The Georgia chemical manufacturer hit by federal safety fines in December has reached an informal settlement with the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
That agreement, reached in late January, reduced MFG Chemical Inc.'s fines to $67,000 from about $88,000. OSHA also eliminated three of the 17 violations because the company provided evidence that it had already remedied the dangers.
Meanwhile, the Dalton company has taken precautions to handle all but one of the other hazards, OSHA said. MFG has until Nov. 30 to address that problem and is required to give OSHA monthly progress reports. That citation involved a repeat violation that exposed employees to fire and explosion dangers while manufacturing specialty chemicals. Federal officials had cited the company for the same problem in December 2012.
OSHA characterized the fine reductions as "minimal" and said they were granted "due to the fact that the employer had corrected most of the violations well before the informal conference."
MFG used pictures, in-house drawings and invoices to prove that violations had been addressed, OSHA Spokesman Lindsay Williams said.
Also, the company has hired a safety director, OSHA noted. Barry Lassiter has the title of MFG's Director of Environmental, Health, Safety and Security. His "top priority will be to create a new culture of safety at the company's Kimberly Park facility," according to an MFG announcement regarding his October hire.
"This was a valuable addition" to help MFG with its safety program, Williams said.
Company executives contacted Tuesday for comment directed questions to Lassiter.
"We have gone through the settlement conference and reached a settlement agreement," Lassiter said. "We normally don't discuss the details of it."
Lassiter, a Hixson resident, worked for 20 years in health and safety at Chattanooga-based Invista, he said. MFG's announcement credits him with having more than 42 years of experience in various leadership and management positions in manufacturing, maintenance and safety.
Lassiter declined to discuss how MFG has improved conditions. "There's been a lot of work going on, but I'd rather not comment on it right now," he said.
OSHA's investigation of the plant last year took place from July to September and resulted in an initial recommendation for fines totaling $87,780. The inspection came after reports of worker injuries. One worker, Jason Jeffers, died in November after hazardous chemical vapors from an over-pressurized reactor burned his lungs in July.
The company had problems before that. A 2012 chemical spill sent 47 people to the hospital. The same year, OSHA cited MFG for 19 serious violations. In 2004, a chemical spill forced the evacuation of hundreds of homes and businesses, the hospital treatment of 154 people and a seven-mile fish kill in the local waterways.
MFG manufactures specialty chemicals for water treatment, agriculture and the pulp and paper industries. OSHA reduced the company's total fines to $67,144.
Contact staff writer Mitra Malek at mmalek@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6406. Follow her on Twitter @MitraMalek.
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