"the machine malfunctioned. He went to fix the malfunction and...."

The Aluminium Plant Safety Blog has posted incidents where a momentary lapse in judgment has horrific results. Most times our safety systems prevent or mitigate the hazard. Other times the momentary lapse in judgment is when workers disregard or ignore current safety systems. Either way this recent story emphasizes the continued need for safety education.

A man was killed in an industrial accident at a metal shredding plant in the Western United States one morning during the first week in September.

The local police spokesman described the incident as a tragic accident. “There was one male who was working at this metal shredding company where they were bailing what I believe was metal and in the process I guess the machine malfunctioned. He went to fix the malfunction and in the process the machine activated and he lost his life,” police spokesman said.

The police spokesman said the man, who has not been identified, was pronounced dead at the scene. Local authorities will conduct an investigation into the death. It’s also expected that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration will conduct an investigation.

The Aluminium Plant Safety offers our sincere condolences to the deceased worker’s family, friends and coworkers. Only time will lessen the grief that is shared by the deceased workers loved ones. But, unfortunately that grief will never end.

The news media story provided little information on this incident. Nevertheless, the APSB will make an assumption that this incident may have been prevented if a lock out tag out program was utilized when the bailing machine “jammed”.

The Occupational Safety & Health Administration has useful information regarding Lock Out Tag Out programs. It can be found here.

The Health & Safety Executive has some useful information regarding safe isolation systems. It can be found here.

In addition the APSB has found some useful safety videos on Youtube regarding Lock Out Tag Out programs. Here is one that the APSB found useful.

Please comment.