"It's a heartbreaking incident, and our deepest sympathies..."

The use of compacting and baling equipment in the scrap industry is common. We have observed some extrusion companies use bailing equipment to process their scrap to make easier to transport. Here is a recent story regarding the dangers of bailing equipment:

An employee at a recycling facility died on day during the week of February 19, 2017 after he became trapped in a baler, the local Medical Examiner's Office said.

The employee became trapped just after 4:30 a.m. at the plant located in the Northeast USA the medical examiner's office said in a statement.

The man suffered fatal injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene. The medical examiner's office will release the man's identity once his family has been notified.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the incident. Records show the federal agency has not cited the facility for any previous workplace accidents, said a local spokesman for OSHA's office.

The investigation could take several months to complete, said the local OSHA office. The company is still gathering information on the incident in, said a spokeswoman for the company’s local operations.

The company offered sympathies to the victim's family and is working with investigators to gather more information on the incident, said company spokesperson.

"It's a heartbreaking incident, and our deepest sympathies go out to the family," said company spokesman.

We offer our sincere condolences to the deceased worker’s family, friends, and coworkers. We pray that they remember their family member, friend and coworker on how he lived and not how he passed away.

When our schedule allows we are asked to speak to factory floor workers. We request that we speak at the beginning of every shift for 15-20 minutes. Which works well because the previous shift can work 20 minutes longer while we are speaking. Our topics are as varied as the type of plants we enter. Commonly the plant manager or department manager will ask us “to scare the hell out the workers”. So depending on the hazard we can provide example after example on what can occur if a worker(s) fails to follow their training, skips steps, makes assumptions, and if they do not stop a bad behavior (no regrets). What can occur is that they can get injured or killed. Worse yet is their actions may result in the injury or death of a coworker(s). Once we find out further information regarding this specific incident we will add this to our growing list of examples of what can go horribly wrong if a worker does not follow their training.

Please comment.