The Aluminium Plant Safety Blog acknowledges the line we balance on every
post regarding not placing blame on the worker nor the company. Sometimes the news
report that we post may seem skewed by the original author to blame either the
worker(s) or the company. Regardless, our point in posting these stories is for
you as a reader to use these stories in toolbox talks or to reinforce points
that your plant is putting forth. If the incident involves an injury or fatality
we omit the company name and location. On our plant visits we occasionally
speak to workers on safety related topics. With input from the pertinent
department manager we speak about the importance of following your training,
never skipping steps, never making assumptions, and no regrets. To emphasize
these points we typically show television news segments of specific incidents.
We are always quick to say that it does not matter (in our opinion) where the
incident occurred. To us what matters is for the worker to understand the
importance of following their training. With that said here is a recent story
that your plant could use as an educational tool.
For
the fifth time since 2013, federal investigators have been called to an aluminum
foundry in the Midwest USA to investigate the serious injury of a worker.
In the
latest incident, a mold-tilting machine used to produce aluminum parts crushed
a worker's left hand between the center core and bottom plate at the company’s facility.
He now has limited use of the hand and has been unable to return to work since
the March 2016, injury. In 2013 and 2015, four workers suffered amputations, in
separate incidents, as a result of machine safety violations at the company
facilities three facilities.
Earlier
this month the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health
Administration cited the company for two repeated, and two serious violations
of machine safety standards, as a result of the worker's injury. OSHA has
proposed penalties over € 194,000.
"The
aluminum company has written an unfortunate legacy of failing to protect its
workers from machine hazards," said the area director of OSHA's office.
"All too often, OSHA finds employers are complacent with machine safety
features. Each year hundreds of workers suffer crushing injuries and
amputations. The company needs to immediately address its legacy of worker
injuries and make immediate improvements to its procedures, training and
monitoring of machine safety procedures to ensure they are effective."
An investigation
into the March incident by federal inspectors found the aluminum company allowed
workers to service the mold table without powering it down or locking out
machine parts to prevent workers from coming in contact with gravitational
energy from moving machine parts.
OSHA's
inspection found the company routinely failed to follow proper procedures to
fully power down equipment to prevent sudden movement or starts from
gravitational, hydraulic and electrical energy sources. The injured worker was
training a co-worker on procedures when the injury occurred.
The
company was cited for machine safety violations following injuries at one its facility
in April 2015 and at another facility in March 2015. Those violations remain
under contest.
Injuries
were also reported at a third facility in September 2013 and another facility in
August 2013. The company has settled those violations with OSHA.
The Aluminium Plant Safety Blog prays that every injured worker in
each incident listed above recover both physically and mentally. We hope that each
worker is given the necessary support from the aluminum company to rehab from
the injury. If the workers cannot return to the same position they had before
we hope the company will be able to assign them to a position where their
salary is not decreased.
We strongly recommend that the proper lockout tagout (safe isolation)
be performed every time. After every step is followed we recommend a final
precaution of inserting a customize fabrication to prevent the machinery from
moving. We acknowledge that the naysayers will argue that is unnecessary if
safe isolation was properly performed. We counter that if safe isolation was
not properly performed and there is no customized fabrication to prevent the
machinery from moving the worker(s) is dead. We have posted incident after
incident where the quote “the worker assumed all energy sources were turned off”.
We acknowledge that using a customized fabrication piece may allow the worker
to skip steps in the safe isolation protocol. But, only through proper plant
education and plant enforcement can it be confirmed that a worker is following the
proper procedures.
Please comment.
1 comment:
Aluminium field is a very dangerously with others field , the worker there should take attention every place any where.
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