"the shocked colleagues could no longer help him..."

 

When we are asked to tour workplaces. One of our activities we request permission from our host is to simply sit and watch. Watch workers perform procedures and tasks. Regardless of our knowledge of the activity or task being performed. It is quite easy to observe and note when a worker skips a step. Though we do not know exactly what occurred on the following tragedy. We immediately assumed the deceased worker skipped a step.

 

Tragic accident at work in (town name omitted): man is crushed to death by a rolling machine

Sad news from the district of (location omitted), a worker was crushed to death by a rolling machine. The police are investigating.

 

Tragic accident at work on one evening (during January 2023) in a metalworking company on the street (in a town in Europe). For reasons that are still unclear, a 42-year-old machine operator got caught in a winding machine of a slitting line for aluminum coils in the factory building at 8:05 p.m. and was trapped inside. The man was crushed to death.

 

Man in (town name omitted) gets into rolling mill and is pressed to death

 

As (newsmedia) reports, the shocked colleagues could no longer help him. A little later, the alarmed fire brigade was only able to recover the body of the worker. It is still unclear why the accident occurred. The responsible labour inspectorate, as well as the local police, have started investigations into the cause of the accident.

 

As (newsmedia) reports, citing the police, the work colleagues were cared for by a crisis intervention team of the (outside organization). According to the fire department, several employees were engaged in rolling metals. In the process, one of the employees got caught in a running machine. Even pressing the "emergency stop" would not have helped.

 

We offer our sincere condolences to the deceased worker’s family, friends and coworkers. Though the news article does provide some information regarding the machinery used. It does omit how or why the worker was pulled into the operating machinery. Sadly, the Aluminium Plant Safety Blog has posted incidents in the past involving “winding machinery”. All were fatalities.

So, how should the reader use this post to make their workplace safer? If your plant is a rolling mill or has rotating machinery we would recommend printing the post out. Then ask your personnel one question. Could a worker become entangled in machinery that is operating? The exploration and investigation for an answer and possible installation of engineering controls to prevent an incident from occurring will make your workplace safer.

 

We will update this post if we find out further information.

 

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