"arm became caught in a conveyor belt and was severed..."

The Aluminium Plant Safety Blog has posted incidents where moving machine parts caused severe workplace injuries, such as crushed fingers and/or hands, amputations, burns, or blindness. Safeguards are essential for protecting workers from these preventable injuries. Here is a recent story that emphasizes the need for machine guards.

OSHA is investigating after worker died when he was trapped in machinery during one morning during the week of April 10, 2016 in the Midwest United States at an industrial plant.

The worker became trapped in machinery at an aluminium scrap recycler about 9:45 a.m., according to the local medical examiner's office and local police and fire officials.

His arm became caught in a conveyor belt and was severed, according to local fire department.

The worker was taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 10:21 a.m., according to the medical examiner's office.

OSHA has opened an investigation into the fatality, according to a spokesman, but no additional details were immediately available. Local police detectives are also conducting a death investigation.

The Aluminium Plant Safety Blog offers our sincere condolences to the deceased workers family, friends, and coworkers. Due to the severity of the initial injuries we feel that coworkers were in contract with the worker immediately after the incident. We cannot imagine the horrific situation that the coworkers experienced. We have spoken to many workers who have dealt with self-imposed “guilt” after the death of a coworker. We sincerely hope that mental health counseling will be available to any workers who assisted their fallen coworker.

The news media article does not state the age of the conveyor nor if any machine guards were installed. Machine guards if properly installed should prevent an incident such as this from occurring.

The Occupational Safety Health Administration has useful information regarding machine guards which can be viewed here.

Youtube has numerous videos about machine guards, we like this one.

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