The state has sued six companies and imposed fines for “serious” coronavirus-related violations, including United Shore Financial Services LLC, which it said allowed more than 120 new tenants to collect without masks, while within 6 feet of each other.
The Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration on Friday announced its first round of quotes for workplace safety for companies that do not comply with COVID-19 orders.
The agency fines companies a total of $ 33,400 for safety and health violations found in recent workplace safety investigations.
The listed companies do not provide workplaces “free of recognized hazards that cause the employee death or serious physical harm,” according to a news release.
Fines per company ranged up to $ 7,000, largely for failing to comply with mask wear rules and not keeping employees when possible. If an employer does not solve its problems, it can receive daily fines of up to tens of thousands of dollars.
A $ 6,300 fine for Pontiac-based United Shore, which had $ 3.2 billion in revenue last year, comes less than three weeks after Oakland County issued an “emergency order,” with more than 50 cases cited by COVID -19 tied to the mortgage lender’s headquarters.
United Shore did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
MIOSHA inspected United Shore following the order-by-order and various complaints from employees, it said. Failures by the state include allowing workers to work within 6 feet without masks, allowing new workers to meet in a group of more than 120 without masks and less than 6 feet apart, and not notifying employees within a day of learning from an employee with COVID-19 was in headquarters.
A UPS center in Livonia was fined $ 7,000 for failing to ensure email sorters and loaders completed daily health screenings, allowing employees to work within 6 feet of each other when they were not needed, no face masks needed and not training enough staff at COVID-19.
The other companies fined, per the release:
- Speedway gas station in Waterford ($ 6,300) for failing to complete daily health screenings, failing to maintain proper mask use and other violations.
- Fitness Center Coop’s Iron Works in Sagnaw ($ 2,100) for not making a COVID-19 readiness plan, not setting up workout stations with appropriate distance and other violations. The Saginaw County Health Department reported Coop’s for confirmed coronavirus cases and operated a gym inside despite not being allowed.
- Eaton Rapids home contractor Dan Friday ($ 6,400) for not requiring face masks as within 6 feet, not making a COVID-19 readiness plan and other damage.
- Niles-based Hills Roofing LLC ($ 5,300) for not requiring face masks as within 6 feet, for not completing employee training and other violations.
“From the beginning of the crisis, we’ve been doing piles and stacks of elaboration. MIOSHA has a great consulting staff working with employers to help with training,” Michigan COVID-19 Workplace Safety Director Sean Egan told media in a video call Friday afternoon . “We first built directions on the (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) workplace recommendations and then the executive orders when they came out.”
He added that the majority of the companies are in agreement.
The state has seen a 500 percent increase in workplace safety complaints during the pandemic, said MIOSHA director Bart Pickelman. More than 90 percent of that is related to COVID-19, he said. He estimates complaints per month rise from 200 in 2019 to 1,000 amid the outbreak that began in Michigan in March.
Pickelman said he could not estimate the sheer number of investigations MIOSHA conducted during the pandemic.
Employers seeking help with their security protocols can visit or call the state website at (517) 284-7720. Employees and businesses can also call an MIOSHA workplace safety hotline at (855) 723-3219.
Trade unions in metro Detroit and in the U.S. have demanded more security measures to protect those who have been exposed to the coronavirus for months.
That includes SEIU Healthcare Michigan, which represents workers at nursing homes hard hit by the pandemic. Members have complained about lack of good safety equipment, insufficient pay and staff strikes due to infrastructure.
SEIU Healthcare members at 16 Metro Detroit nursing homes delivered strike notes Aug. 6, according to the union. But now they have delayed strikes because Whitmer urged the union and companies to come up with a non-strike solution, the union said in a news release Monday.
