OSHA CItes Ashley Furniture for Safety Violations

The country's largest home furnishings maker and retailer has been fined more than $431,000 for various safety violations.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) says that Ashley Furniture failed to protect its workers from moving machine parts in its upholstery facility in Whitehill. Documents allege the Wisconsin-based furniture company of failing to implement proper safeguards to prevent its machines from starting up when an employee changed the blades, cleaned the equipment, removed jam fabric, or performed other maintenance to them. OSHA requires employers to implement tag/lock out mechanisms to prevent the unintentional starting of machines and equipment while workers are performing maintenance to them -- something that Ashley Furniture failed to do, according to OSHA.

So, what kind of dangers did this pose to workers? As noted by OSHA's Eau Claire, Ashley Furniture workers risked limb amputations each time they services and performed maintenance on the machine. If the machine were to suddenly start while a worker was servicing it, the blades could severely injure the worker, possibly even resulting in an amputation.

"Workers risked amputation injuries each time they serviced the machinery,” said Mark Hysell, OSHA’s area director in Eau Claire. “Ashley Furniture failed to implement required safety procedures to protect machine operators until after OSHA opened its inspection. The company must make immediate, enforceable safety improvements at its facilities nationwide.”

Ashley Furniture responded to the allegations by revealing documents created by OSHA in which inspectors said that they did not see many violations presents. Of course, this isn't the first time that Ashley Furniture has come under fire by OSHA. Earlier this year, the furniture retailer and maker was slapped with a whopping $1.7 million fine stemming from 38 safety violations from its facilities in Wisconsin.

Ashley Furniture has announced plans to contest the recent $431,000 citation. So, what happens next? OSHA's Review Commission will hold a hearing to determine whether there's enough evidence to proceed with a case.

This case just goes to show the emphasis that OSHA places on lockout/tagouts involving heavy machinery and equipment.

To learn more about OSHA's stance on lockout/tagout, check out the page at https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/controlhazardousenergy/.