violations – nine of them serious. Proposed penalties total $23,800.

Interlake Mecalux Inc., a manufacturer of storage and racking systems, has been cited by OSHA for 17 serious safety violations, many of which expose workers to amputation hazards*. OSHA has proposed penalties of $71,700, following the October 2013 complaint inspection of the Melrose Park-based plant.

Workers at an Ohio boiler manufacturer were required to operate press brakes and a horizontal boring machine that had the machine guarding removed, according to OSHA investigators, who issued two willful citations for the hazard.

A 32-year-old worker at a wire mesh manufacturer died in August of last year because machine guarding had been disabled, according to an OSHA investigation. Florida-based Wire Mesh Sales LLC has been cited for dozens of safety violations and faces penalties of $697,700 in connection with the fatality.

OSHA has cited HP Pelzer Automotive Systems Inc. of Thomson and staffing agency Sizemore Inc. for 22 safety and health violations following a July, 2013 initiated in response to a complaint alleging hazards at the automotive manufacturing facility. Proposed penalties total $207,100.

An Illinois concrete company has been cited for safety violations by OSHA following the death of a temporary worker who was fatally crushed while working alone in a permit-required confined space on July 20, 2013.

Grand Rock Co. Inc. of Painesville, Ohio has been cited by OSHA for one willful and one serious safety violation after a worker suffered the amputation of four fingers on June 12. The employee was operating an unguarded machine that bends tubes at the Painesville automotive parts manufacturer.