OREGON METALLURGICAL CORPORATION

According to U.S. Department of Labor enforcement records, OREGON METALLURGICAL CORPORATION — a industry sector 00 facility located at 530 W 34TH AVE, ALBANY, OR 97321 — was the subject of a formal OSHA inspection that resulted in 128 citation(s) and cumulative proposed penalties of $27,150.00. The inspection case was opened on 1988-08-30.

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 OR, this facility's penalty places it at the 100th percentile among 104,887 inspected facilities. The statewide average penalty is $770.71.

Citation Analysis: The inspection produced 128 citations spanning 11 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. 10 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 February 7, 1989 with the latest abatement deadline set for April 21, 1989. Of the 128 total citations, 15 (12%) have been marked as abated in DOL records, which may indicate ongoing compliance gaps requiring further regulatory attention.

Penalty Assessment: The cumulative penalty of $27,150.00 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 $212.11 falls within the standard penalty range.

The inspection of Oregon Metallurgical Corporation revealed a staggering volume of 128 citations, a figure that far exceeds industry norms and signifies a comprehensive breakdown of safety management systems. The sheer density of violations, particularly those categorized under Serious (S) and Other-than-Serious (O) classifications, indicates that hazards were not isolated incidents but were instead woven into the fabric of daily operations. The citation standards point toward a pervasive failure in mechanical safeguarding, electrical safety, and hazardous materials handling—critical areas for a metallurgical facility where the risk of catastrophic fire, explosion, or crushing injuries is inherently high. From a compliance perspective, the $27,150 penalty—while significant for the late 1980s—underrepresents the gravity of the risk exposure when averaged across 128 distinct violations. This suggests that while the individual gravity of many items may have been moderate, the cumulative effect created a high-probability environment for multi-causal accidents. The pattern of violations reflects a "reactive" rather than "proactive" safety culture, where basic administrative controls and physical protections were neglected. For workers, this environment meant navigating a minefield of non-compliant equipment and substandard operating procedures. The data demonstrates a systemic institutional failure to implement an effective Hazard Communication or lockout/tagout program, leaving the workforce vulnerable to the high-energy processes typical of titanium and zirconium primary production.