IOSH Cites Titan for Multiple `Serious' and `Willful' Safety Violations
10 March 2000
USWA: IOSH Cites Titan for Multiple `Serious' and `Willful' Safety Violations In Fiery Death of Trucker
DES MOINES, Iowa, March 9 The following was released today
by the United Steelworkers of America (USWA):
The Iowa Occupational Safety and Health Bureau (IOSH) announced Tuesday
that the safety agency has proposed to fine Titan Tire Corp. of Iowa, $150,000
for a number of "willful" and "serious" violations of the Occupational Safety
and Health Act. The violations occurred before and during events related to a
fiery explosion that killed truck driver Douglas Oswald, 25, on Nov. 24, 1999.
Titan Tire Corp. is a subsidiary of Titan International Inc. ,
headquartered in Quincy, Ill.
IOSH cited Titan with two willful safety violations in the deadly fire.
According to IOSH officials, willful violations are extremely rare and the
state issued only five such violations in the last fiscal year.
Preceding the explosion, nearly 2,000 gallons of highly flammable liquid
heptane off-loaded from a truck driven by Oswald, spilled onto the ground at
the Titan plant for more than an hour. The citation said that the company
failed to construct an adequate spill containment system in the area where the
chemical was being off-loaded, and, in fact, the existing system "diverted
spilled heptane away from the containment system to a public street."
According to fire officials, a spark from a passing car then ignited the
explosion that fatally burned Oswald.
In the second willful violation, IOSH cited Titan for failing to develop
or execute an emergency response plan in the case of such emergencies. The
proposed fines for the two willful violations total $140,000.
IOSH also proposed to fine Titan $10,000 for a number of serious
violations related to the explosion including failing to exchange basic safety
information with Oswald and contractors who had been working in the area where
the explosion took place.
Titan officials have not commented on the situation and may appeal the
decision.
"We've been expecting this announcement, but it certainly brings us no
joy," said USWA Local 164 President John Peno. "We've been saying for months,
for years, that Titan International Inc. is an outlaw corporation that does
not obey the most basic workplace health and safety laws. We feared someone
would be killed in this plant if Titan did not change its dangerous practices.
Titan did not change and a man is dead.
"Hopefully though, this citation will give the Oswald family some solace
in their grief, and they can see that the process of achieving justice in this
case has begun.
"Though we anticipate that Titan will appeal and drag IOSH through the
courts -- as they have done with every other safety violation before -- we are
confident that IOSH will pursue these fines and that Titan will eventually pay
them.
"More importantly though, we have to understand that this case is not an
isolated incident. Titan has consistently defied IOSH and the law in the state
of Iowa by barring investigators even while injured workers were being hauled
from the plant in ambulances in front of them. IOSH had to eventually go to
the Iowa Supreme Court to enforce a contempt citation so their inspectors
could enter the plant.
"And just a couple of weeks ago the company fired a Machinist union
president and steward at the Titan Wheel plant in Walcott, Iowa, after they
accompanied IOSH inspectors on a number of IOSH health and safety inspection
visits at that plant.
"Similarly, just a few days ago, Titan was charged with contempt of court
in Natchez, Miss. for illegally barring OSHA investigators at the Titan Tire
plant there. And, in the recent past, Titan was fined tens of thousands of
dollars for OSHA violations in Quincy, Ill.
"At nearly every Titan facility there is ample documentation of serious
injuries including mutilations, amputations, broken bones and other injuries.
In February, Progressive Magazine published a major investigative article
featuring Titan's tainted health and safety record. Titan has recently lost
hundreds of thousands of dollars in two lawsuits when injured workers sued the
company for discrimination under the American with Disabilities Act (ADA). It
goes on and on and on ...
"And it will continue to go on and on until we as a community -- through
our elected political leadership and our legal system -- use every means
available to force this company to obey the laws and norms that the rest of
society must live by. It will continue to go on and on until Titan
International Inc. CEO Morry Taylor and his managers are personally held
responsible for the despicable, unlawful working conditions and deplorable
safety records that have become commonplace in facilities owned and operated
by the company."
Titan Tire Corp. of Des Moines forced 670 members of USWA Local 164 into
an Unfair Labor Practice Strike on May 1, 1998. Three hundred and thirty
members of USWA Local 303L in Natchez, Miss. were forced into an Unfair Labor
Practice Strike by Titan Tire of Natchez Inc. on Sept. 14, 1998. Both
companies are subsidiaries of Titan International Inc., whose CEO is Morry
Taylor of Quincy, Ill. Titan is a global builder and distributor of
agricultural, off-road and construction tires, wheels and related equipment.
The company employs about 3,500 workers in the United States and about 1,500
abroad.
Contact: Tom Johnson, 515-262-8511, or John Peno, 515-262-8134. Both are
with the USWA.
Visit the USWA's Web site at http://www.uswa.org.