Northwest Side Home Depot faces $110K fine for alleged safety violations

A Northwest Side Home Depot store is facing six safety violations and more than $100,000 in fines by the Occupation Safety and Health Administration.

The home improvement store in the 3500 block of North Kimball Avenue faces six citations carrying proposed penalties of $110,700, according to a statement from OSHA.

Authorities issued one willful violation for failing to remove from service a powered industrial truck in need of repair, according to the statement. A repeat violation was issued for failing to evaluate forklift operators’ performance at least once every three years.

Additionally, three serious violations were issued for exposing workers to chemical burns from sulfuric acid by failing to require the use of eye, hand and face protection when checking water levels in the vehicles’ batteries.

“Employees at this Home Depot store used power industrial vehicles around-the-clock to receive stock and transport goods to customers’ vehicles,” Angeline Loftus, OSHA’s area director, said in the statement.

“This made maintenance and operator training for those vehicles vital to employee safety,” Loftus said.

Nationwide, Home Depot has been cited more than 120 times in the last five years for safety and health violations in its stores, according to the statement.