ELF ATOCHEM NORTH AMERICA INC

According to U.S. Department of Labor enforcement records, ELF ATOCHEM NORTH AMERICA INC — a industry sector 00 facility located at 17168 W JEFFERSON AVE, RIVERVIEW, MI 48192 — was the subject of a formal OSHA inspection that resulted in 44 citation(s) and cumulative proposed penalties of $32,980.00. The inspection case was opened on 1994-09-08.

The volume of citations issued during this inspection suggests systematic compliance deficiencies rather than isolated incidents. Facilities with 10 or more citations typically face comprehensive abatement requirements and may be subject to follow-up inspections.

State Context: Within MI, this facility's penalty places it at the 100th percentile among 106,495 inspected facilities. The statewide average penalty is $1,470.95.

Citation Analysis: The inspection produced 44 citations spanning 5 distinct OSHA regulatory standards. The citation breakdown includes: 15 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 January 30, 1995 with the latest abatement deadline set for December 31, 1995. Of the 44 total citations, 15 (34%) have been marked as abated in DOL records, which may indicate ongoing compliance gaps requiring further regulatory attention.

Penalty Assessment: The cumulative penalty of $32,980.00 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 $749.55 falls within the standard penalty range.

The inspection of Elf Atochem North America’s Riverview facility revealed a profound breakdown in Process Safety Management (PSM) protocols, signaling systemic rather than isolated failures in high-hazard chemical handling. The concentration of violations under 29 CFR 1910.119, specifically focusing on Mechanical Integrity (Subpart J), Management of Change (Subpart L), and Incident Investigation (Subpart M), indicates a facility that was operating without the necessary technical oversight to prevent catastrophic releases or explosions. For the workforce, these deficiencies meant that critical pressure vessels and piping systems likely lacked documented inspection schedules or rigorous testing, significantly increasing the risk of uncontained chemical reactions. The inclusion of violations for Emergency Planning and Response (Subpart N) and Compliance Audits (Subpart O) further suggests that management lacked the internal feedback loops required to identify and correct these hazards before they escalated. While the individual penalties remained within the moderate range for the mid-1990s, the sheer volume of 44 citations and the $32,980 aggregate fine reflected a high-gravity enforcement action. This pattern demonstrated a failure to integrate the PSM standard’s "interlocking" requirements, where a lack of hot work permits and poor incident reporting created a volatile environment where minor mechanical failures could have easily cascaded into a major industrial