OSHA Fines Gulf Chemicals More Than $50,000 for Unsafe Workplace Conditions « Houston Accident Attorney | Texas Personal Injury Lawyer Houston

OSHA Fines Gulf Chemicals More Than $50,000 for Unsafe Workplace Conditions

An unsafe work environment in a chemical plant may place workers at a high risk of explosions, burns, exposure to toxic chemicals and other hazards. Gulf Chemical and Metallurgical Corp. in Freeport has been fined $50,400 in fines by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration for workplace safety violations.

The penalties came after OSHA conducted an inspection of the Freeport facility on October 26^th, and found up to 16 serious violations. These included

Failure to provide sufficient protection for employees from airborne contaminants
Failure to protect employees against electrical hazards
Failure to provide sufficient training for employees about handling of hazardous chemicals at the plant

According to OSHA, Gulf chemicals exposed workers to a high risk from unsafe working conditions.

Gulf Chemicals is also facing scrutiny over a former employee’s report that the company maintains two separate sets of records for water quality. The employee made the report to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. Following this, investigators cordoned off the Gulf Chemicals building on February 2^nd this year. Investigations into that report are still going on.

Unfortunately, I often see this as a Houston work accident attorney. In spite of guidelines by OSHA into workplace safety, employees choose to cut corners, placing workers at serious risk of suffering an injury or developing occupational disease. Exposure to contaminants in a facility could place workers at risk of developing serious respiratory and other medical conditions over a period of time. It’s unfortunate that Gulf Chemicals continues to insist that it will contest OSHA penalties, instead trying to fix the problems that OSHA has pointed out.