A MFG Chemical plant is seen in this file photo.A Georgia chemical manufacturer with a history of workplace-safety violations has been slammed with nearly $88,000 in federal fines for unsafe conditions, most of which have a high likelihood of killing or seriously injuring employees.
The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration in late December cited Dalton-based MFG Chemical Inc. for 17 violations, including exposing employees to fire and explosive risks and failing to adequately protect pits and floor openings. OSHA penalized the company after an investigation sparked by a number of accidents and injuries at the plant, including the death of one worker and the hospitalization of another last July when hazardous chemical vapors were released from an over-pressurized reactor.
"MFG continues to violate OSHA standards, exposing workers to serious hazards," Christi Griffin, director of OSHA's Atlanta-West-Area office, said in a statement released Tuesday. "Allowing repeated violations demonstrates the company's lack of commitment to worker safety and health."
MFG executives didn't respond to requests for comment Tuesday afternoon.
OSHA issued additional citations for serious violations, among them MFG's failure to establish written changes to the chemical manufacturing process and for the company's failure to identify previous workplace incidents that had the potential for catastrophic results. A "serious" violation means there is a "substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known," according to OSHA.
OSHA also cited MFG for lesser violations, including failure to provide medical examinations for workers required to use respirators and for not conducting fit tests for respirators.
OSHA conducted its investigation from July through September 2014. The inspection came after multiple reports of worker injuries at the plant.
In 2012, a chemical spill sent 47 people to the hospital, where they were treated for symptoms of contamination and released the same day. The same year, OSHA cited MFG for 19 serious violations, such as storage and handling of liquefied petroleum gases and highly hazardous chemicals.
MFG also had problems in 2004, when 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. Two years later, the U.S. Chemical and Hazard Investigation Board said the spill was avoidable and noted that the company didn't have a system to neutralize a toxic chemical release.
MFG manufactures specialty chemicals for water treatment, agriculture and the pulp and paper industries. The company has until later this month to either comply, request an informal conference with OSHA's area director or contest the findings before the OSHA's independent review commission. The proposed penalties total $87,780.
Contact staff writer Mitra Malek at mmalek@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6406.