August 10, 2015
A New Jersey recycling plant has been fined more than $53,000 for exposing its workers to safety hazards, including the risk of amputation, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced.
OSHA gave G&F Recycling and Salvage Inc. in Newark 15 safety and health citations, 14 of them serious, after various inspections from February to July.
The most serious hazards that employees faced included the following:
• Workers risked having their limbs caught in machines because proper safety procedures were not in place to prevent those machines from accidentally starting up during cleaning and maintenance
• Emergency exit stairways were blocked by up to six feet of debris
• Employees were allowed to operate forklifts without proper training and certification
"The safety and health hazards found during this inspection put G&F workers at risk of being seriously injured or killed," said Kris Hoffman, director of OSHA's office in Parsippany.
OSHA records list G&F Recycling as a non-union company located at 142 Frelinghuysen Ave.
