MILWAUKEE VALVE COMPANY, INC.
According to U.S. Department of Labor enforcement records, MILWAUKEE VALVE COMPANY, INC. — a manufacturing facility located at 1075 WATER STREET, PRAIRIE DU SAC, WI 53578 — was the subject of a formal OSHA inspection that resulted in 96 citation(s) and cumulative proposed penalties of $229,010.00. The inspection case was opened on 2008-08-29.
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.
Industry Benchmark: The total penalty of $229,010.00 is more than 35.6× the national average of $6,436.62 for facilities in the Manufacturing sector (NAICS 331511). This sector encompasses 82,943 inspected facilities nationwide with aggregate penalties totaling $533.9M.
State Context: Within WI, this facility's penalty places it at the 100th percentile among 43,331 inspected facilities. The statewide average penalty is $3,505.68.
Citation Analysis: The inspection produced 96 citations spanning 6 distinct OSHA regulatory standards. The citation breakdown includes: 12 serious — A workplace hazard that could cause death or serious physical harm exists, and the employer knew or should have known about the condition. 3 other-than-serious — The violation has a direct relationship to job safety and health but is unlikely to cause death or serious physical harm.
Enforcement Timeline: Citations were issued beginning June 12, 1998 with the latest abatement deadline set for February 29, 2008. Of the 96 total citations, 14 (15%) have been marked as abated in DOL records, which may indicate ongoing compliance gaps requiring further regulatory attention.
Penalty Assessment: The cumulative penalty of $229,010.00 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 $2,385.52 falls within the standard penalty range.
The 2008 inspection of Milwaukee Valve Company’s iron foundry revealed a profound breakdown in fundamental safety and health management systems, evidenced by an extraordinary volume of 96 citations and nearly $230,000 in penalties. This enforcement action signaled a systemic failure to address the dual threats of mechanical hazards and chronic toxic exposures. The high-gravity citations under 1910.1025—covering lead monitoring, respiratory protection, and medical surveillance—indicated a pervasive neglect of the health standards critical to the foundry industry. For workers, this meant an environment where the risk of long-term neurological and renal damage was not merely a possibility but a predictable outcome of inadequate engineering controls and administrative oversight. Furthermore, the simultaneous presence of machine guarding (1910.212) and lockout/tagout (1910.147) violations pointed to a hazardous operational culture where employees were exposed to catastrophic amputation risks. The penalty severity was exceptionally high for the NAICS 331511 sector during this period, suggesting that OSHA investigators found the deficiencies to be ingrained rather than isolated. The failure to implement proper energy control procedures (LOTO) and the lack of physical barriers at the point of operation reflected a reactive safety posture. In the eyes of a compliance professional, this record demonstrates a facility that had decoupled its production objectives from its regulatory obligations, necessitating a comprehensive overhaul of its industrial hygiene and mechanical safety programs to mitigate significant legal and human capital liabilities.