Fined $100,000 for Violations at Indiana Plant : Inland Steel Seeking to Improve Safety

CHICAGO —  Inland Steel is working with the government and steelworkers to correct unsafe working conditions at its East Chicago, Ind., plant after being cited for civil contempt and fined $100,000, officials said Monday.

The contempt citation and fine were the first in the nation ordered by a federal appeals court since the 1970 federal Occupational Safety and Health Act, said Gary Anderson, Midwest regional industrial hygienist for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

The East Chicago plant is one of the nation’s largest steel mills.

The contempt finding by the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago stems from a 12-year-old lawsuit filed by OSHA that alleged that workers at the plant were exposed to dangerous, cancer-causing emissions from improperly sealed ovens.

Inland agreed to the contempt citation and fine and to a schedule aimed at correcting deficiencies in the ovens, said Tom Pasztor, a company spokesman.

Coke Oven Emissions Rules

He said Inland would continue meeting with OSHA and United Steelworkers officials to monitor the company’s progress in correcting what OSHA and the union contended were unsafe working conditions.

OSHA’s lawsuit alleged that Inland--the nation’s fourth-largest steelmaker--violated the federal agency’s coke oven emissions standards, exposing workers to health risks including possible lung cancer, Anderson said.

“We found a number of continued violations with regard to coke-emission standards, some of them serious, that got worse and worse,” Anderson said.

In a consent decree reached in the early 1980s and overseen by the appeals court, Inland agreed to correct the hazards but, according to the government and the United Steelworkers, failed to do so, Anderson said.

“Some of the things (the company failed to do), they had excuses on. Some of the things, they just didn’t do and didn’t say why,” Anderson said.

The government then asked the appeals court to find Inland in contempt and order the steelmaker to pay a fine, he said. The court ruled in OSHA’s favor on April 16, but the finding was not publicized.