"employee suffered head injuries in a...."

Out of all departments in our plants, no other department suffers more injuries and fatalities than the maintenance department. Here is a recent story involving a maintenance worker:

State worker safety authorities fined a firm in the USA after an employee suffered head injuries in a November accident.

The aluminium casting company paid was assessed a fine by the state's Division of Occupational Safety and Health cited the aluminium casting companies for six "serious" violations.

The firm was fined specifically for failure to properly train the worker and because the worker failed to follow specific procedures while working on a piece of equipment, documents show.

The company makes aluminum-cast automotive parts.

The state began investigating after receiving a media inquiry about an accident.

An inspector found that a die maintenance employee was hit and caught between the sprayer head of a piece of equipment. He'd been summoned to help repair machinery after a piece of casting became stuck in the die of the machine.

He was using a flashlight to get a closer look when the incident happened, according to records. "During this time the employee was struck by a slow-moving sprayer head of the reciprocator on the head and pinned in between the sprayer head and the bar within the die area," state records state.

He suffered abrasions and a concussion, and he was treated at a local hospital.

We pray that the worker recovers fully from his injury. Without a doubt this worker is lucky to be alive. The Aluminium Plant Safety Blog has posted similar incidents that resulted in decapitations.

On our plant tours we ask to speak to the maintenance personnel. During our talks we highlight the importance of:

1.  follow your training 
2. never skip steps 
3. never make assumptions 
4. no regrets.

We finally talk about the idea of having a physical device customized for each piece of machinery that can be used as a stopgap measure to prevent the release of stored energy. We personally like old crane rail. Maybe in this incident if the maintenance worker installed such a device his head would not have got squashed.

Please note if you enact the temporary crane rail method, enforced supervision is required to prevent the maintenance personnel of not skipping steps.

Please comment.