OSHA to fine Jewel $75K for safety violations at Franklin Park warehouse

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The Jewel-Osco distribution center on 17th Avenue in Franklin Park was cited by OSHA last week for safety violations related to its refrigeration systems. | Mark Lawton~Sun-Times Media

Updated: January 23, 2012 2:44AM

Jewel Food Stores could face up to $75,000 in fines for safety violations in the handling of ammonia refrigeration systems at a Franklin Park food warehouse/distribution center.

The U.S. Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspectors noted 10 serious violations among 13 total violations at the Franklin Park facility, according to a release from OSHA.

They included one repeat violation for failing to develop and implement written operating procedures consistent with process safety information that provided clear instruction for safely conducting each covered process, the release said. Jewel was cited for the same violation in March 2010.

Ten serious violations included failing to document inspections and tests performed on process equipment; not performing inspections and tests at manufacturers’ recommendations; not following generally accepted good engineering practices when performing inspections and testing; and not annually certifying that operation procedures were current and accurate.

Additionally, the process safety information did not include the safe upper and lower limits of items such as temperatures, pressures, flows or compositions; and did not include piping and instrument diagrams. Finally, the hazard analysis did not address the hazards of the process and operating procedures, and did not address normal operations for each operating phase.

Two other-than-serious violations were noted for failing to maintain a contract employee injury and illness log, and lacking procedures for handling small releases of ammonia in the emergency action plan.

OSHA has given Jewel 15 days to respond.

“They can set up an informal conference with OSHA and talk about getting the issues abated and a settlement, or they can appeal it to a review commission,” said OSHA spokesman Scott Allen. “If they do that, it could go on a while.”

That might be the case. Karen May, external communications manager for Jewel-Osco, e-mailed that, “while we are still in the process of fully evaluating the citations, we believe a number of them lack merit both factually and legally and we intend to contest these citations.”

The facility received two citations from OSHA during a March 2010 inspection, Allen said. One citation was contested and settled. The other was deleted.

Allen says OSHA is not overly concerned with penalties.

“The goal is to have all the issues corrected and abated,” Allen said. “Our objective is worker safety. If they come in with quick results, we’ll consider reducing charges.”

The village of Franklin Park also inspects the Jewel facility, though for sanitary violations. Village Health Inspector Kathleen Kuffer e-mailed that the facility has been cited in the past for minor violations, “nothing critical from a health sanitation standpoint.”

Her most recent inspection was in March, where she found walls that needed to be repaired due to pallet and stocking damage and door sweeps that needed to be replaced. The door sweeps were replaced within the week.

Jewel has six months to correct non-critical violations, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.

— STM contributed to this report