OSHA cites Six Flags Great America with 34 safety violations

[BrianPlencner]

An article in today's Daily Herald mentions that Great America garnered 34 safety violation citations and $117,000 in recommended fines.

The violations include failure to use approved pumps to dispense flammable liquids and improper storage; sprinkler heads in a spray booth covered with unapproved polyethylene bags; exits not properly marked; damaged ladders; inoperable eyewash station; improper machine guarding for wood and metal cutting equipment; circuit breaker boxes used to disconnect machines not properly marked for lockout/tagout procedures which are intended to prevent inadvertent machine start-ups OSHA said in its report.

Full Story at:<a href="http://dailyherald.com/story/?id=34947" class="news" target="blank"> The Daily Herald</a>

[Jackluver18]

So what's gonna happen to our park with FF coming up?

[Sireze]

oooooo they in trouble. LOL

[Trailblazer Tony]

wow! I thought my work getting 3 was bad, lol.

[Cryptkeeper]

It kind of makes you wonder...is Six Flags cutting corners/going cheap and not making the work place as safe as it should be, or is OSHA just being picky? No matter what it is, it's good that OSHA is around to keep companies honest and work places safe for employees.

[FParker185]

$117,700.... for 38 violations, that's it? SFGAm better pull out their checkbook and cut a check before OSHA comes to their senses, SFGAm can make off like bandits in this one. I've seen a single safety violation with more than half that figure threatened as a fine.

[FParker185]

I dont see the edit button for some reason, but OHSA is always picky, they always find something no matter what, if they dont find something they'll make something up.

[sfgam1992]

They are talking about this on cbs news in a couple of minutes.

[Jackluver18]

Will they get this solved by Fright Fest? What's gonna happen I didn't get to watch the special on it.

[RagingBullFan]

This has nothing to do with visible park operation, it all has to do with the safety of the employees, usually maintenance employees. Its things like changing ladders or unblocking exits, and then paying the fines.

Really its being blown way out of proportion.

[demon boy]

Yeah, these 34 things really cant be that hard to fix. If it means replacing things, its most likely going to cost way less than the fine. And if the park isnt lazy, they should have no problem fixing everything befor FF.

[Trailblazer Tony]

This has nothing to do with visible park operation, it all has to do with the safety of the employees, usually maintenance employees. Its things like changing ladders or unblocking exits, and then paying the fines.

Really its being blown way out of proportion.

Did they mention this in any of the articles or TV specials or am I going to hear all day long how unsafe and dangerous Six Flags is?!

[T.K.]

I think Six Flags is very safe for employees. Extremly safe.

[Galvan317]

This doesnt mean anything, its a good thing the media didnt get SFMM's OSHA bill

[bbadger187]

I think that OSHA went a little crazy. Safety is the parks number one priority. If you took a fine tooth comb to any place that large, you could probably find lots of technicalities that are being violated. I'm just hoping that this one little inspection doesn't cause any future problems.

[FParker185]

/\

That's exactly why OHSA was there in the first place.

Also you have to fix the stuff and pay the fine, it's not an or, if you dont fix it by the deadline the fine goes up exponentially.

[cycamps]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it didn't seem like the violations were too bad.

[zjohn1988]

I dont see the edit button for some reason, but OHSA is always picky, they always find something no matter what, if they dont find something they'll make something up.

No actually all that is pretty much true. I'm glad OHSA is taking action, but I don't think it will affect much for SFGAm's employee safety, which is not the greatest.

[zjohn1988]

I think that OSHA went a little crazy. Safety is the parks number one priority.

For guests.

[Trailblazer Tony]

^And that is the number 1 motto in retail!

[exsfga_employee]

I think Six Flags is very safe for employees. Extremly safe.

Who the hell are you kidding? You must be a brainwashed seasonal employee. I worked in Maintnaince for 3 years and let me tell you, they don't care about employee safety. That's the main reason I left. My only regret is that I didn't get to see the action. I can honestly tell you that with what I saw, Great America got a slap on the scrotum compared to what they shouldv'e gotten. The vehicles they drive around in aren't even safe. You can tell that just by looking at the vehicles driving by while you're waiting in line on the bridge at Eagle. They don't do any real maintnance to their vehicles. They're falling apart! The maintnance shop doesn't even have good ventilation. It surprises me that none of those guys have cancer from all the shit in the air over there. Forklift fumes, paint fumes, and whatever else they're using. It sucks!

[RagingBullFan]

The vehicles that are driven around don't need to be safe.

As private property the vehicles don't need to pass emission inspection or meet any other requirements.

Also the speed limit on the back roads is supposed to be 10 MPH. Anything more and the accident is your fault....

Maintenance for vehicles used to be done by a dedicated vehicle shop, until the budget for that was removed. Now each area works on their own vehicles on a as needed basis.

There is plenty of ventilation too... Just because it smells bad doesn't make it unsafe. Plus all painting and fiberglass work is done in separately ventilated areas..

[exsfga_employee]

The vehicles that are driven around don't need to be safe.

As private property the vehicles don't need to pass emission inspection or meet any other requirements.

Also the speed limit on the back roads is supposed to be 10 MPH. Anything more and the accident is your fault....

Don't need to be safe? Vehicle safety does not only protect the driver, but the pedestrians as well. How many seasonal employees actually look before they cross the road? I would guess roughly 5%. The rest just walk across assuming you'll stop for them. One of the things GA was cited for was the brakes on the vehicles. What happens when the braking system or some other system fails and a vehicle can't stop or moves unexpectadly? The plush warehouse vehicle had a problem for quite some time where it would suddenly go in reverse while sitting idle. Don't tell me the vehicles don't need to be safe. That's a load of crap. No, better yet, keep saying that! It only corroborates my statements.

The vehicles required inspections by the state until SF decided not to renew the tags on all the vehicles.

The speed limit is 10 down the center road, but 15 on the outer roads. Chris Fox said he was going to raise it to 15 and 20. Has he done it yet? It doesn't matter, everyone goes faster than that anyways! You have to when you're running around like a decapitated chicken because they don't have enough people to get everything done on time.

That building is not adequately ventilated. Yes, the fiberglass shop has a room seperated by a garage door and a couple walls, but the spray booth is not adequately ventilated. It sucked every time they used it!

Your brain cells are just too far gone to comprihend the dangers there. Who are you anyways?

[RagingBullFan]

If any vehicle had faulty brakes it was the responsibility of that department to bring it in to maintenance. If they didn't tell us anything was wrong, how would we know?

People in my zone did quite a few brake jobs for the ride mechanics vehicles. If other vehicles were brought in for that they did work on them too. If they weren't brought in, we weren't going to go looking for a problem, we were too busy with other things.

And if the spray booth wasn't properly ventilated OSHA would've cited them for it, but they didn't, because it meets code.

Now thats not to say that I didn't see lots of unsafe things, I did in my time there... But I think your complaining about the wrong things...

[demon boy]

I thik ex has a point. The vehicles should be safe. Just because they dont have to be by regulations, doesnt mean they cant do it just because they care. As far as i'm consirned, the employees make the park. Heres how it would go.

Unsafe vehicle=accident=injured or deceased employee=loss for that department. Nothing gets done to fix the problem and eventually no more employees=no more six flags.

Even though they dont have to have something, doesnt mean they shouldnt happen. Bullfan, you're basically supporting the designers of the Titanic in an amusement industry set. For the TItanic, they only needed by law i think 26 life boats. But to accomodate everyone, they needed around 100. Look what happened, no more Titanic. The same thing could happen here. Safety is important, guests and employees.