OSHA Seeks $3.3-Million Fine on Budd Co. for Safety Offenses

The government today proposed $3.3 million in fines against a Philadelphia company cited for more than 800 alleged violations of safety standards, including failing to tell some employees that their hearing was failing.

The proposed fine of the Budd Co., which manufactures automobile panels such as doors and lift gates, was the fifth largest ever levied by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The company has 15 days to contest the citations and fine.

OSHA, in issuing 840 citations against Budd, alleged that the company committed 492 violations of safety standards designed to protect workers against excessive noise and hearing loss.

Of those, 124 citations were for allegedly failing to inform employees that company-administered tests had shown their hearing had deteriorated.

Officials at the Philadelphia plant referred calls seeking comment to the company’s corporate office in Troy, Mich. Messages left at a spokesman’s office there were not immediately returned.