Thomaston — The federal mine safety agency has cited the Dragon Products cement plant for numerous safety violations that include failing to correct previously reported problems.

The U.S. Department of Labor's Mine Safety Health Administration issued a news release Jan. 27 that announced the alleged violations of the cement plant off Route 1 in Thomaston.

The mine safety agency conducted its inspection from Nov. 29 through Dec. 9 at the Dragon Products Co. LLC's cement plant. A mine safety inspector issued 53 citations and 10 orders to the company. Six of the 10 orders were issued for failure to abate previously cited hazardous conditions.

Inspectors found work orders entered into the system, but no corresponding corrective action was taken. Among the violations, inspectors noted were that the dust dump perimeter drain roadway and the retention pond were not bermed, creating an overturn hazard with an 8-foot drop-off.

The roof top of the burner floor was missing railings, and adequate warning signs were not installed, exposing workers to a 50- to 90-foot fall, the news release noted.

The federal agency noted since April it has conducted 198 inspections throughout the country. Those inspections resulted in 3,758 citations, 363 orders and 13 safeguards.

The news release did not specify the amount of fines that the company faces.

The company employs 98 people in Thomaston and paid $5.3 million in payroll and benefits in 2009, according to the Dragon Cement Community Advisory Panel's news release from August 2010. Dragon paid $1.57 million in property taxes to Thomaston and Rockland in 2009.

"The construction industry has had a particularly hard time. New construction has slowed dramatically. Cement orders are down. Still, Dragon Cement is chugging along as a mainstay of the local economy and plant managers are cautiously optimistic that stimulus money will have a positive effect on their business," the August news release stated.

Dragon Plant Manager Ray DeGrass said the items cited in the inspection report were corrected.

DeGrass said the plant takes safety seriously. He said the plant is inspected twice a year by the mine safety agency — which oversees surface mining operations such as Dragon as well as underground mines. He said many of the items cited by the agency have existed during past inspections and were not cited.

He said the safety agency is interpreting regulations more stringently in the wake of an underground mine disaster in West Virginia last year that claimed the lives of 29 people.