ASTECH CORP DBA AMERICAN SILICON TECHNOLOGIES
According to U.S. Department of Labor enforcement records, ASTECH CORP DBA AMERICAN SILICON TECHNOLOGIES — a industry sector 00 facility located at 100 SW 4TH ST, ROCK ISLAND, WA 98850 — was the subject of a formal OSHA inspection that resulted in 69 citation(s) and cumulative proposed penalties of $111,895.00. The inspection case was opened on 1999-03-17.
This facility represents one of the most severe enforcement actions in the OSHA SVEP database. Willful violations combined with penalties exceeding $100,000 indicate a pattern of deliberate non-compliance that poses an imminent danger to workers.
Industry Benchmark: The total penalty of $111,895.00 is more than 93.6× the national average of $1,195.75 for facilities in the Other sector (NAICS 000000). This sector encompasses 1,316,687 inspected facilities nationwide with aggregate penalties totaling $1,574.4M.
State Context: Within WA, this facility's penalty places it at the 100th percentile among 126,183 inspected facilities. The statewide average penalty is $1,683.96.
Citation Analysis: The inspection produced 69 citations spanning 12 distinct OSHA regulatory standards. The citation breakdown includes: 9 serious — A workplace hazard that could cause death or serious physical harm exists, and the employer knew or should have known about the condition. 5 other-than-serious — The violation has a direct relationship to job safety and health but is unlikely to cause death or serious physical harm. 1 willful — The employer intentionally and knowingly committed the violation, demonstrating either an intentional disregard for the requirements of the OSH Act or plain indifference to employee safety and health.
Enforcement Timeline: Citations were issued beginning January 17, 1997 with the latest abatement deadline set for August 3, 1999. Of the 69 total citations, 10 (14%) have been marked as abated in DOL records, which may indicate ongoing compliance gaps requiring further regulatory attention.
Penalty Assessment: The cumulative penalty of $111,895.00 reflects OSHA's gravity-based penalty calculation methodology, which considers the severity of potential injury, the probability of occurrence, the employer's size, good faith, and violation history. The per-citation average of $1,621.67 falls within the standard penalty range.
The enforcement record for American Silicon Technologies reveals a profound breakdown in fundamental safety management, characterized by an staggering volume of 69 citations and a six-figure penalty total that far exceeded industry averages for the late 1990s. The presence of a high-gravity willful violation, carrying a $42,000 penalty, signifies a legal determination that the employer acted with intentional disregard for or plain indifference to worker safety. This specific willful designation elevates the facility’s risk profile from negligent to potentially criminal in the event of a fatality, indicating that management was aware of hazardous conditions yet failed to remediate them. The citation patterns identify a systemic failure across multiple safety domains, including hazardous energy control, respiratory protection, and electrical standards. The sheer density of serious violations suggests that workers were exposed to high-probability risks of electrocution, chemical exposure, and mechanical entanglement on a daily basis. Rather than isolated mechanical failures, the data points toward a deficient safety culture where regulatory compliance was secondary to production. The heavy financial burden imposed by OSHA functioned as a punitive measure against a comprehensive lack of oversight, signaling that the facility operated without a functional safety and health program, thereby placing the entire workforce at risk of catastrophic injury.