OSHA has cited Williams & Davis Boilers Inc. with nine safety violations - including one willful, four repeat and four serious - for continuing to expose workers to fall and other hazards at the company's facility in Hutchins. Proposed penalties total $131,670.

A May inspection was conducted as a follow-up to another in July 2011.

The willful violation involves operating a 10-ton overhead crane without bridge brakes and failing to ensure that the crane had sufficient clearance to prevent the bridge from striking the building.

The repeat violations include failing to protect workers from fall hazards while jacketing boilers 4-10 feet above the floor, ensure that workers are trained to safely operate powered industrial trucks, ensure that workroom floors are kept clean and dry, and keep pendent controls on overhead cranes clean so that the function labels are legible. Similar violations were cited during the 2011 inspection.

The serious violations include failing to ensure that personal protective equipment is designed and constructed for the work performed, implement confined space entry procedures for workers who perform welding duties inside de-aerators and boilers, establish energy control procedures for machinery with more than one energy source and ensure that powered industrial trucks are taken out of service when in need of repair.

"This employer is well aware of the hazards to workers and has had several opportunities to come into compliance with OSHA's safety standards. Instead, the employer has continued to allow the conditions to exist while putting workers at risk of injury or much worse," said Stephen Boyd, OSHA's area director in Dallas.

The citations can be viewed at http://www.osha.gov/ooc/citations/Williams_and_Davis_Boilers_432852_1114_12.pdf*.