An industrial rubber hose manufacturer that has frequently been cited for unsafe working conditions has been hit with more than a dozen additional violations by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

OSHA shared March 26 that its most recent inspection of HBD/Thermoid Inc.’s Bellefontaine, OH factory resulted in 14 safety violations — including two willful and 11 serious — related to a lack of adequate machine guarding, electrical safe work practices, training and lockout/tagout procedures.

The inspection followed an October 2023 complaint. It was OSHA’s eighth investigation into HBD Thermoid since 2013.

For those violations, OSHA assessed the company $321,489 in proposed penalties.

That inspection came as OSHA was still investigating an June 2023 incident at the same facility in which a 25-year-old employee suffered severe crushing injuries that the agency said could have been prevented if the company had followed required safety measures. 

For that incident, OSHA cited the company in December 2023 for two repeat violations, one willful violation, one serious and one other-than-serious violation and assessed $389,534 in proposed penalties. OSHA said HBD Thermoid is contesting those citations.

The company also received a citation in March 2023 for a lack of machine guarding on the same equipment involved in the June incident.

“The lack of safety procedures throughout the HBD/Thermoid plant and the company’s inaction shows that they remain indifferent to their obligation to protect their employees,” said Toledo, OH-based Area Director Todd Jensen in the agency’s March 26 news release. “For more than a decade, the company has jeopardized its employees’ well-being by not making workplace safety and health a priority.”

HBD Thermoid is a wholly-owned subsidiary of HBD Industries in Dublin, Ireland. The company also operates manufacturing facilities in Chanute, KS and Oneida, TN, making industrial hoses, conveyor belting and duct materials for a range of industries.