Feds, Ashley furniture settle over OSHA safety violations

Arcadia furniture store had faced $2 million in fines

A settlement has been reached between the feds and Ashley Furniture based out of Arcadia, Wis. 

Ashley faced more than $2 million in fines after getting hit for safety violations repeatedly by OSHA in the last year.

A settlement, announced today, resolves all of the pending citations the company faced in Arcadia, Whitehall, Wis., and a couple of other plants in Mississippi.

As part of the settlement, the company will still pay $1.75 million and retain a new vice president for safety.

The feds claimed workers faced a risk every time they used the machinery at Ashley, the largest furniture company in the U.S.

“This settlement will require Ashley Furniture to implement a program to prevent machine hazards, in particular those that lead to amputations,” Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Dr. David Michaels said. “In addition, workers will now have a voice in how to continuously improve working conditions and safety in the covered plants.”

Ashley had even been placed in the feds’ Severe Violator Enforcement Program.

Under the settlement agreement, Ashley must implement multiple safety measures to protect its employees and submit status reports to OSHA annually over the next two years. 

Other responsibilities include:

• Periodic audits of facilities to identify machine hazards
• Develop internal corporate monitoring provisions
• Identify a corporate officer or senior managers who will act as a designated official responsible for implementation and oversight of the agreement.