Death of agricultural worker draws $411K fine from OSHA

October 17th, 2016 by Dakota Software Staff Industry News

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration's move to a stronger fine schedule is now common knowledge, as the regulator increased all fines for noncompliance and other health and safety issues by 78 percent at the beginning of August. The situations where the difference between the old penalty amounts and new ones is most easily seen in cases where the federal agency issues a large fine, as was the case in a recent action taken in Nebraska.

A worker at a co-op in the state died after a workplace accident in March, and a recent ruling by OSHA included $411,540 in fines for the company due to both egregious willful and serious violations. The fact that OSHA only cited six total violations - three in each category - is an indicator of how much more workplace safety violations now cost businesses, especially when they involve serious injuries or death.

Lack of protection around dangerous equipment
According to the Associated Press, a grain elevator at the co-op facility in south-central Nebraska was the site of the fatal accident. An employee working as a superintendent in the elevator died when his lifeline became tangled in a rotating auger that lacked protective shielding to guard against such possibilities. The accident occurred in March, with the citations issued on Sept. 9, local news source the Kearney Hub reported. An investigation by the federal health and safety regulator happened shortly after the incident.

The inspection found three workers, including the one who perished in the incident, were working near the auger in an attempt to clear a blockage of soybean debris. The three were working in a grain bin that contained approximately 50,000 bushels of soybeans, which sloped to more than halfway up the structure's walls.

The violations found
The issues discovered during the OSHA inspection included a failure to disconnect and shut down a sub-floor auger before employees worked near and with it and a lack of appropriate and necessary machine guarding around hazardous parts. The federal regulator also said the facility didn't have a sufficient lockout/tag-out program in place to prevent unintended and sudden machine operation. The OSHA investigation also found the co-op failed to measure atmospheric conditions in the grain bins before allowing workers to enter. Explosion hazards and other serious issues can arise in high-volume grain storage environments in certain circumstances.

"The danger of entering a grain bin as an auger turns cannot be underestimated. By allowing employees to do so, CPI exposed workers to serious hazards such as being caught in the augers or engulfed in grain," said Bonita Winingham, OSHA's acting regional administrator in Kansas City, according to the Kearney Hub.

Of the violations recorded by OSHA, the grain co-op objected to the classification of three as willful, according to the AP. A company executive's statement to the news organization said the business will work with OSHA to correct the issues revealed in its inspection, however.

Due to past issues with violations of OSHA's safety standards, the regulator placed the co-op in its Severe Violator Enforcement Program. That means OSHA has a recorded history of several failure-to-abate, repeat or willful violations and believes the company is deserving of special scrutiny. Placement in the program means OSHA has fewer barriers to conducting inspections at any time and may visit any facility owned by the business if it believes that similar violations exist. The co-op was previously cited by OSHA for unsafe practices related to handling grain six times between 2011 and 2015.