Violations cited at two Bing plants

City inspectors say multiple issues yet to be resolved at two manufacturing facilities

David Josar / The Detroit News

Detroit --Mayoral candidate Dave Bing has repeatedly distanced himself from safety issues at his manufacturing plants, but in the past 30 days, city building inspectors have twice cited two of the plants for failing to correct lingering violations.

Documents obtained by The Detroit News show that on April 6, city inspectors wrote to Bing Corporate Services, notifying the company that 10 violations, including those dealing with emergency exits, from a Dec. 26, 2007, inspection had yet to be resolved. Bing was required -- but failed -- to schedule a follow-up inspection in 2008 showing the problems were fixed and now owes more than $1,773 in fees, according to city records.

On March 26, the Bing Group at 1200 Woodland was cited for lacking a certificate of compliance showing that it passed an annual inspection for this location and for paying annual inspection fees and fixing any violations.

The violations are separate from 151 safety code citations and $173,600 in fines that state safety regulators have levied at other Bing plants since 2000, a tally a top state official described as "serious" to The News.

"You want to get these things fixed basically to protect your company from liability and to protect your workers and visitors," said Dave Carlisle, president of the National Academy of Building Inspection Engineers, who was briefed on the violations by The News. "You'd have to worry if they weren't being fixed promptly."

Bing, a retired NBA player, owns the Bing Group, an automotive supplier that consists of several subsidiaries and plants that employ several hundred workers.

The Bing campaign initially issued a statement Tuesday denying there are "any existing fines or outstanding issues" and when addressing fire code issues said "in the dynamic environment of manufacturing, conditions are constantly changing and we move to address situations as they arise."

But when pressed later Tuesday about citations in March and April, campaign spokeswoman Meagan Pitts said the records provided by The News were still being reviewed.

Mayor Kenneth Cockrel Jr. has made safety violations at Bing plants an issue in the May 5 election since The News first reported them Feb. 7. Cockrel has mailed thousands of fliers and bought a television ad linking the issues with Bing's commitment to working families. Cockrel's campaign manager, Jim Edmondson, said the recent citations underscore how Bing's plants operate.

"Now that Detroiters are getting a more complete picture of Dave Bing as manager, it is clear we see a pattern of mismanagement and neglect," he said.

Bing has said the safety violations, issued by the Michigan Occupational Health and Safety Administration, were resolved a few years ago.

During a March debate, he said, "accidents can happen" if workers don't follow the rules set up by management.

Of the 12 current city code violations levied by the Buildings and Safety Engineering Department, Bing was cited for not having the compliance certificates, not paying required fees, not scheduling required interior inspection of one building and the problems with the exits and emergency lighting.

In addition to building code violations, fire marshals have raised concerns.

• On Aug. 13, 1999, the 60,000-square-foot Bing Group warehouse at 1111 Rosedale Court burned to the ground. The blaze took firefighters from nine stations 16 hours to extinguish. Fire Marshal Carleton D. Smith's review blamed sprinklers that were disabled or "rendered ineffective."

• Another fire a few months later at a nearby Bing property was declared an arson. Eventually a Bing employee was arrested in connection with that fire.

• On April 17, 2001, the Bing Group building at 11500 Oakland was cited for storing combustible material too close to the furnace.

• On May 24, 2001, Superb Manufacturing, another Bing entity, was cited for three violations related to the fire code: The illuminated fire exits had broken bulbs, the self-closing doors were broken and the "panic hardware" on another door needed to be fixed.

In 2007, fire marshals cited the company for a fire alarm system that had no power, and in 2008 his company was cited twice for three violations that included no sprinkler system records, a broken dry-sprinkler system and a malfunctioning fire alarm system.

The fire code problems were corrected and no fines levied, the records indicate.