Region 1 News Release:   BOS 2002-136
June 24, 2002
Contact: Ted Fitzgerald
PHONE: (617) 565-2074

Failure to Correct Previously-Cited Hazards Results in Over $57,000 in
Additional Fines to Cape Cod Stone Manufacturer

BOSTON, Mass. -- A Harwich, Mass., company's continued failure to protect its workers against serious occupational health hazards has resulted in $57,562.50 in additional fines from the U.S. Labor Department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Cape Stone Works, Inc., a stone products manufacturer located at 202 Queen Ann Road, was originally cited by OSHA in June 2001, for fifteen serious violations of the Occupational Safety and Health Act. In July, the company signed a settlement agreement with OSHA, agreeing to correct all the violations and pay a fine of $10,920. A subsequent OSHA inspection found that most of the 15 hazards had not been corrected. As a result, 13 failure-to-abate notices have been issued to the company.

"This employer was given ample time to put effective worker safeguards in place but did not do so," said Brenda Gordon, OSHA area director for Boston and Southeastern Massachusetts. "It's inexcusable that a company would compound its initial failure to protect workers by refusing to honor its commitment to fix these hazards."

The hazards include employee overexposure to respirable stone dust; several deficiencies involving the use and maintenance of respirators; unguarded work platforms; unguarded saw blades and grinders; electrical hazards; unsafe storage of oxygen and propane cylinders; no hearing conservation program for workers exposed to excess noise levels; no hazard communication program; excess air pressure in cleaning hoses; and no employee training in the safe operation of powered industrial trucks.

OSHA issues a failure to abate notice when an employer has agreed to correct cited hazards and the agreement has become final but a subsequent OSHA inspection finds that the hazards have not been corrected.

Cape Stone Works, Inc. has 15 business days from receipt of its failure to abate notifications to comply with them, to request and participate in an informal conference with the OSHA area director, or to contest them before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

The inspection was conducted by the OSHA Area Office in Braintree, Mass. The telephone number is (617) 565-6924.