An OSHA investigation has determined that Florenza Marble & Granite Corp. was exposing workers to silica levels up to six times greater than permissible limits. The agency was alerted to potential health and safety hazards at the countertop manufacturing facility when a 31-year-old employee began suffering from accelerated silicosis and required a double lung transplant. According to OSHA, during their inspection in February, they discovered employees “laboring in a haze of dust throughout the workspace,” and employees that did have required respirators were using them improperly. Additionally, the investigators discovered that Florenza had very few controls enabled to reduce employee’s exposure to silica dust.
Multiple workers had suffered lung issues while working in the plant. A 47-year-old employee has been treated for “unresolved work-related lung disease,” and the 59-year-old father of the worker who needed a double lung transplant is also waiting on a silicosis-related lung transplant.
The company was ultimately cited for eight egregious willful violations, four willful violations, and 20 serious safety and health violations. These violations include:
- Failing to warn employees about the dangers of silica exposure or properly train them on how to use PPE
- Not implementing engineering and administrative controls to reduce silica dust to safe levels
- Failing to establish a baseline of employees’ medical health and perform medical surveillance to monitor exposure
Florenza Marble & Granite faces mor than $1 million in proposed penalties.
What people are saying
In a recent quote, OSHA Regional Administrator Bill Donovan said, “Our compliance officers found silica dust levels nearly six times higher than permissible levels and the owner made little or no effort to protect his employees from exposure. To make matters worse, Karp was indifferent to his employees’ suffering and refused to accept any responsibility for protecting them, even after two insurance carriers dropped the company for its egregious defiance of workplace safety standards.”
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