The U.S. Labor Department cited Ashley Furniture Industries for alleged safety violations for the third time this year on Monday and proposed an additional $431,000 in fines.
In a statement, the department's U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) said Ashley Furniture failed to protect workers from moving machine parts at its Whitehall, Wis., upholstery furniture plant that employs 475. The citation did not list worker injuries.
Ashley said in a statement that it will "vigorously challenge" the allegations.
OSHA said the proposed penalty "is in addition to the more than $1.8 million in fines issued earlier this year during inspections at other company facilities in Wisconsin."
A hearing before the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission is being scheduled, OSHA officials said.
It is the latest hearing to be scheduled for Ashley, which in January received one of the largest fines in OSHA history. OSHA said in issuing the fine that Ashley's Arcadia, Wis., plant had more than 1,000 injuries, including several fingers being sliced off, because the company repeatedly failed to properly guard and power down machines.
Ashley officials have denied those allegations and are challenging the penalty. The company also is challenging an $83,200 fine levied in July by OSHA, which accused Ashley of not reporting another finger amputation in Arcadia.
The report on Monday cited similar failures to properly guard and power down machines at Ashley's Whitehall plant after an April inspection conducted as part of OSHA's Severe Violator Enforcement Program. The company received "one willful, five repeated and two serious citations," OSHA said.