US Goodyear to fight $1m Virginia plant citations

HOUSTON (ICIS)–Goodyear is fighting citations issued after the Virginia Occupational Safety and Health (VOSH) Administration investigated a series of fatal and non-fatal accidents at its Danville tyre plant, ICIS discovered Tuesday.

“Goodyear is following the standard administrative process for responding to the VOSH citations,” according to a statement from Goodyear’s North America functional communications manager, Barbara Hatala.

“Goodyear is committed to the health and safety of all its associates. We are reviewing the citations received from the Virginia Occupational Safety and Health (VOSH) program office today and will work with VOSH and the United Steel Workers to implement any necessary additional corrective actions at our Danville plant, beyond those we have already identified ourselves and are addressing,” the statement read.

VOSH issued seven citations to the factory in the last year which add up to more than $1m in fines, as previously reported. Four fatalities occurred at the facility from August 2015 to 2016, and numerous safety violations were discovered after subsequent investigations into the quality of the facilities.

According to Virginia’s Department of Labor, once a case becomes contested, companies are not required to correct violations until after the case is tried in circuit court or settled.

The automotive industry is a major global consumer of petrochemicals which contributes more than a third of the raw material costs of an average vehicle. ICIS tracks the movement of petrochemical raw material costs in auto production both globally and regionally with the weighted ICIS Basket of Automotive Petrochemicals (IBAP).

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