"A steel bolt used to keep the mold in place snapped..." killing him

The moving of tooling and supplies in our plants is a common occurrence. On occasion something can go wrong and the item being hauled can shift or fall and come into contact with a worker(s). Here is a recent story:

An aluminum supplier employee is dead after a workplace accident on day during the week of February 28, 2016.

The aluminium & magnesium die casting company announced the fatality of one of its staff at their plant. A company representatives say the accident took place around 9:90 a.m.

The local County Coroner says a worker was killed when molding equipment fell on him around 9:30 A.M.

The aluminium & magnesium die casting company, and the Occupational Safety And Health administration are investigating the incident.

The autopsy is scheduled with preliminary results expected back soon. In the meantime, the company is suspending all operations at that plant for two days.

Here is another media story:

Authorities have identified the man killed in a machinery accident on day during the week of February 28, 2016 at an aluminium & magnesium die casting company.

There is no official cause of death, but it was more than likely blunt trauma, the deputy coroner said.

The deceased worker was underneath a large steel casting press making repairs around 9:30 a.m. when the press fell on top of him, killing him instantly, said a local County Sheriff’s Deputy.

The deceased worker and another employee were making repairs to the press, which is used to manufacture steering wheels, said a local County Sheriff’s Deputy.

He was underneath the bottom portion of the steering wheel mold that normally stays stationary but had to be lifted for repairs. A steel bolt used to keep the mold in place snapped causing the machinery to fall, according to a local County Sheriff’s Deputy.

There were several employees on scene who witnessed the accident. Officials at the company could not be reached for comment later that afternoon.

The local coroner said an autopsy will be performed the following day. A preliminary report should be returned either with 24 to 48 hours.

The full report, including toxicology, won’t be completed for another six to eight weeks. It’s standard procedure to order a toxicology analysis, the local coroner said.

We offer our sincere condolences to the deceased worker’s family, friends, and coworkers. We hope that his coworkers will be offered mental health counseling. Our sadness for this incident as well as every incident that injures or kills workers pales in comparison to the worker’s family. Regardless, we extremely sadden by this workers death. We pray that this incident will be used to prevent future recurrence in our industry.

On our plant visits we are commonly asked to speak to workers about safety. We always ask to meet with maintenance personnel separately. Why ? Because the maintenance personnel in our industry or in any industry have a dangerous job because on a daily basis that encounter numerous hazards.

We acknowledge that the following may sound insensitive to this current incident. We never purposely try to minimize the pain, anger, suffering, sadness that accompanies a fatal incident. It is our only hope that this incident can and will be used to educate workers in our industry. It appears that the deceased worker performed the job function as they had in the past. The bolt that was used to prevent the press from coming down failed. On our visits to plants with presses we always recommend that two methods be used in preventing the unexpected release of stored energy. The APSB has posted similar incidents where the primary device, mechanism, tool failed and the resulting release of stored energy injured or killed worker(s). We tell workers that even a customized piece of steel be fabricated for each machine that can be physical installed temporally to provide another level of protection during maintenance.

The Aluminium Times magazine had an article about safe isolation, lock out tag out.

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