Colorado plant cited for 1,078 violations By Dennis DeMaio Pueblo, Colo. - Oregon Steel's subsidiary, Rocky Mountain Steel Mills (RMS), was fined $487,000 on Aug. 22 for multiple safety and health violations at the beleaguered Pueblo plant. The fine is the result of a six-week "wall to wall" investigation by the Occupational, Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) that began in February after the second fatality in a 10-month period was recorded at the plant. About 1,000 members of United Steel Workers of America (USWA) Locals 2102 and 3267 remain illegally locked out of their jobs. The bitter labor dispute is entering its 36th month. Many of the 1,078 instances found at the plant in the six-month investigation were serious and repeat violations that OSHA uncovered in its prior investigation in 1999. The problems include: . 85 serious safety and health hazards, which could result in death or serious physical harm. . 22 repeat violations for which the company was cited in the prior three-year period. . Serious and continuing problems with inadequate guardrails and fall prevention equipment. . OSHA also found: continuing crane equipment violations; improper load ratings on heavy equipment; and fire extinguishers not properly inspected. The 130 pages of citations include a $7,000 penalty related to an accident on Feb. 23 at the plant when Tom Bernal was burned to death. Bernal was driving a forklift-like truck that hit a raised manhole cover on the plant grounds. He was transporting steel rods heated to about 900 degrees Fahrenheit. They shifted and burned the worker to death when the rods rolled to the cab of the truck he was driving. "We hope the fines and citations issued by OSHA will stop the carnage before another worker dies," said Ernie Hernandez, president of USWA Local 2102. Local 2102, one of two locals locked out of the plant, represents production workers at the plant. The union still has the duty to represent workers inside the plant. Frustrated with the company's lack of cooperation on health and safety issues during the strike, Hernandez often refers to the plant as "the killing mill." "We had tried for months to meet with the company about deteriorating safety conditions in the mill," Hernandez stated. "They had simply failed to meet with us." In April 1999, OSHA fined Oregon Steel $1.1 million for 61 serious, willful and/or repeat violations of health and safety regulations. The fine, later reduced to $400,000, represented the second largest fine imposed by OSHA in Colorado history. Despite continuing fines and an agreement with OSHA to fix problems at the plant, serious accidents continue to plague the mill. Among the more recent carnage: . In July a worker had three of his fingers crushed. OSHA is presently investigating that accident. . In April another worker was hospitalized while performing maintenance on a piece of equipment that was not fully de-energized. The worker was burned from his shoulder to his hip due to scalding. Improper maintenance procedures appear to be continuing deficiencies in the company's health and safety program at the plant. In February 1999, Tom Grace lost most of both arms when supervisors ordered him to perform maintenance procedures without proper training. As a result of company negligence, about 34,500 volts of electricity almost killed the 52-year-old replacement worker. In May 1999, Gary Allison was killed at the plant. The 42-year veteran - one of the few union members called back to work after the union's offer to return - was performing maintenance procedures in a highly questionable manner. Allison was killed by flying shrapnel while performing two maintenance functions that are not supposed to be performed simultaneously. Many believe that the company wished to save valuable "down time" during the accident. A number of OSHA officials are growing increasingly skeptical about RMS' health and safety program at the plant. RMS "is no stranger to OSHA investigations and should be very aware of safety and health regulations for its workers," said OSHA Administrator, Charles Jeffress. "Just (one year ago) OSHA fined the company $1.1 million for some of these same issues, yet management has continued to disregard employee safety." OSHA area director, John Healy, is also frustrated with the company's performance with safety and health standards at the plant. In a phone interview with the World, Healy stated, "I'm disappointed with the number of instances in the last inspection, particularly after the last settlement was supposed to clean up some of these problems." Noting that the latest OSHA investigation at RMS uncovered the most instances ever found at a single facility in Colorado, Healy stated, "They need to step up their program and develop a safety and health program that ferrets out these kinds of problems." Safety and health officials at the USWA are skeptical that the safety program at RMS has any integrity or substance at all. "We've got serious concerns about the effectiveness of the program," said John Perquin, USWA assistant director of health, safety and environment. In a phone interview Perquin said, "When you find 1,078 instances from one investigation, that is ludicrous. I can't think of another steel company where we represent workers that a company has come anywhere close to such a hazardous worksite." Perquin pointed out that that the company is supposed to have two full-time employees who work exclusively on health and safety matters inside the plant. Along with Local 2102 president Perquin said his offers to help the company out with the safety program at the plant have been rebuked by the company. "What the hell are they doing?" Perquin asked. "Either somebody is not doing their job, or somebody is not allowed to be doing their job."
