One of the largest welded-pipe manufacturers in the U.S. is the latest fabricator to face citations from the U.S. Dept. of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Welspun Tubular LLC has been cited for one willful and two serious violations following the death of a worker at its Little Rock, Ark., plant.

Welspun Tubular LLC produces submerged-arc welded (SAW) pipe and offers coating and bending services, supplying about 300,000 tons of pipe products annually to oil-and-gas producers. It has an estimated 400 workers at the plant. The parent company has over 20,000 workers worldwide and is the second-largest pipe manufacturer in the world.

The fatal accident cited by OSHA involved two employees who were trapped between two pipes on a conveyor, according to agency officials. OSHA initiated a safety inspection last December 22, following a report that one worker was crushed to death.

Welspun received one citation for a willful violation from OSHA, which said Welspun failed to provide the required machine guards on the conveyor to ensure workers’ safety. OSHA issues a willful citation when an employer has demonstrated an intentional disregard for the requirements of the law or plain indifference to employee safety and health.

The serious safety violations include failure to repair open holes in the floor. Serious citations indicate “substantial probability” of death or serious injury from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known.

These violations carry proposed penalties totaling $82,100.

In February, OSHA cited the same plant for 25 separate violations found during an inspection in August 2010. Those violations citations carry proposed penalties of $88,000.

"This company has been cited by OSHA twice in a six-month period for jeopardizing the safety of its employees," stated the agency’s Little Rock Area Office director Carlos Reynolds. "It is tragic that the employer's negligence has resulted in the death of a worker."

Welspun was given 15 business days from receipt of the latest citations to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA's area director or contest the citations and penalties before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

The incident at Welspun follows two other recent and notable OSHA citations:
• The E. I. DuPont De Nemours Co. Yerkes Plant in Buffalo, N.Y., and a contractor have been cited for 17 serious violations of workplace safety standards after a fatal explosion at the plant in November 2010. An employee of contractor Mollenberg-Betz Inc. was welding atop a 10,000-gallon tank when hot sparks ignited flammable vapors inside the tank, causing an explosion that killed him and injured another Mollenberg-Betz employee. The slurry tank was supposed to be empty but was still connected to two operating tanks, and flammable vapors seeped through the pipe system into the tank on which the employee was working.

• Vestas Towers America Inc., Pueblo, Col., was cited by OSHA for one willful and 23 serious safety and health violations after a comprehensive inspection of the wind turbine manufacturing plant initiated after an employee sustained a partial amputation of two fingers and a broken wrist in November 2010. The willful violation concerned the deliberate removal of support equipment while welding sections of wind towers together, which caused the sections to slide and led to the amputation.