155027 - PENTAIR WATER POOL AND SPA, INC.

According to U.S. Department of Labor enforcement records, 155027 - PENTAIR WATER POOL AND SPA, INC. — a all other plastics product manufacturing facility located at 1618 HAWKINS AVE, SANFORD, NC 27330 — was the subject of a formal OSHA inspection that resulted in 1 citation(s) and cumulative proposed penalties of $156,259.00. The inspection case was opened on 2023-08-29.

Cumulative penalties significantly exceed the national median for OSHA enforcement actions. The penalty amount suggests multiple high-gravity citations, indicating conditions that presented a substantial probability of death or serious physical harm to employees.

BLS Injury Data: According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (2022), this industry sector has an occupational injury rate of 3.3 per 100 full-time workers — 22% above the national average of 2.7. The sector fatality rate is 2.3 per 100,000 workers.

Industry Benchmark: The total penalty of $156,259.00 is more than 18.6× the national average of $8,414.32 for facilities in the Manufacturing sector (NAICS 326199). This sector encompasses 52,095 inspected facilities nationwide with aggregate penalties totaling $438.3M.

State Context: Within NC, this facility's penalty places it at the 100th percentile among 88,256 inspected facilities. The statewide average penalty is $1,699.39.

Citation Analysis: The inspection produced 1 citations spanning 1 distinct OSHA regulatory standards. The citation breakdown includes: 1 serious — A workplace hazard that could cause death or serious physical harm exists, and the employer knew or should have known about the condition.

Enforcement Timeline: Citations were issued beginning February 27, 2024 with the latest abatement deadline set for March 4, 2024. Of the 1 total citations, 0 (0%) have been marked as abated in DOL records, which may indicate ongoing compliance gaps requiring further regulatory attention.

Penalty Assessment: The per-citation average of $156,259.00 exceeds OSHA's FY2024 statutory maximum of $16,131 for serious violations, indicating the presence of willful or repeat classifications that carry enhanced penalty authority under Section 17 of the OSH Act.

The enforcement action against Pentair Water Pool and Spa, Inc. following the August 2023 inspection underscores a severe breakdown in machine safety protocols within a plastics manufacturing environment. The assessment of a $156,259 penalty for a single violation of 29 CFR 1910.212(a)(1) is a significant outlier for the industry, signaling that OSHA categorized this citation as Willful or Repeat. This fiscal severity indicates that management either possessed actual knowledge of the hazardous condition and refused to remediate it or demonstrated plain indifference to employee safety. For the workforce, the lack of point-of-operation guarding on production machinery translates to a direct, high-probability risk of catastrophic injuries, including amputations, crushed bones, or fatalities resulting from entanglement in moving parts. While a single citation might superficially appear to be an isolated incident, the maximum statutory penalty suggests a systemic failure in the facility’s lockout/tagout and machine guarding programs. In NAICS 32619