"the victim was then ejected from the forklift...."

If you looked through the Aluminium Plant Safety Blog one would see a recurring theme in the postings of workers who fail to follow their training, skip steps, or make assumptions which leads to an incident. Sometimes the worker’s failure is one timer. Meaning that the worker failed only one of the previous point one time and incident occurred. But, more likely a worker will repeatedly fail one of those points. Regardless, sadness is the result when a worker is injured or killed. We use the term sadness, but in reality it is unimaginable pain that does not cease. It is that pain that the deceased worker’s family, friends, and coworkers feel that is the reason why we continue with this blog. We hope that by posting these stories that a reader will print out a posting and use it during training at their plant. If not why are we doing the APSB? This story came to our attention by the fines that were levied to the company. First we will post the original story and then a follow-up.

At approximately 4:00 PM one day in December 2016, the (local) Police Department & EMS, along with the (local) County Sheriff’s Office, responded to a report of a man trapped under a forklift at a aluminum recycling plant.

Arriving units found a worker, pinned under a forklift and seriously injured, officials said.

Workers at the plant used an excavator and a front end loader to lift the forklift off the victim to allow rescue workers to treat him, authorities said.

The local Sheriff’s Office Crash Unit investigators were told the victim was operating the forklift. At some point, the forklift became stuck and the victim was then ejected from the forklift, onto the sidewalk, police said.

The local Police & EMS rendered aid and transported the injured worker to a local University Medical Center, where he succumbed to his injuries, officials said.

The United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) also responded to the scene to investigate the incident.

The most recent story:

A recycling center that has been cited numerous times is being fined more than $25,000 for violations that led to an employee being crushed by a forklift, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) said in an inspection report.

Recycling firm was hit with three "serious" violations and two equal fines of $12,675. The recycling center, which previously operated under a different name has contested the violations and the fines stemming from the December 2016 incident in which a worker died.

Representatives of the new Recycling company, which handles commercial waste and residential recyclable materials, declined to comment on the disciplinary action by OSHA. 

The facility has a history of workplace issues, including:

-- In 2012, a 22-year-old worker lost six fingers when he attempted to grab a piece of cardboard that was jammed on a conveyer belt and his hands got stuck inside the feeder. The company was cited with one repeat and three serious safety violations and fined more than $70,000.

-- In 2010, the company was hit with one willful, four repeat and three serious violations, as well as two failure-to-abate notices -- along with a $71,600 fine by OSHA.

-- Also in 2010, there were two fires at the facility within a seven-month span, leading to a temporary shutdown and a $100,000 fine by the local town.

In the 2016 death, sheriff's officers who responded to the facility were told that the deceased worker was operating the machine and then was thrown off it when it got stuck -- and it then fell on him, according to a local media story at the time.

However, OSHA officials say in the new report that the deceased worker was cleaning at the facility at 3:45 p.m. that day when a forklift operator asked him to help put the forklift's rear wheel back on the loading ramp.

The worker, was told by the forklift operator, who isn't named in the report, to sit inside the forklift and hold the brake while the operator retrieved equipment to push the forklift back onto the ramp, the OSHA report said.

The operator told the employee where the brakes were located and he engaged the parking brake, OSHA said. The operator then left to get the equipment.

But instead of hitting the brake, the worker put his foot on the gas, causing the forklift to lurch forward and throw him from the forklift, OSHA said. The forklift then fell on the worker.

Workers at the recycling plant used an excavator and a front-end loader to lift the forklift off the injured worker, local Sheriff said at the time. The injured worker was taken to a local University Medical Center, where he died from his injuries.

The Aluminium Plant Safety Blog offers our sincere condolences to the deceased worker’s family, friends, and coworkers. Reading the two stories together allows the reader to understand better on what occurred.

In our experience he would not have been thrown out if the worker put on the seatbelt. A safety officer who we admire has stated that he has never investigated a moveable equipment operator fatality when a seat belt was used. On our plant tours we are always looking to see if the moveable equipment operators are wearing seat belts. When we see an operator not wearing a seat belt we inform our host of our observation. This worker at minimum should have been wearing the seat belt. We could discuss that the worker should never have been asked to assist with a repair. That in many ways seemed improper. All too often we will post an incident where a worker was asked to assist another worker with a repair. It is these times that the hazard level increases. Any repair of equipment should not be done without first notifying your supervisor.

The list of fines that this location has incurred are staggering. OSHA has instituted a progressive increase in fines for repeat offenders. This company will be faced with the economic reality of becoming safer or going out of business.

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