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The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) issued an October 9th news release addressing a Universal Recycling Technologies LLC (“URT”) facility.
URT is stated to operate a recycling facility in Janesville, Wisconsin.
The news release states that OSHA undertook a follow-up inspection at the facility in April 2024. It states that workers were being exposed to unsafe levels of lead and cadmium while they dismantled cathode ray tubes from older TVs.
OSHA alleges that the facility has failed to implement adequate engineering controls and did not keep services as free as practicable from lead and cadmium accumulations.
OSHA alleges that the URT facility failed to do the following:
- Provide biological monitoring of employees for overexposure every six months.
- Collect samples for representative full shift exposures to both lead and cadmium.
- Ensure workers removed protective clothing contaminated with lead and cadmium at the completion of the shift and left the clothing at the workplace.
- Require workers exposed to lead and cadmium to shower at the end of their shift.
- Establish a regulation area to reduce the spread of contamination when employees were exposed to lead or cadmium over the permissible exposure limit.
- Train employees on the additive effects of lead and cadmium.
$202,820.00 in penalties has been proposed by OSHA for the alleged violations.
URT has fifteen days from receipt of the citations and penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA’s Area Director, or contest the findings before the Independent Occupational Safety and Health Commission.
A copy of the news release can be downloaded here.
