Brewery owners speak out on OSHA citations

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Brewery owners speak out on OSHA citations

By NICOLE ESTAPHAN

Story Created: Oct 10, 2008 at 11:21 AM EST

Story Updated: Oct 10, 2008 at 11:21 AM EST

UTICA, N.Y. (WKTV) - Owners of the F.X. Matt Brewery speak out about being cited by OSHA for violations that may have contributed to May's devastating fire.

OSHA officials inspected the brewery immediately after the fire in May, and as a result fined the owners for multiple violations. But Nick Matt says it is not really as it seems on the surface.

Among the violations that resulted in a $5,000 fine:

Not having a fire watch. The brewery has disputed that claim.

Improper training. Nick Matt says they were just weeks past the yearly training.

And welding in the presence of cardboard. Matt says in hindsight maybe things could have been done differently, but the violations do not accurately reflect the employee standards there.

NEWSChannel Two asked Matt if he felt this would have an impact on the brewery's open insurance claim, to which he said no.

Both Chief Russ Brooks and Raymond Beck have publicly said that the fire was an accident, and Matt is hoping that determination weighs heavily with their insurance company.

Matt says the greatest tragedy here is that business improvements have been put on hold while trying to recover from the fire.

"What happens in a situation like this...it's sort of a distraction," Matt said. "You are going along and you have a strategy for the business and you are going along and you have something like this and it takes everyone's eye off the ball."

The brewery expects to have an answer on their very complicated insurance claim in the next few weeks.

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