SOUTHLAND BOX COMPANY
According to U.S. Department of Labor enforcement records, SOUTHLAND BOX COMPANY — a industry sector 00 facility located at 4955 MAYWOOD AVE, VERNON, CA 90058 — was the subject of a formal OSHA inspection that resulted in 26 citation(s) and cumulative proposed penalties of $68,340.00. The inspection case was opened on 1999-06-18.
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 $68,340.00 is more than 57.2× the national average of $1,195.75 for facilities in the Other sector (NAICS 000000). This sector encompasses 1,316,687 inspected facilities nationwide with aggregate penalties totaling $1,574.4M.
State Context: Within CA, this facility's penalty places it at the 100th percentile among 184,062 inspected facilities. The statewide average penalty is $3,010.44.
Citation Analysis: The inspection produced 26 citations spanning 2 distinct OSHA regulatory standards. The citation breakdown includes: 14 other-than-serious — The violation has a direct relationship to job safety and health but is unlikely to cause death or serious physical harm. 1 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 June 29, 1994 with the latest abatement deadline set for May 23, 2005. Of the 26 total citations, 13 (50%) have been marked as abated in DOL records, suggesting partial progress toward required corrective actions.
Penalty Assessment: The cumulative penalty of $68,340.00 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 $2,628.46 falls within the standard penalty range.
Southland Box Company’s 1999 inspection record reveals a facility struggling with systemic operational hazards rather than isolated lapses, evidenced by the sheer volume of 26 citations and a substantial $68,340 penalty. The most critical finding is the Serious violation of Standard 4075(a), which addresses the guarding of gears and sprockets. The $16,200 assessment for this single item suggests a high probability of catastrophic injury, such as limb entrapment or amputation, stemming from exposed moving parts on production machinery. This physical hazard was compounded by a failure to report serious injuries (Standard 342(a)), a violation that often indicates a management culture prioritized with obscuring safety incidents rather than remediating their root causes. The recurring citations under Standard 3203 point to a foundational collapse of the facility’s Injury and Illness Prevention Program (IIPP). When a company fails to maintain training records and hazard assessment protocols while simultaneously maintaining unguarded machinery, it demonstrates a disconnect between corporate policy and floor-level reality. Furthermore, the presence of numerous electrical and walking-working surface violations (Standards 2340.23, 3273(a), and 3212(a)(1)) suggests a general state of facility neglect. For a packaging operation, these combined factors represent a high-risk environment where employees were routinely exposed to mechanical, electrical, and falls hazards without the protection of a functioning safety management system. The penalty severity, significantly higher than typical "Other-than-Serious" aggregates, underscores the gravity of the systemic negligence identified by Cal/OSHA.