UPDATE: Fuyao to pay $100K in workplace safety violations

Fuyao Glass America announced it has resolved its regulatory issues with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, after initially being fined nearly $227,000 in penalties in November.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s watchdog office found multiple machine safety violations, which exposed workers to amputation and other serious injuries. OSHA officials said they received complaints from within the company about “deplorable” working conditions.

A representative of Fuyao said the company will now pay $100,000 in penalties, and the amount of proposed serious violations was reduced from 28 proposed serious violations to 10 serious violations.

OSHA said it had conducted eight inspections at the Moraine plant before announcing the proposed penalties. At the time, OSHA said it was responding to what it called “23 serious safety violations and one other-than-serious violation.”

» INVESTIGATION: Workplace deaths not among top OSHA fines

In a statement that month, Ken Montgomery, OSHA’s area director in Cincinnati, said, “Fuyao Glass America needs to protect its workers. Period. Since Fuyao began operations in October 2015, we have received multiple complaints and conducted eight inspections at the facility. We found safety and health violations in six of them.”

The company said it has worked with the agency to ensure the Moraine plant is up to code. The company said it has invested more than $7 million in safety measures within the last several months.

An agreement has been reached, but it has not been formally signed yet, according to OSHA. When the agency issues a citation to an employer, the two parties could resolve the matter and eliminate the hazard, according to an OSHA document.

» RELATED: Fuyao fined $227K for unsafe working conditions

“Over the past year, our team of health and safety professionals — including nurses, specialists, engineers and outside contractors — have worked tirelessly to develop innovative safety solutions,” said Jeff Daochuan Liu, president of Fuyao Glass America Inc. “We are committed to maintaining a safe working environment for our employees.”

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