Gardiner has been fined $9,000 by a state agency following an audit earlier this year, but city officials are hoping for a reprieve on the fine because they have addressed all the violations a month ahead of the deadline they were given.
The state Bureau of Labor Standards performed a workplace safety inspection in August, during which a bureau employee spent several days inspecting facilities and reviewing policies.
The result was a report detailing 69 citations, which ranged from missing paperwork to more serious violations.
In a news release, City Manager Scott Morelli said of the 69 violations, 48 were corrected even before the city received its report from the Bureau of Labor Standards. The remaining items were corrected by Tuesday, which is a month ahead of the deadline the bureau gave the city.
Because of that, city officials have requested a penalty discussion with the expectation that some of the fines may be lowered as a result.
The Gardiner Fire Department was fined $3,800 for 21 citations.
Fire Chief Al Nelson said in many cases, the department’s citation involved either paperwork or policy issues.
“Because we didn’t have the documentation, we couldn’t prove some things had been done,” Nelson said.
“We did have some helmets that didn’t meet the standard,” he said. Nine of the department’s helmets met one of two possible safety standards, and others met both standards. Nelson said the nine that met only one of the standards have been replaced.
Nelson said one of the infractions found was that a department washing machine was not using a ground fault circuit interrupter plug. Nelson said neither the machine nor the hookup is new, and it might not have been caught in an earlier safety review.
“We’re better off for it now because we’re up to speed, and it brings a heightened awareness to make sure we’re crossing our t’s and dotting our i’s,” he said.
Other citations were:
• Buildings and grounds, which includes the South Gardiner fire station, $700 in fines for five citations
• Police Department, $700 in fines for five citations
• Public works, $1,700 in fines for 17 citations
• Wastewater treatment, including the South Gardiner pump station, $2,100 in fines for 21 citations.
To correct these violations, city officials spent nearly $23,000.
Morelli said in the past few years, city officials have been working to address safety problems. They have requested a voluntary safety inspection from Safety Works and another through the Maine Municipal Association, the city’s workers’ compensation insurance carrier. The City Council has allocated funding in the last two budgets for safety projects.
On top of that, he said, an employee in buildings and grounds has been designated as a safety coordinator.
“His work, in conjunction with that of our Safety Committee and department heads, has led to numerous improvements across our facilities over the past several years,” Morelli said. “We believe the BLS penalties would have been much more numerous and severe had we not been working so diligently on these matters of late.”
All municipalities are subject to random Bureau of Labor Standards inspections. In 2015, the city of Augusta addressed all 143 workplace violations cited by the state and reduced its fine from $7,000 to $250.
Jessica Lowell — 621-5632
Twitter: @JLowellKJ
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.