Fuyao to pay $100,000 in safety settlement

Violations exposed workers to the threat of amputation and other serious injuries, OSHA says.

Fuyao Glass America will pay $100,000 in penalties for violating workplace safety regulations.

Fuyao has entered a settlement agreement with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, after initially being fined nearly $227,000 in penalties last November. The U.S. Department of Labor’s watchdog office provided the Dayton Daily News with a copy of the settle agreement.

The company, which has a plant in Moraine, was issued penalties for multiple machine safety violations, some of which exposed workers to the threat of amputation and other serious injuries.

The settlement agreement is effective April 1, and stipulates that Fuyao will pay $100,000 in penalties in four equal payments of $25,000 each. The company will also have quarterly meetings for the next 12 months with OSHA to discuss the status of Fuyao’s compliance.

The settlement also outlines other actions Fuyao will take in coming months, including:

The company will develop and maintain a safety and health management program that will “provide for the systematic identification, evaluation and prevention or control of workplace health and safety hazards.”

Fuyao will reiterate during orientations, daily briefs and training events that an employee has the right to refuse to perform work that they believe is “unsafe or unhealthful without fear of discipline or other form of reprisal.”

A “safety stand-down” will occur on or before May 1. That means work will be suspended so that the company can conduct activities related to improving health and safety at the facility. That includes a discussion by management of the importance of health with an emphasis on hazards related to falls, control of hazardous energy and machine guarding.

A helpline program will be initiated that allows employees to report potential health and safety concerns by calling a designated phone number. The employee can remain anonymous.

The settlement agreement will still need to be signed by an administrative law judge, per OSHA guidelines. A Fuyao representative said 28 proposed serious violations were reduced to 10 serious violations.

“Over the past year, our team of health and safety professionals — including nurses, specialists, engineers and outside contractors — have worked tirelessly to develop innovative safety solutions,” said Jeff Daochuan Liu, president of Fuyao Glass America Inc. “We are committed to maintaining a safe working environment for our employees.”