Illegal activities of Southern Bosses for the weeks between Friday, February 9 and Friday, February 16
—FLORIDA KILLER—
A federal investigation into the death of a 39-year-old maintenance employee found that the two contractors responsible for the job site could have prevented the incident by communicating and following safety rules designed to prevent the unexpected startup of machinery.
Investigators with the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration found that on Aug. 4, 2023, a worker employed by G & R Mineral Services Inc. – a Birmingham, Alabama-based maintenance and repair contractor who was hired by HM Southeast Cement LLC – was performing repairs on a screw conveyor system mounted on top of a cement silo. Despite the equipment being locked out and de-energized, the employer made the decision to remove the locks temporarily and energize the equipment to rotate the screw conveyor shaft to align the equipment for repair. As a result, the worker was caught in the conveyor and suffered fatal wounds.
OSHA cited G & R Mineral for three serious violations for failing to remove employees from areas surrounding unguarded screw conveyors, failing to establish specific procedures for controlling hazardous energy and failing to inform the host employer of their lockout/tagout procedures. The agency proposed $38,715 in penalties for G & R Mineral.
The agency also cited HM Southeast Cement for three serious violations and proposed $43,554 in penalties to the employer. OSHA found the employer failed to establish specific procedures for controlling hazardous energy, perform periodic inspections of the energy control procedures to prevent accidental contact with ingoing nip points and rotating parts, and review and coordinate lockout-tagout procedures with its contractor.
—MINER DANGERS—
The U.S. Department of Labor announced today that its Mine Safety and Health Administration completed impact inspections at 16 mines in 11 states in December 2023, issuing 247 violations.
MSHA’s impact inspections in 2023 identified 2,739 violations, including 764 significant and substantial and 56 unwarrantable failure findings. An S&S violation is one that is reasonably likely to cause a reasonably serious injury or illness. Violations designated as unwarrantable failures occur when an inspector finds aggravated conduct that constitutes more than ordinary negligence.
The agency conducts impact inspections at mines that merit increased agency attention and enforcement due to poor compliance history; previous accidents, injuries, and illnesses; and other compliance concerns. Of the 247 violations MSHA identified in December, 57 were evaluated as S&S and three had unwarrantable failure findings. The agency completed these inspections at mines in Alabama, Kentucky, Missouri, Texas, West Virginia and other states.
The Excel #5 Mine, an underground coal mine in Varney, Kentucky, was among the mines MSHA inspected in December. MSHA selected the mine for an impact inspection based upon numerous criteria, including enforcement history and plan compliance and examination issues. The mine is operated by Excel Mining. The inspection identified 20 violations, including nine S&S and two unwarrantable failure findings. Specifically, MSHA inspectors found the following conditions existed at the Excel #5 mine:
Inadequate workplace examinations. Inadequate examinations have contributed to fatal mine accidents and disabling injuries and were identified as a root cause in several mining fatalities the industry suffered in 2023. MSHA has placed a priority on improving workplace examinations including the identification, correction and documentation of hazardous conditions to ensure miners’ safety and health.
Other serious violations included not adequately supporting roof and ribs and inoperable fire warning devices.
—GEORGIA DISCRIMINATORS—
Covenant Woods Senior Living, LLC and BrightSpace Senior Living, LLC (together, “Covenant Woods”), which operate the Covenant Woods retirement community in Columbus, Georgia, violated federal law when they fired a 78-year-old employee from her position as a receptionist because of her age and disability, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit filed today.
According to the lawsuit, the receptionist, who was recognized as one of Covenant Woods’ employees of the year in January 2022, was employed by the company for over 14 years until her sudden termination in February 2022. In that month, the receptionist was briefly hospitalized. Upon her release from the hospital, the receptionist was asked by Covenant Woods’ general manager how long she planned to continue to work, whether she needed to work, and whether she would like to spend her time traveling and seeing family instead of working.
Despite the receptionist’s insistence that she intended to continue working, and despite having never previously raised any substantial performance concerns to the receptionist, the general manager told the receptionist that Covenant Woods no longer had confidence in her ability to work, citing her recent hospitalization. The company fired her the next day and replaced her with significantly younger employees.
—DISHONORABLE MENTIONS—
Investigators with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found Ole Jose Grill and Cantina stole from their workers when the employer improperly paid tipped employees time and one-half their cash wage for hours over 40 in a workweek – instead of time and one-half the applicable minimum wage. Additionally, the employer misclassified one tipped employee as an independent contractor, paid kitchen staff a flat rate for all hours worked with no overtime premium paid and failed to keep hours worked records for the back of house kitchen employees. The Department recovered $167k in back wages and damages to 17 workers.
The U.S. Department of Labor recovered $460,857 in back wages and damages after federal investigators found Guanajuato Supermarket in Houston, TX failed to pay 104 workers overtime wages.
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