Workers from an auto glass supply plant in Moraine, Ohio are requesting detailed safety inspections from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in response to hazards they have observed on the job. Several employees at Fuyao Glass have already lost fingertips and/or toes due to negligence on their employer’s part after Fuyao failed to provide proper protective equipment, and the complaint that the workers filed with OSHA details several more hazards in place. Fuyao Glass could face steep fines if the OSHA investigation turns up more safety violations.
Currently in the process of organizing with a national trade union, Fuyao employees are asking for a “wall-to-wall” evaluation of the company’s occupational safety. In addition to the loss of digits, workers have been routinely exposed to sharp objects causing serious laceration injuries, silica concentrations well above the safe limit for workers to breathe, rampant fire hazards, and wires that have come in close contact with water.
Fuyao provides glass to several major automobile manufacturers, but at a high cost to workers in the Ohio plant. A number of the hazards that the company’s employees were subject to could be serious enough to cause permanent injury or even fatalities, and workers have voiced concerns about their own safety.
OSHA did find violations at the site earlier this year and issued resultant fines, but the workers are calling for a more comprehensive investigation. The employees are more familiar with the site than any appointed investigator, so it is possible that the new investigation may reveal even more hazards. Fuyao can expect serious repercussions if the workers’ complaints are indeed true.
The reason that OSHA exists in the first place is to protect who are being put in danger every day simply by coming to work, and all of its safety and health mandates are intended to enforce that goal. Failing to comply with OSHA regulations about workplace hazard management allows companies to inadvertently cause severe harm to their workers. Employers need to seriously consider the implications of not putting in proper protective measures from both a financial and human capital standpoint, but employee safety should always come first.
