An auto parts plant in LaGrange is again under investigation by federal authorities for possible workplace safety violations — the eighth inspection of the factory in four years.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration's inspection was prompted by complaints of excessive heat from Sewon America employees who make chassis and other components for Kia and Hyundai. The factory, 70 miles southwest of Atlanta, has been fined in the past for willfully ignoring safety problems that could imperil workers' health – OSHA's most serious violation.
“We have been to this place eight times in four years,” said Ben Ross, acting deputy regional administrator for OSHA in Atlanta. “We consider that a lot. Traditionally, we don’t get to most companies but one time.”
The latest inspection comes after the May 29 death of Teresa Pickard, a Sewon employee who died after complaining of faintness and breathing troubles.
The cause of Pickard’s death remains unknown pending an autopsy by the state medical examiner. LaGrange police are also looking into the case, but Lt. Dale Strickland told the AJC that an initial investigation ruled out excessive heat as a cause of death. He didn’t provide further details. OSHA, which visited the massive factory May 30, is expected to release its report within the next few weeks.
In a statement, Sewon said Pickard’s “death was not work related,” adding that the company “has always been and remains committed to the health and safety of its employees.”
Sewon opened in LaGrange in 2008, one of a dozen auto parts factories drawn to West Georgia by the Kia auto plant in nearby West Point. In recruiting Sewon, the state offered the company generous incentives. The auto industry proved a savior for the region, which was hammered by shuttered textile mills and double-digit unemployment.
But several former Sewon employees detailed health and safety issues at the factory in interviews with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Atop their list of grievances: stifling heat because of a lack of adequate air conditioning.
One of the workers, Jerome Walls Jr., who was fired, said the temperature was so high in the break room that candy bars melted in the vending machine.
A history of complaints, investigations
Welding is hot, sometimes dangerous work. Helmets, sleeves, goggles and heavy aprons offer protection, but further heat the body.
The former Sewon employees said the heat around the weld lines was oppressive, with workers suffering dehydration or fainting. Other departments too were sweltering, they said, with little or no water available.
“I came home one night and my husband had to take me to the ER because I didn’t have any fluids. I was dehydrated,” said Kim Ray, who inspected finished parts for Sewon in 2011. “And they never turned the AC on.”
An employee’s complaint about oppressive heat the day Pickard died led to the current investigation.
“We had a report that someone had become ill as a result of working in a hot environment,” said OSHA’s Ross. “I heard there was no air conditioning in operation when we initiated the current investigation.”
The company, in its statement, said: “Sewon is an air-conditioned facility, provides fans at employee stations, and has water strategically placed for the employees’ use.”
OSHA has no rules regarding workplace temperatures.
“There is no specific standard anywhere in the country that says you can only work in a temperature of A,” Ross said. “We look at other means to ensure people are being protected.”
At Sewon, as with other heat-related investigations, OSHA checked the availability of water, time in between breaks and employees’ awareness of heat-stroke symptoms.
Federal safety workers have repeatedly documented health and safety problems at Sewon beginning in November 2009 when OSHA received complaints that welders were exposed to unsafe conditions. The feds discovered that workers were not given gloves sturdy enough to handle the rigors of welding. They were also exposed to arc welding flash burns.
The violations were “willful,” or committed by Sewon “with plain indifference to or intentional disregard for employees’ safety and health,” according to OSHA regulations. The feds also cited Sewon for two “serious” violations in which a substantial probability exists for death or serious injury.
OSHA fined Sewon $108,000 for the violations. Sewon appealed, and the fine was reduced to $64,800.
Sixteen months later, Sewon was fined $27,900 (later reduced to $16,740) for 10 serious violations, OSHA records show. Most of the infractions involved electrical hazards, like inadequate protection from shocks.
Sewon has since been cited for failure to provide sufficient protective gear and not adequately guarding workers against sparks and other hazards.
“They told me when I got hired that they’d furnish me with all the tools and equipment I’d need, but it didn’t go like they said it would,” said Walls, a former welder who said he had serious vision problems caused by Sewon. “I wasn’t issued a welding helmet. Most everybody just went and bought their own helmets.”
In all, Sewon has been cited for 21 violations.
“These things are occurring again and again,” said OSHA’s Ross. “That means there’s still work to be done on behalf of management officials at Sewon.”
West Georgia cottons to auto industry
LaGrange once boasted nine cotton mills and a prosperous textile-based economy. The Callaway family, known today for its gardens and resort in Pine Mountain, owned many of the mills.
Kia saved LaGrange from the fate of most dying mill-dependent towns when the Korean automaker announced in 2006 it would build a car factory in nearby West Point. More than a dozen Korean auto parts suppliers have since opened factories across West Georgia. In 2007, Sewon promised to create 700 jobs and invest $170 million in its LaGrange factory.
Sewon didn’t come cheap. The state of Georgia allows Sewon a $2,500 per job tax credit. Sewon’s 700 workers should save the company $1.75 million a year in taxes.
The state also covers the cost of training Sewon employees. The local development authority gave the company 62 acres for its factory in the Callaway South Industrial Park. The state chipped in another $5 million to defray construction costs.
“We congratulate Sewon on its continued growth and are honored that the company has thrived in Georgia’s pro-business environment,” Gov. Nathan Deal said last August when the company announced an expansion and the hiring of another 150 workers. “We have taken aggressive steps to prepare a trained workforce that global companies such as Sewon require.”
Trouble, though, plagued the plant almost from the start. In 2010, during construction of the facility, a worker fell from the roof to his death 50 feet below. Francisco Hernandez, 43, worked for a contractor who was fined $10,500 by OSHA.
Two years later, two Sewon employees in a basket lift inside the plant were hit by a crane and flown to hospitals in Columbus and Atlanta for treatment. OSHA lodged four serious violations and initially fined the company $28,000. Sewon contested the penalty, and it was reduced to $7,000.
Pickard, who was 42 when she died last May 29, worked on a weld line making parts for Kia and Hyundai sedans and SUVs. She arrived at 6:30 a.m. for her 12-hour shift and, at some point, felt faint, had trouble breathing and experienced chest pains, according to family members and co-workers.
Robert Bruner, a Birmingham attorney representing the family, said that Pickard suffered from diabetes. She was 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighed 185 pounds, according to a police report obtained by the AJC.
Sewon, in a statement, said management was informed of Pickard’s health emergency by 8:30 a.m. An ambulance was soon called, according to records obtained by the AJC from the county’s emergency management agency. Pickard “entered the ambulance under her own strength,” Sewon said, but died soon thereafter.
“Sewon is distraught by the loss of Mrs. Pickard; she will be greatly missed by her Sewon family,” the statement said. Company officials and attorney Kelli Hill declined further comment.
