Updated — The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration has reached a tentative settlement of $143,500 against a Texas rotational molder.
OSHA said the company, which operates as Rotoplas, failed to protect employees from "serious safety hazards."
Rotoplas is Merced, Calif.-based Molding Acquisition Corp., which is owned by Mexico City-based Grupo Rotoplas SAB de CV. The parent company, a major rotomolder of water storage tanks, opened its first U.S. plant in Merced in 2014.
In an April 30 news release, OSHA had said it was proposing fines of $281,000 against the company's Fort Worth plant.
But in a detailed listing on the agency's website for tracking open cases, OSHA said that on May 1 it entered into an informal settlement with Rotoplas. It said the case was still open.
The company said in a statement that it worked with OSHA to implement a plan, hired a consultant and “promptly abated all identified risks and paid required penalties.”
“The Rotoplas team will continue improving workplace safety, the integrity of our safety programs and safeguard the wellbeing of everyone who enters or works in our facilities,” it said.
Rotoplas said it has a presence in 14 countries on the American continent and follows local laws and operates transparently. It also noted that OSHA reduced the penalties and reclassified some violations.
The April 30 release said the company faced $281,000 in fines for 10 serious and two willful violations for exposing employees to fall hazards, as well as failing to inspect cranes, provide employees with forklift training and implement lockout/tagout procedures to prevent amputations.
OSHA said that six of the violations were covered under the agency's national emphasis program on amputations.
The agency website said that under the informal settlement, the two willful violations were changed to repeat violations and the fines for those were cut roughly in half, to $108,000. It said that the eight serious violations where changed to three serious and two "other" violations, with fines of $35,500.