United Airlines Hit with 16 OSHA Violations

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has proposed fining United Airlines up to $101,300 in penalties for repeated violations at New Jersey’s Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR). An inspection of conditions revealed airline workers faced “electrical hazards, falls, and being struck-by objects and equipment daily,” Kris Hoffman, director of OSHA’s Parsippany Area Office, said in a OSHA Regional News Release issued Tuesday. Hoffman went on to say that “Airline ground operations safety is of vital importance, not only to the workers, but to the millions of Americans who depend on air travel every day.”

The inspection, which occurred in January, revealed multiple safety violations and resulted in 16 citations. Three of the citations were repeat violations previously discovered during inspections in 2011 and 2013. Repeat violations include failure to clearly mark each exit with the appropriate “exit” sign, previously cited in 2013; failure to effectively close unused openings in boxes, cabinets or fittings, previously cited in 2011; using flexible cords or cables as a substitute for a structure’s fixed wiring, previously cited twice in 2013. The repeat violations come with a combined penalty of $55,000.

Nine of the violations are considered to be serious. Anytime there is substantial probability that a violation could result in death, illness or serious physical harm, unless the employer didn’t know or couldn’t have known about the violation, it is considered serious. The nine serious violations come with a combined $46,300 penalty.

Among the serious violations, United Airlines failed to properly dispose of, store and contain combustible waste materials; ensure machine guards were available and utilized by employees; install and use electrical equipment in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions; furnish employment and places of employment free from recognized hazards, including unanchored storage racks, absent or incorrectly placed guardrails, and failure to ensure employees wore body harnesses; ensure ladders were used as intended by manufacturers and disposed of when damaged; ensure exits were unobstructed, of the appropriate width and clearly labeled.

Four of the violations are considered to be “other-than-serious.” Other-than-serious violations are those that have a direct relationship to safety and health, but are not considered to be serious. These violations include failure to maintain clean, orderly or sanitary workplaces; failure to provide training for employees to familiarize them with the proper use of a fire extinguisher or how to handle the initial stage of firefighting; label or clearly identify trucks approved by laboratory testing; remove damaged or defective industrial trucks from service. Other-than-serious violations do not come with penalties unless they are a repeat offense.

United Airlines has 15 business days to comply, ask for an informal conference with the OSHA’s area director, or contest the citations and proposed penalties before the independent OSHA Commission.

The full Citation and Notification of Penalty can be found here.