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State fines staffing firm $77,600 for safety violations

January 30, 2015

Washington state fined staffing firm Leadpoint Business Services $77,600 this week and cited it for 22 serious safety violations at a material recovery center in Vancouver, Wash. Staffing client employer Waste Connections Inc. was cited for 23 serious violations and fined $100,000.

Many of the violations centered on unsafe entry and work in confined space, according to the Washington Department of Labor & Industries. Seven of the citations were for lock-out/tag-out” violations and more than a dozen citations were related to failure to implement safe work practices for entering a permit-required confined space.

The department began an investigation in July after a Leadpoint worker was hospitalized from injuries received while doing maintenance on a “screen sorter,” a conveyor system used to sort and separate recyclable materials.

The companies have 15 days to appeal.