OSHA: Amityville company fined for hazards

An Amityville metal fabrication company has been slapped with additional fines of nearly $139,000 for failing to correct hazardous conditions cited in a 2011 inspection, a federal safety agency said Thursday.

After a worker was injured at Simtek in June 2011, the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited the company for 20 violations of workplace safety standards, including missing or incomplete energy-control procedures and various electrical standards, the agency said.

Fines from those citations totaled $60,600.

After a follow-up inspection in January, the agency found the company had failed to correct half of the violations from the 2011 inspection, and inspectors also found additional infractions.

As a result, Simtek has been fined an additional $138,765, the agency said.

"This employer was required to correct all hazards cited during our last inspection and had ample opportunity to do so, yet almost half of the violations were never corrected while others were allowed to recur," said Anthony Ciuffo, director of OSHA's Long Island area office in Westbury.

Uncorrected violations from the January inspection carry $109,725 in fines, the agency said in a news release.

Additionally, citations with $26,400 in fines have been issued for four repeat violations involving hazards similar to those cited during the previous inspection. These include a locked exit door, misused electrical equipment and unprotected power cords, OSHA said.

Also, a citation with a $2,640 fine has been issued for one serious violation involving circuit breakers blocked by a gas tank and a welding machine.

Calls were made to Simtek Thursday seeking comment but no one at the listed number answered the phone.