After a Graphic Packaging International Inc. employee suffered a severe injury in June 2014 when the worker's hand was caught in a moving printing press, OSHA cited the West Monroe, Louisiana company for 28 safety violations. Proposed penalties total $129,000.

Agency investigators in the Baton Rouge Area Office cited the company for 26 serious safety violations, with a penalty of $127,000. Workers were exposed to machinery hazards; failure to guard all nip points, or pinch points, on large printing presses; and failure to implement lockout/tagout procedures to shut down the equipment properly to protect workers during maintenance and repair.

Graphic Packaging also failed to inspect for defective slings, attachments and fastenings used to handle material; provide guardrails on platforms above dangerous machinery; and review annually the confined space program. A serious violation occurs when there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known. Additionally, Graphic Packaging was fined $2,000 for other electrical hazards and failure to illuminate an exit sign.

View the citations at http://www.osha.gov/ooc/citations/GraphicPackagingInternationalInc_985868_1219_14.pdf and
http://www.osha.gov/ooc/citations/GraphicPackagingInternationalInc_983594_1219_14.pdf

In addition to the West Monroe packaging plant, Graphic Packaging also owns and operates a nearby paper mill. Graphic Packaging employs more than 9,000 workers, with more than 400 at the West Monroe plant.