The US Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued Ohio auto parts manufacturer Sunfield Inc. 57 citations for safety violations, claiming the company willfully exposed temporary workers to machine hazards.

The agency also proposed the company pay more than $3.42 million in total fines, one of the largest OSHA penalties ever filed against a company in the automotive parts industry.

OSHA on June 29 issued citations for 46 egregious willful, two willful, one repeated and eight serious safety violations with penalties totaling $3.4 million to Sunfield. The agency also placed the company in OSHA’s Severe Violator Enforcement Program for failure to address these safety hazards. Most of the violations involve lack of machine safety procedures, exposing workers to risk of amputation, lacerations and other injuries.

OSHA cited three staffing agencies — Atrium Personnel and iforce of Heath, as well as Employers Overload of Newark — for failing to provide lockout/tagout training for affected employees and for failing to provide mechanical power press safe operation training prior to sending temporary employees to the site. Each company faces proposed penalties of $7,000.

Federal investigators inspected Sunfield’s Hebron plant after two workers suffered severe injuries in separate incidents in January and February 2016. The OSHA investigation found:

• On Jan. 6, a 22-year-old male temporary worker employed by the staffing agency Employers Overload suffered multiple lacerations and a fractured right elbow while removing scrap from a blanking press after operating machine parts caught his arm because safety light curtains were not operating correctly. OSHA’s investigation found a supervisor had identified the safety issue two hours prior to the injury and failed to place the equipment out of service.
• On Feb. 18, a full-time 58-year-old Sunfield employee underwent surgical amputation of his right arm above the elbow after his arm was crushed as he removed scrap on a robotic press line. Investigators again found that the machine’s danger zone did not have adequate safe guards to prevent employees from coming in contact with operating machine parts.

Each company had 15 business days from receipt of its citations and penalties to respond.