Workers at the Fuyao Glass America plant in Moraine have filed a list of complaints with the Occupational Health and Safety Administration. In a May 5th letter to OSHA, eleven Fuyao employees detailed strong allegations of safety hazards allegedly present in Moraine plant.
The letter states workers have had hand lacerations and even lost fingertips using some of the cutting equipment. They cite a lack of safety guards and lockout features on dangerous equipment and describe potentially life-threatening situations and a lack of procedures for filing accident reports to plant managers.
Nicholas Tannenbaum has worked at Fuyao since October, and while he says he loves working at the plant, there are serious safety issues that need to be addressed.
“And it’s not to get Fuyao in trouble. That’s not our goal here. Our goal is to make us safe, make that environment more comfortable, that workplace safe, make us a better Fuyao," he said.
Only 11 workers of about 1400 at the plant signed the letter to OSHA, yet Tannenbaum says employees throughout the plant want safer conditions.
“We’ve had people come in a see some of the safety concerns and not come back.”
Fuyao CEO John Gauthier says the company is disappointed to learn about the letter in media reports instead of hearing directly from employees.
"We will do everything we can, and we’re working as fast as we can to identify and address the issues as quickly as possible, but what we’re asking our employees to do is to work with us and give us to work together to address these issues. You know, we want to work together as one Fuyao team,” he said.
The CEO adds that Fuyao has recently added one staff member to a human resources department team dedicated to addressing safety issues.
Fuyao is already addressing several violations cited by OSHA during a site visit last month. The new employee complaints sent to OSHA were filed through the United Auto Workers Union.
A representative from the UAW says, although they’re in the process of trying to unionize workers at the Moraine plant, the eleven Fuyao employees approached them for help in drafting the letter.