In several past issues, the FPC has published lengthy spreadsheets that demonstrated the troubling numbers of Grinnell’s total amounts of OSHA citations and fines. Grinnell usually racked up scores of violations and tens of thousands of fines every year. Now the FPC is carefully scrutinizing the details of these recent violations, in an effort to shed more light about Grinnell’s safety practices. In this issue, we discover that Grinnell did not have competent persons on a job site, that OSHA considers Grinnell’s safety program to be "average" or "deficient," and that over two dozen Grinnell workers were injured in one year in just two states. The FPC feels these details are just as important as the total numbers of a company’s violations. These details can reveal how a company’s safety policy actually is functioning at the job site, no matter how attractive its glossy safety practices notebook is.

OSHA inspected a Grinnell job site in the Harrisburg International Airport in Middletown, Pennsylvania, in December, 1997. OSHA discovered that Grinnell did not have a competent person conducting frequent and regular inspections of the jobsite, materials and equipment. As a result a worker was exposed to a serious fall hazard while working on a pipe that was over 10 feet off the Ground.

A supervisor on the job site told the OSHA inspector that the worker in the unsafe job site was a state employee and not covered by OSHA. OSHA investigated further, and discovered that was not true. OSHA also determined that the employee did not have a fall harness or a safety net and there was no guardrail on the working surface. Grinnell also was cited for an inadequate ladder that the employee used to reach the work site. OSHA proposed three serious citations and a $1,500 fine against Grinnell.

OSHA also inspected Grinnell’s accident logs, and discovered that the Camp Hill, Pennsylvania division of Grinnell had fourteen reportable injuries during the calendar year of 1997. Injured Grinnell workers at Camp Hill missed 115 days of work that year. Two of the injuries were apparently very severe, with 50 days of work missed for each of those workers. Grinnell workers at that location suffered three eye injuries, two lacerations, one of which required seven stitches, and nine injuries of the wrist, knee, hands and back.

Grinnell eventually plea-bargained by admitting to two of the three violations, and paying a $1,000 fine. (Inspection #102721008)

During January, 1998, South Carolina OSHA inspected Grinnell’s job site on Airport Road in Sumter. The inspectors discovered that Grinnell had workers elevated 25 feet off of the ground, who were working without fall protection, such as safety harnesses and lanyards.

OSHA levied a fine of $1,750 for this serious violation. Grinnell eventually paid a $700 fine.

Grinnell’s accident logs for their South Carolina operation revealed that this division of Grinnell had eight injuries during calendar year 1997.

South Carolina OSHA also inspected a Grinnell job site in 1996. At that time, OSHA Rated Grinnell’s Safety & Health Program as "deficient," and cited Grinnell for a backhoe violation.

South Carolina OSHA had issued earlier citations to Grinnell for improper storage of gasoline without a flame arrestor. During that inspection and an earlier inspection, Grinnell’s safety program was rated as "average" by OSHA.

During 1999, the most recent full year for which records are available, OSHA cited Grinnell for 44 violations.