Ashley Furniture Prepares for $1.76 Million Fine
Following the report of a three finger amputation at Ashley Furniture’s Arcadia, Wisconsin factory, an OSHA press release reports that the organization found significant violations. According to the report, over 1000 injuries were sustained by the company’s 4500 employees in a 3-1/2 year period. Aside from mentioning a couple of serious injuries, the report isn’t specific about the nature of the injuries. However, it does cite that some 100+ were caused by the same kind of machinery that resulted in the amputation. If OSHA is picking up on an injury roughly every 1.3 days, it’s safe to say that there is a problem.
OSHA has notified Ashley Furniture of 12 willful violations, 12 repeated violations, and 14 serious safety violations. While all of these are certainly attention grabbers, it’s the 12 willful violations that scare me the most. Willful violations are exactly what they sound like – intentionally disregarding what you know to be the law.
In a harsh rebuke from U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez, Ashley Furniture was put on notice. “Ashley Furniture has created a culture that values production and profit over worker safety, and employees are paying the price,” said Perez. “Safety and profits are not an ‘either, or’ proposition. Successful companies across this nation have both.”
The proposed fines total $1,766,000. While that’s not likely to hurt Ashley Furniture’s $3.85 billion annual revenue, it may negatively effect their reputation. Ashley Furniture is a private company, so there are no stock holders to answer to in this case. However, there may still be significant consequences aside from what OSHA has outlined.
Pro Tool Reviews Editor-in-Chief, Clint DeBoer, offered this insight. “People certainly need to be safe, but I have to wonder if the reaction from Ashley Furniture will be to move its operations overseas.” DeBoer makes a great point. We all know that labor is cheaper overseas, but the safety regulations are also much more relaxed, if they exist at all.
That leaves the city leadership in Arcadia wondering the very same thing. Ashley Furniture is the largest employer in the city of 30,000 residents. The loss of jobs would be devastating to the local economy and the families affected. Personally, I wonder if it’s not the conditions of the economy that make people feel that they have no other option than to continue working in those conditions. Certainly, Ashley Furniture board members will have to decide if it is worth the cost to improve the working environment and maintain their position as a US based manufacturer.
Regardless of the outcome, the number of injuries and nature of the violations is disturbing. I hope that Ashley Furniture is able to take a breath and really consider if their position is going to be to put productivity ahead of worker safety.
