Laundry Company Fined After Employee Injured by Industrial Dryer

The US Department of Labor cited a commercial laundry company, Cooperative Laundry, for alleged workplace safety hazards after an employee injury at its Kearny, N.J. facility, and proposed $252,994 in penalties, the agency said.

Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspectors determined that on Jan. 18, a worker suffered serious injuries while performing maintenance on an industrial dryer at the facility. The agency cited Cooperative Laundry for three willful and nine serious violations for failing to evaluate permit required confined spaces, notify employees of the confined spaces, develop a permit confined space program, and utilize lockout/tagout procedures to prevent accidental machine ...