OH metal fabricator faces six-figure fine after employee death

January 17th, 2017 by Dakota Software Staff Industry News

A metal fabrication shop in Columbus, Wisconsin, faces a major fine from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration following a fatal accident inside its facility. The company, which makes a variety of metal trailers, had a serious workplace incident in late June, according to Madison.com. The accident involved a 17-year-old employee working as a machinist, who was severely injured when a piece of workplace equipment fell and pinned him to the floor. Six days after the accident, the employee died as a result of his injuries in a nearby hospital. OSHA said the worker was new to the shop and had only worked there for a short time.

Inspection reveals a variety of significant health and safety issues
The serious injury to the employee and subsequent death occurred in the middle of the summer, triggering an eventual inspection by OSHA at the shop. The OSHA investigation revealed a number of different concerns inside the facility, with a wide variety of health and safety regulations involved. In all, OSHA tallied 17 instances of rule-breaking at the machine shop - 16 serious violations and one less-than-serious issue, according to local CBS affiliate Channel 3000. All together, the collection of penalties carries a six-figure price tag. The metal fabricator will have to pay a total of $119,725, should all of the citations hold up.

OSHA attempted to reconstruct the eventually fatal incident, developing a final timeline of events. According to The Columbus Journal, OSHA believes the employee was clearing scrap metal from underneath a loading table that leads into a laser-cutting system. While near the ground, the machine lowered and trapped the worker in that position. OSHA said a lack of proper lockout and tagout procedures were partially to blame for the incident, as was a lack of employee training.

"A young man suffered a tragic death shortly after starting a new job, leaving his family to grieve their overwhelming loss," said Ann Grevenkamp, OSHA's area director in Madison, according to The Columbus Journal. "Proper lockout devices along with training could have prevented this tragedy."

Along with those two issues, OSHA found problems with a number of other safety requirements. The business was cited for failing to periodically inspect machine safety procedures and a lack of lockout device use to limit energy flow and improve employee safety. There were issues with noise, including a lack of audiograms for employees, routine noise monitoring and training for employees about potential noise hazards. Respiratory issues were addressed, including the business's failure to follow established respiratory protection standards, evaluate airborne hazards and implement engineering controls to reduce hazard exposure. A variety of other concerns, including lack of forklift training, chemical inventories and associated inventory training were also noted.

The fabrication shop has the standard 15-day period to reply to OSHA and either comply with the citations, request an informal conference with the area's OSHA director or contest the findings.