American Airlines fined for O'Hare violations
The Department of Labor on Thursday proposed $231,000 in fines against American Airlines for its operations at O'Hare International Airport.
The Dallas-based airline, which has a hub at O'Hare, made multiple, repeated, serious and willful safety violations, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
"This is a very significant penalty being proposed," said Brad Mitchell, a spokesman for the Labor Department. "The average safety penalty is usually well below $50,000."
Both OSHA and American Airlines stressed passenger safety was not affected by the alleged worker safety violations.
OSHA added that injuries have not been reported to the government, but the agency issued citations for machine guarding, electrical violations, trip and fall hazards, blocked exits and improper storage of oxygen and acetylene cylinders.
"As part of American's Partnership For Safety program, the airline's workplace safety record overall, and at (O'Hare) in particular, has improved significantly in the past two years, and we are working toward further safety improvements," said American Airlines in a statement. "In Chicago, from 2004 through 2006, there has been an almost 40 percent improvement in the number of cases where an employee lost time at work due to injury."
American has already fixed most of the alleged violations and is in the process of fixing the remainder, the company said.
The airline denies any of the alleged violations were "willful."
"American is taking lessons learned from this experience to further improve its safety training and practices," the airline said.
Nationally, American Airlines has been inspected by OSHA 66 times since 2004 and citations were issued 37 times, according to the agency.
At O'Hare, American Airlines has been inspected 10 times since 2000 and five inspections resulted in citations.
"Falls, electrical hazards, machine guarding and energy lockout issues are problems that should not exist at any work site and can be avoided if an employer is dedicated to protecting employees," said Diane Turek, director of OSHA's Chicago North Area Office in Des Plaines.
OSHA's proposed fines are subject to appeals.