OSHA cites Ansonia Copper and Brass

brass is bad

push then out of the state like the goverment want's.... lets not try to help them fine fine fine how could they repair the issues when they pay so much in tax's, high cost of utility's and the high cost of doing bussiness in the rich spolied state

Mr S, your ignorance is showing. The company could have called in OSHA before this happened to do an inspection voluntarily where OSHA officials would have done an audit to help guide the company on what to correct without fear of fines, etc. What the article is talking about would only have occured after a high number of serious injuries or a worker complaint about conditions. The company will have a sufficient amount of time to repair whats wrong before the fine is actually due. Read up before you make stupid comments.

its the valley folks...so what? if some guy gets cancer or sucked into a press with no guards on it so what?????? go down to the local bar and pickup a couple of valley folk to run the machine they are a dime a dozen!

I have done contract work at that place a few years ago. I'll just say that I probably lost some years off my life in that foundry! What a disgusting, filthy place. One of my friends almost died from an explosion, faulty componants, but they spent no money on upkeep. I'm not surprised of the OSHA fines.

valley girl wrote:

its the valley folks...so what? if some guy gets cancer or sucked into a press with no guards on it so what?????? go down to the local bar and pickup a couple of valley folk to run the machine they are a dime a dozen!

valley girls are a dime a dozen too :)

I know what OSHA tries to is supposed to be a good thing, but who are they to come on to private property as a non profit orginazation and start issuing out fines. They are not employed by the government. All these companies need to do is say no to paying these ridiculous fines and tell them to stay off the property. If these big corporations grew some spines and took back control of their companies from the unions, maybe prices on goods would be lower.

In reply to "Mike" just so you get your facts correct...The Waterbury Tube Mill does NOT, I repeat does NOT have a foundry. The foundry is located in their main plant in Ansonia. Regardless of where the foundry is located I'll grant you it IS a very dangerous job but the employees are trained. If employees chose to IGNORE their training & do things that "cut corners" to makes things go faster then SHAME ON THEM! And the way some employees handle the equipment with shameful disregard that cause some of the "alleged violations" is downright disgusting. But what the heck, the cost didn't come out of their pocket. Some have the attitude of "Heh,I didn't pay for it.....so what if it breaks? I don't have to pay to fix it"! They fail to realize that their ignorance can cause a fellow employee physical harm or worse....they fail to see the big picture.

I used to work at the Ansonia plant but have quit and feel much better now. If you think 210,000 is a lot of fines, then osha should visit Ansonia, McGee is selling hi #& baghouse because it has been spewing cadmium and other heavy metals over Ansonia residents for years, while the brain dead idiots with conosha have been looking at petty stuff like extension cords or leaking forklifts. How about inspectiog the Extrusion dept. or casting during a rainy day and seeing the water leaking into the 13,800 volt power panels ! That;s impressive !

By the way, Sarah..welcome to the real world. i worked there for over 30 years. dont talk about idiot workers. the only idiot here is you. the real danger to the valley is ray mcgee and larry ford. together they have destroyed and bankrupted a business that is over 150 years old. they have lined their pockets with government money. thats the only reason the waterbury plant is still open. so the next time you put your pen in gear, make sure you have solid facts and your brain is engaged.

DEAR SARA - Are you larry Ford in disguise? because you sound STUPID! I know Mike, He ment Ansonia as in Liscensed E-1 electrician and I am the guy that almost got killed because of poorly maintained equipment. It's people like you who help start wars because of your vague comments.

finally someone is taking money out of mcGee pockets, that what he deserve for destroying 80 peoples lifes. he should fired Larry ford so that way he will have his yearly salary to pay for the fines.

I worked there, they have no concern for the employee's safety. They do no maintainance on the machines, they deserve the OSHA fines. The people working there have families and should be able to work in a decent place. The Ansonia plant is over run with stray cats and stinks like cat urine. 2 years ago when I left there were over 300 cats there. There is no heat for the workers in the buildings untill mid December, yet the offices are a cozy 68 degrees and if the heat goes down men are pulled off of jobs to fix it. What Ray McGee did was ruin over 250 peoples lives since he took over. Over the years the Brass has been fined repeatly by OSHA and the UNion always bails him out.

Sara, after reading your comment it's obvious you have no clue what you are talking about, employess aren't given the proper training I know i had 2 days training on a job and was told to do it and almost lost my left eye. The proper equipment is rarley given out, I had to wait a year for safety equipment on a job i ran and the only reason it was given to me OSHA stepped in. I was over the 10 times 8 hour exposeure limit in 2 hours. I know it's my fault right, my kids have no reason to want to see there father healthy do they. I also had Asbestos falling on me and was told it was no big deal. Learn the facts before you run your mouth, you sound like an iddiot to the people who know what really goes on in that place.

Rob wrote:

I know what OSHA tries to is supposed to be a good thing, but who are they to come on to private property as a non profit orginazation and start issuing out fines. They are not employed by the government. All these companies need to do is say no to paying these ridiculous fines and tell them to stay off the property. If these big corporations grew some spines and took back control of their companies from the unions, maybe prices on goods would be lower.

Wait, what? OSHA is a federally mandated agency created by Nixon in the 1970s to protect workers from unsafe environments. The only time OHSA is called into a workplace is for a complaint, 3 serious injuries, or a death. They inspectors no different from the DOT guys who inspect buses or the DOE guys who inspect nuclear plants. If the company refused OSHA inspection, they'd simply get a warrant and be escorted in by the police, and then the company would just be put that much further under the mircoscope...

The $200k in OSHA fines is a bargain considering the potential multi-million dollar lawsuit the company would get slapped with in the event of an employee death. This place ahould have received an OSHA Cease Operations Order, especially since they have a history of non-compliance.

A lawsuit would never happen, worker's compensation insurance would cover the employee's death. There have been so many close calls there it's incredible. What amazes me is the Ansonia plant was 100 times worse than Waterbury, but OSHA never got them for a large amount like that, but then again the union guys always helped the company out to reduce the fines or abate them. Ray McGee never cared about the employee's there and he should be jailed for what he did to the employee's there. After taking over as CEO for the company he managed to drive the stock into the ground, which was basicly the employee's retirement plan, then bought the place for 500 g's at that time there were 450 employee's, Ray then laid off and laid off had people doing jobs they didn't know. Striped the maintainence dept to nothing so there were no repairs, just band aids. It was a dangerous job even when things ran right but with everything rigged I can't belive no died there. So OSHA is right in doing what they have done the only thing they do wrong is not putting people who are in charge of safety behind bars.

To read the posts, you would think it wasn't a financially failing business before RM. It was, he couldn't change the path, thus the remianing jobs died.

This has been a long time coming.

Its' a tough industry to make money in, and I know from having spent years at a much larger corp in the same business.

Its' a dangerous industry-doesn't mean they shouldn't be fined, but yes, Sarah, I too have seen worker indifference make the dangers already present far worse.

Don't let your feelings about trying to find new jobs (those who have been fired from this corp) cloud your views of the facts. This has been a mainly failing corp for a long, long time. Valley mfg has by and large, been downsizing and unprofitable, for a long, long time.

Over 20 c-30's were filed with the Waterbury workman;s compensation commissioner in 2006, All of them for Cadmium exposure in the casting shop. Where did OSHA go? I have seen their safety man in action, he takes an air sample and it comes back high, they throw away the results and retest in the same area but use fans and open doors for better ventilation and keep re-testing until the readings are acceptable. McGee and his clowns should all be put behind bars and fed heavy metals like they did us!

Yes Willie, I worked in metal storage and saw both safety men putting up fans blowing clean outside air twords the metering devices. In addition, they took a wipe sample on the air conditioner lovers in the casting break room and those came back high too. The safety man said it was from guys putting dirty gloves on the a.c. I think it was bag house dust leaking into air intake of the A.C unit outside.