Graf Custom Hardwood Faces OSHA Violations

April 6, 2023, Portsmouth, OH--Appalachian Wood Floors Inc., which operates as Graf Custom Hardwood, has been cited by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for multiple safety violations involving worker injuries.

As a result of an October inspection, OSHA recently cited the company for six repeated and 12 serious safety violations involving machine safety procedures, trip hazards for surfaces filled with debris and various electrical safety violations. The company faces additional proposed penalties of $333,693 and has been placed in OSHA’s Severe Violator Enforcement Program.

The October inspection marked the third time in five months that federal safety inspectors responded to the Portsmouth, Ohio hardwood flooring mill to investigate reports of unsafe machinery. Two of those inspections involved worker’s injuries, the latest on October 5, 2022, when a worker’s fingertip was partially amputated because it was caught in an unguarded belt and pulley.

Inspectors determined the mill’s lack of guarding, safety procedures and training exposed employees to machine hazards. 

The company has 15 business days from receipt of the citations and penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA’s area director, or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.