Failure to Protect Employees from Workplace Hazards Leads to Six-Figure Fines for Two Facilities

​A New Jersey medical center is facing a penalty of $174,593 from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for failure to protect an employee, who ultimately died from workplace-related injuries, from electrical hazards. OSHA began its investigation on June 28, 2016, after the facility informed them that the worker needed to be hospitalized after falling from a ladder as a result of an electrical shock he sustained while changing an overhead ballast in a light fixture. The worker died from his injuries three weeks later. OSHA cited the facility with a willful violation for requiring employees to change ballasts without proper lockout/tagout training practices, as well as several serious violations including failure to de-energize circuits and failure to maintain an electrical lockout/tagout program. "This worker's tragic death was preventable," said OSHA's area director in the release.