Tampa-Officials at Howard Fertilizer & Chemical Co.’s Groveland facility want it known that they’re not running an unsafe plant, despite facing 23 violations along with $236,000 in penalty fines imposed by OSHA. Howard spokesman Michael Brooks declined to talk about the specifics of the OSHA charges because “we are going into negotiations and as in the past have not commented on on-going investigations.” But Brooks insisted that “despite what is being said we have spent sizeable chunks of money on equipment and facilities to protect our employees. With all the things that are going on and all the moving parts, we watch everything very carefully and we care.” OSHA’s Tampa branch announced that an inspection at Groveland resulted in $138,000 in safety penalties, $72,000 in repeat violations, and $26,000 in equipment and structural maintenance fees. OSHA officials said the violations involved not installing railings on open-sided catwalks, failing to provide machine guards on equipment, exposing employees to vulnerable electrical hazards, and failing to keep up maintenance on catwalks and electrical equipment, among other violations. “This company is putting its employees’ lives at risk by failing to correct serious safety hazards and to educate its employees about these hazards,” said Les Grove, OSHA’s Tampa area director.
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