What happens when your employer doesn’t provide a safe work environment for you and coworkers? Assuming someone doesn’t get hurt first, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration may move in to sanction the employer with fines and more.

That’s exactly what’s happened to Houston’s Worldwide Oilfield Machine BOP Division Inc.

According to an OSHA press release, the company has eight serious, four repeat, and one “other than serious” safety violations to which company officials have to answer. The potential penalties total more than $70,000.

OSHA classifies serious violations as those that carry a substantial probability that “death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known.” For Worldwide Oilfield Machine, the serious violations include: failing to provide guarding on equipment, failing to ensure machines are anchored securely, and failing to ensure electrical equipment is maintained to prevent shocks.

“Workers operating hazardous equipment, such as band saws and vertical and horizontal lathes without proper protection, are exposed to serious injuries, including amputations,” said Houston area director David Doucet.

Other violations the company faces include failing to keep electrical cords “continuous in length” and failing to maintain abrasive wheel machines, putting workers at risk of shock and electrocution.

Your employer has a legal responsibility to provide a safe work environment. When employers fail in that duty, OSHA can sanction them if they are made aware of the problem. However, if they are not made aware, often a tragedy has to happen before anything is changed.

This isn’t how it should be. Employers shouldn’t wait for a workplace accident before making safety changes. But, too often that’s exactly what happens.

If you are hurt while on the job and are left with lasting injuries, even an amputation, the changes made after the fact offer little consolation. Instead, you deserve justice.

When your employer fails to keep you safe, they can be held responsible for your injuries that occur as a result. As a Houston personal injury attorney, I may be able to help. Contact my office today to discuss your accident and the legal options available to you.