OSHA Cites Henkels & McCoy for Competent-Person, Traffic-Control Violations in Neptune, NJ

Proposes $42,000 in penalties following an April highway work site inspection

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited Henkels & McCoy Inc., operating from its Burlington, N.J., center, for six serious safety violations at a Neptune, N.J., work site where workers were performing water service repair on a road.

OSHA issued $42,000 in proposed penalties following an April inspection opened under the agency's national emphasis program on trenches and local emphasis program on highways.

Violations include the company's failure to:

  • Have a competent person provide frequent and regular inspections of the job site, materials and equipment;
  • Follow required use of proper traffic control signs and devices that protect workers;
  • Place the required three advance warning signs to indicate highway space ahead undergoing work;
  • Follow mandatory requirements and usage guidance for hand signaling devices;
  • Ensure workers conformed to hand signaling procedures;
  • And properly set up a flagger station.

A serious violation occurs when there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known.

"Without the proper precautions, highway workers are vulnerable to a number of hazards from outside and inside the work zone, such as being struck by vehicles," said Paula Dixon-Roderick, director of OSHA's Marlton Area Office. "It's vital that the company quickly abate these violations to protect its workers in the future."

Henkels & McCoy Inc., headquartered in Blue Bell, Penn., operates centers and offices nationwide and abroad. The company has 15 business days from receipt of the citations to comply, ask for an informal conference with OSHA's area director in Marlton, or contest the citations and proposed penalties before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

To ask questions, obtain compliance assistance, file a complaint, or report workplace hospitalizations, fatalities or situations posing imminent danger to workers, the public should call OSHA's toll-free hotline at 800-321-OSHA (6742) or the agency's area office in Marlton at 856-596-5200.

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