“some type of rolling machine with some knives in it..."

Machinery in our plants comes in all shapes and sizes. Machine guarding is supposed to prevent workplace injuries. Our industry is not immune to older machinery that may lack the safe guards that brand new machinery purchased today would have. Here is a recent story emphasizing the hazard of machinery:

The death of an employee during the week of August 7, 2016 remains under investigation.

The worker died after being caught in an aluminum splitter machine at a metal processing company in the United States, according to a spokeswoman for the local Fire Department. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

“At this time we cannot make any statements while we are in the midst of an investigation except to state that we are heartbroken at the loss of our friend and co-worker,” the plant manager said in a statement. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to his wife and family.”

The company has no history of safety violations with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety & Health Administration office, according to the agency’s local office.

OSHA’s full investigation of the accident could take as long as six months, OSHA spokesman said. An aluminum splitter is “some type of rolling machine with some knives in it,” the OSHA spokesman said.

The Aluminum Plant Safety Blog offers our sincere condolences to the family, friends, and coworkers of the deceased worker. Our sadness of posting this story pales in comparison to the paint that they are experiencing and will experience for a long time. Our hope is that this incident will be printed out or read by just one plant and will be the reason they look at their own machinery regarding safety measure to prevent a worker from becoming entrapped.

The APSB does not know the age of the machinery in this incident. But, from other reports and social media postings we assume that machinery guarding may be cited as one of the root causes of this incident. Machinery guarding is an ongoing problem in our industry (as well as other industries). On our plant tours we commonly observe plant machinery lacking current safety mechanisms. Plants are under a false safety belief that all is well until an incident occurs that brings awareness to the hidden danger.

Please Comment.