OSHA has cited Jay-Em Aerospace Inc. with 18 safety and health violations, including one willful safety violation for failing to provide adequate machine guarding on equipment at the aircraft landing gear manufacturer's Cuyahoga Falls facility. Proposed fines total $87,200.

Upon receiving a complaint, OSHA opened an investigation Nov. 7 under the agency's national emphasis program to prevent amputations. The program targets workplaces with machinery that has caused, or is capable of causing, amputation injuries.

"Failing to have proper machine guarding unnecessarily places workers at an increased risk for amputations and other injuries," said Howard Eberts, OSHA's area director in Cleveland.

Twelve serious safety violations involve failing to establish energy control procedures, ensure employees used lockout/tagout procedures for the energy sources of equipment prior to conducting maintenance and servicing, assess the workplace to determine required personal protective equipment such as safety glasses, properly train workers who operate powered industrial trucks, conduct annual crane inspections, remove defective web slings from service, provide point-of-operation guards for mechanical presses and flywheels, and conduct weekly press inspections.

Four serious health violations involve failing to maintain spray booths free of combustible residue, develop a written respiratory protection program, train workers on the use of fire extinguishers and develop a written hazard communication program to train workers on chemicals in the workplace.

One other-than-serious health violation has been cited for failing to provide operational pressure gauges on spray booths to ensure that adequate airflow was maintained in the booths.