SOUTHERN WINE & SPIRITS OF HAWAII

According to U.S. Department of Labor enforcement records, SOUTHERN WINE & SPIRITS OF HAWAII — a wine and distilled alcoholic beverage merchant wholesalers facility located at 61-3785 MALUOKALANI PL #12, KAMUELA, HI 96743 — was the subject of a formal OSHA inspection that resulted in 9 citation(s) and cumulative proposed penalties of $18,234.00. The inspection case was opened on 2015-05-21.

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 2.6 per 100 full-time workers — near the national average of 2.7. The sector fatality rate is 4.4 per 100,000 workers.

Industry Benchmark: The total penalty of $18,234.00 is more than 3.5× the national average of $5,185.75 for facilities in the Wholesale sector (NAICS 424820). This sector encompasses 30,869 inspected facilities nationwide with aggregate penalties totaling $160.1M.

State Context: Within HI, this facility's penalty places it at the 99th percentile among 20,956 inspected facilities. The statewide average penalty is $1,502.81.

Citation Analysis: The inspection produced 9 citations spanning 6 distinct OSHA regulatory standards. The citation breakdown includes: 7 serious — A workplace hazard that could cause death or serious physical harm exists, and the employer knew or should have known about the condition. 2 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 October 9, 2015 with the latest abatement deadline set for January 4, 2016. Of the 9 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 $18,234.00 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 $2,026.00 falls within the standard penalty range.

The enforcement action against Southern Wine & Spirits of Hawaii reveals a fragmented safety culture characterized by systemic failures in foundational risk management. The citation profile, dominated by Serious violations with high gravity ratings, indicates that management failed to address foreseeable hazards inherent to wholesale distribution. The most significant financial and operational weight rests on the 1910.132(a) and 1910.178(l)(6) violations, which point to a critical breakdown in Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) oversight and powered industrial truck (PIT) certification. For workers, this created a high-risk environment where the physical hazards of heavy material handling were exacerbated by inadequate operator training and insufficient protective gear. The penalty total of $18,234 is notably high for this NAICS code (424820), suggesting that HIOSH inspectors found the facility’s non-compliance to be pervasive rather than isolated. The inclusion of 1910.22 (General Requirements for walking-working surfaces) and various electrical standards (1910.305 and 1910.334) suggests a lack of routine safety audits and a failure to maintain basic housekeeping and equipment integrity. Collectively, these citations demonstrate a "compliance gap" where the employer neglected the administrative and training controls necessary to mitigate the kinetic risks of a high-volume warehouse. This record signals a reactive safety posture that relied on luck rather than a structured safety management system.