FLORENCE – State officials fined another restaurant in Florence for several violations of guidelines designed to protect COVID-19 employees.
The Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced on Wednesday that it fined the Firehouse Restaurant & Lounge by more than $ 18,000 for allowing indoor meals, not having an infection control plan, and failing to perform a risk assessment, reported The Register-Guard.
Firehouse is the second restaurant in Florence that the state fined this month for reopening for indoor dining. Oregon OSHA said on Tuesday it fined Little Brown Hen in Florence $ 17,800.
The restaurant is closed on Wednesdays and did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the newspaper.
Several complaints sparked an inspection at the restaurant, and OSHA decided to conduct the inspection by phone after “an investigation of social media posts and websites discovered the potential for armed people to block access to the business,” according to a press release. .
“In addition, the investigation showed that some extremist groups encouraged people to engage in acts of violence against Oregon’s OSHA compliance officers if they visited the site,” adds the statement.
The investigation found that Firehouse had been violating state guidelines since about December 26.
The restaurant’s manager, Kylie McKenzie, told inspectors she decided to reopen “even though she knew the decision was against measures to prevent the spread of the disease in an extreme-risk county.”
Firehouse restaurant owners have 30 days to appeal.
–The Associated Press