This is a follow-up to an
earlier post of a fatal incident. Here is the story:
A Midwest USA aluminum extrusion company faces over a
€165,000 fine following an investigation into the death of a chemical
technician in the summer of 2016.
The worker was killed after a crane accident at the
aluminium extrusion company.
Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration
investigators found company officials failed to adequately guard machines to
prevent workers from coming in contact with operating parts, did not protect
workers walking on working surfaces or provide adequate personal protective
equipment and did not sufficiently train workers about hazardous chemicals in
use at the facility, a release said. OSHA investigators issued the company ten safety
violations on in early December 2016, a release said. The company president,
said in a statement the company is working with outside parties to correct
officials' safety concerns.
"More than 90 percent of the fines were
unrelated to the accident and allege infractions such as a missing railing and
missing labels on a few containers among hundreds of properly labeled
ones," the company president said. "We take these alleged infractions
seriously, but think the citations and penalties were overstated on these
items."
OSHA officials say an automated crane pinned the
worker between the crane hook and industrial equipment as it moved product to
different tanks on an anodizing line, a news release said.
“A man died tragically, leaving his family, friends
and co-workers to suffer an overwhelming loss,” said the OSHA area director. “(Company)
must improve its safety and health programs and procedures to protect workers
at all its facilities.”
It's unclear why the deceased worker was in the
location on the machine at the time of the accident, the company president said.
The company has 15 days from when it received the
citations to comply with the fine, request an informal meeting with the OSHA
area director or contest the findings before an independent commission.
The company president said he is
"confident" the citations will be resolved quickly. "(The
company) cares greatly about its employees," the company president said.
"Year after year, we continuously improve and invest heavily in the safety
of our workplace, recognizing that we have a responsibility to our employees
and community."
We offer our sincere
condolences to the worker’s family, friends, and coworkers. We pray that they
will remember their loved one, friend, co-worker as he had lived and not as he
died. We hope that the aluminum extrusion company had offered counseling to the
coworkers and specifically to the workers who first came upon this horrific
incident.
The Aluminium Plant Safety
Blog omits the company name and location when an incident involves an injury or
fatality. We do that for a myriad of reasons including not placing blame on the
company. It is our sincere hope that by bringing awareness to these incidents
that companies can use these posts are learning tools, tool box talk topics,
etc.
We acknowledge that the tone
of our comments on our posts can be interpreted in many ways. So we try (and
occasionally fail) to remain neutral or to not place blame on the company nor
the worker. With that said we are a little bewildered on the quotes listed
above from both OSHA and the aluminium extrusion company. First, we have
noticed a troubling progression over the past few years of the harsh or
aggressive tone of OSHA statements after an incident. I acknowledge the
seriousness of every fatality, but do the statements from OSHA have to be some
damning/convicting to the company and the workers? We don’t know. Maybe in
response to the OSHA quote above the company president provided a quote that
left us shaking our head.
The editors of the APSB on
occasion speak to company executives on various topics. One presentation is titled
on “How to Respond After an Incident”. We provide examples of real incidents
showing what to say and what not to say. By reviewing these incidents company
executives realize quickly the importance that a public statement can have upon
their company and their workers. Whether or not the incident involves an injury
or fatality. The quote released by the company should be simple and to the
point. We acknowledge what had happened, we pray for the worker’s physical
recovery or sadden by the loss of the worker. Anything else may reflect poorly
upon the company. It’s true that the best of intentions can have the opposite
result. All too often we read a company’s statement after an incident or fine
and question why it was put out. Our industry should acknowledge that a defense
of a company through public statements is a losing battle. All too often those “defensive”
quotes are used by the news media to prolong the story.
Please comment.
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