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OSHA proposes fining Dent Wizard $51K, says safety issues include paint-booth fire hazards

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The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has proposed fining Dent Wizard $51,000 for alleged safety violations including paint booth and electrical hazards.

OSHA wrote Tuesday it found 31 “serious” and nine “other-than-serious” (your tax dollars couldn’t find a better adjective) violations during a Dec. 14, 2015, inspection of a Manheim, Pa., Dent Wizard. The inspection followed a complaint related to the painting operations, according to OSHA.

Dent Wizard corrected some of the safety violations — including some of the serious ones — on the spot, according to OSHA. However, that didn’t stop the agency from proposing thousand-dollar fines in some of the alleged serious issues.

“Dent Wizard is committed to the safety and well-being of our employees,” Dent Wizard said in a statement provided to the Lancaster County Business Journal. “We have cooperated fully and have taken, or are taking, the necessary actions to correct any and all perceived deficiencies.”

Collision repairers and others with similar business interests to Dent Wizard should use this not as an opportunity to revel in a competitor’s misfortune, but to check the two citations and see if any apply to your facility. Find one citation here and the other here, and see you have any “There but for the grace of God go I” revelations besides those described below.

OSHA defines “serious” as “when the workplace hazard could cause an accident or illness that would most likely result in death or serious physical harm, unless the employer did not know or could not have known of the violation.”

In this case, some of the violations alleged by the two citations appear to be the kinds of things that could have made the location another auto body fire casualty.

OSHA wrote that it found a 60,000 BTU Dyna-Glo portable propane heater on one trailer “used to bake the wheel rims.” The agency proposed a $6,000 fine for that one.

The same trailer was “constructed primarily of plywood flooring, sidewalls and doors,” as was another trailer, OSHA wrote. Two others were “primarily of aluminum diamond plated flooring and walls,” OSHA wrote.

Spray booths need to be made of rigidly supported steel, masonry or concrete. Aluminum is OK but only for “intermittent or low volume spraying,” according to OSHA.

Those alleged booth violations prompted another $6,000 fine.

Three out of those four trailers — including the one with the alleged heater — had a great deal of “combustible residue” left behind from spraying wheels, OSHA wrote, assessing another $6,000 fine.

“Dent Wizard allowed heat lamps in spray painting booths, which created a serious fire risk and jeopardized worker safety. This and other dangerous safety and health hazards associated with using spray products with toxic compounds highlight the importance of protecting workers through an effective workplace safety and health program,” OSHA Harrisburg, Pa., area director Kevin Kilp said in a statement. “Dent Wizard should take immediate action to address the cited hazards to ensure the safety and well-being of its employees.”

Other fine-worthy violations, according to OSHA:

$6,000: The other plywood trailer allegedly had more than a day’s worth of flammable liquids stored in gallon materials. The rule requires only the “minimum required” or a day’s or shift’s worth. $6,000.

$5,000: An air gun used to clean alloy wheels allegedly hadn’t been cut to less than 30 psi.

$4,000: OSHA wrote that electrical equipment like the lights, breaker boxes and receptacles in two huts weren’t rated for a Class I workplace. $4,000.

$4,000: Dent Wizard also left waste from wiping wheels with various combustible fluids in two “open-topped plastic” trash cans, according to OSHA.

$4,000: Painters allegedly lacked “protective coveralls and head covers” though their paint had aliphatic polyisocyanates.

$4,000: Bottles of a pre-painting cleaning agent and a lacquer thinner allegedly lacked hazard warnings, and a gun cleaner allegedly wasn’t labeled with the name of the chemical.

$3,000: Romex cable from the circuit breaker in a hut allegedly ran 4-5 feet above the floor, and OSHA thinks any conductor 7 feet or less off the floor is “considered exposed to physical damage.”

$3,000: Dent Wizard allegedly failed to assess its respiratory hazards.

Dent Wizard has 1,600 employees in America and Canada, according to OSHA. It can either agree to OSHA’s terms, meet with an OSHA area leader or appeal the idea to OSHA’s Review Commission.

Details/help/reporting/complaints: 800-321-OSHA (6742) or, for those in the Harrisburg, Pa., OSHA’s jurisdiction, 717-782-3902.

More information:

“OSHA: AUTO RECONDITIONING COMPANY FAILED TO PROTECT WORKERS FROM TOXIC COMPOUNDS, OTHER SAFETY AND HEALTH HAZARDS AT MANHEIM FACILITY”

Occupational Safety and Health Administration, June 7, 2016

OSHA Dent Wizard citation 1

OSHA, June 1, 2016

OSHA Dent Wizard citation 2

OSHA, June 1, 2016

Featured image: The Department of Labor logo. (Provided by www.data.gov)

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