Cooper Tire will appeal OSHA citations at Tupelo plant

ERJ staff report (TB)

Tupelo, Mississippi - Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. said it will contest the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) citations against the company's tyre plant in Tupelo, Miss., with recommended fines of over $200,000.

“Cooper disagrees with OSHA's recent characterisation of the citation, but believes it to be inappropriate at this time to make specific public comments,” the company said in a public statement.

In a press release regarding the June 14 citations, Clyde Payne, director of OSHA's area office in Jackson, Miss., was quoted as saying: “The level of disregard for workers' safety demonstrated by these employers is truly shocking.”

Findlay, Ohio-based Cooper said it was confident the issues raised in the citation would be thoroughly addressed in the administrative process. The Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, an independent review body, is in charge of all appeals of OSHA citations.

OSHA inspected the Tupelo plant in December 2010, shortly after finding multiple violations during an inspection of the company's Findlay facility, the agency said in a press release.

At Tupelo, OSHA found 14 safety violations and fined Cooper a total of $203,900. Two of the violations, the agency said, were “willful” violations, and included failing to provide protection from fires and explosions in the plant's duct work, particle size separators, dust collectors and conveyor systems, and failing to install equipment and use wiring methods approved specifically for hazardous locations. The fines for those alleged violations alone were $140,000.

OSHA also fined two contractors at the Tupelo plant a total of $51,000. JESCO Maintenance Corp. was fined $44,000 for eight alleged serious violations, and IH Services was fined $7,000 for one alleged serious violation.

From Tire Business (A Crain publication)