NEENAH FOUNDRY COMPANY

According to U.S. Department of Labor enforcement records, NEENAH FOUNDRY COMPANY — a iron foundries facility located at 5945 N 70TH STREET, LINCOLN, NE 68507 — was the subject of a formal OSHA inspection that resulted in 6 citation(s) and cumulative proposed penalties of $34,725.00. The inspection case was opened on 2018-12-12.

DOL records document workplace safety violations warranting formal citation under the OSH Act. While classified at the standard enforcement level, all OSHA citations require corrective action and may indicate areas where workplace safety programs should be strengthened.

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 $34,725.00 is more than 5.4× 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 NE, this facility's penalty places it at the 99th percentile among 12,745 inspected facilities. The statewide average penalty is $4,129.57.

Citation Analysis: The inspection produced 6 citations spanning 4 distinct OSHA regulatory standards. The citation breakdown includes: 5 serious — A workplace hazard that could cause death or serious physical harm exists, and the employer knew or should have known about the condition. 1 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 10, 2019 with the latest abatement deadline set for October 23, 2020. Of the 6 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 cumulative penalty of $34,725.00 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 $5,787.50 falls within the standard penalty range.

The enforcement record for Neenah Foundry’s Lincoln facility reveals a concentrated failure to manage fundamental industrial hygiene and mechanical hazards inherent to iron foundry operations. The most critical aspect of this inspection was the cluster of Serious violations related to 29 CFR 1910.1053, the respirable crystalline silica standard. By exceeding the Permissible Exposure Limit (PEL) and failing to implement adequate engineering controls or housekeeping measures, the employer exposed workers to chronic, irreversible lung pathologies, including silicosis. This pattern suggests a systemic breakdown in the facility’s industrial hygiene program rather than an isolated oversight, as the violations spanned monitoring, control implementation, and maintenance protocols. Furthermore, the significant penalty assessed for defective slings under 1910.184(c)(6) underscores a high-gravity failure in the facility’s mechanical integrity inspections. In a foundry environment where heavy molds and castings are routinely hoisted, the use of damaged rigging equipment represents a catastrophic risk of struck-by or crushed-by fatalities. While the total penalty