Houston Based Manufacturing Firm Cited by OSHA For Machine Guarding Violations

ProMaxima Manufacturing located in Houston, Texas has been cited by OSHA with 9 serious safety violations involving machine guarding. Proposed penalties total $47,700. ProMaxima Manufacturing has 15 business days to dispute the citations,  according to OSHA’s Houston South Area Director, Mark Briggs.

Machine guarding is a precautionary safety feature on many manufacturing machines. Typically,  it is a shield or other engineered component that covers hazardous areas of a machine. It’s job is to prevent contact with body parts. The machine guarding may also include extra protection to keep harmful by-products away from the operator.

According to ProMaxima’s official website www.promaxima.com , the company has been in business for 40 years. The company designs, manufactures, ships, and installs fitness equipment. The company maintains its operations in a 30,000 square foot plant in Houston, Texas. ProMaxima employs 200 people.

The nine serious violations involved proper machine guarding for power equipment such as saws and grinders. In addition, ProMaxima was cited for other violations listed below.

• Failure to provide lockout/tagout procedures for machines’ energy sources.

• Failure to properly store gas cylinders.

• Failure to keep electrical equipment free and clear of obstacles.

• Failure to train and certify forklift operators

• Worker exposure to amputations as well as a fire and electrical hazards.

Several of ProMaxima’s violations were among the top ten most frequently cited OSHA violations. Improper machine guarding, electrical and lockout/tagout violations are cited often by OSHA according to the agency’s inspection statistics.  OSHA’s Houston South Area Director Mark Briggs stated ProMaxima has an obligation to promote and enforce worker safety. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration assists companies with this obligation by offering educational materials and training resources that can be accessed from its website www.osha.gov.

Managers and Supervisors alike can benefit from basic safety protocols training to avoid having to deal with machine guarding and other critical violations. We can offer an OSHA-approved 30-Hour General Industry Training for these managers and supervisors that’s fast and easy ONLINE training to fit the busy schedules of these individuals. If need be, we can even provide those classes on-site for larger groups of individuals that want to be completed trained.