Company fined $250,000, two years probation....

The question has been asked on why companies do not publicly release when injuries or fatalities occur on their premises. There are a myriad of reasons why including but not limited to fear of litigation (lawyers), fear of bad press, etc. Regardless of the reason we tell company executives that as horrible it is to have a workplace fatality. What is worse is if a similar incident occurs later that could have been prevented if the first company publicly released what happened. Lastly, we have told company executives that they can be held personally liable.

The following is an update of a fatal incident that the Aluminium Plant Safety Blog has followed for seven years. Here is the last update.

An aluminium company in the USA was fined $250,000 the first week of August 2019 and placed on two years probation after pleading guilty to concealing knowledge of a felony after a federal investigation into the 2012 death of a worker at the plant.

The sentence was handed down in the U.S. Northern District Court for one of misprision, or the deliberate concealment of one’s knowledge of a felony.

The worker was killed in October 2012 when racks containing hot aluminum product weighing between 4,000 and 5,000 pounds that he was pushing on a conveyor tipped over, crushing him. Another worker was seriously injured but survived.

The plant’s general manager, and its safety coordinator, were each indicted separately in October 2018 for attempting to hinder an investigation by federal authorities.

Both men last month each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice. The plant manager and the safety manager is scheduled to be sentenced in the Fall 2019.

We have followed this story for the past seven years. On every update we have omitted the gut wrenching quotes of the deceased worker’s family. The process of grief is excruciating. The process is different for everyone. Because of the actions of the company the deceased worker’s family has had a prolonged period of grief. If that makes sense. We hope that the family’s pain can begin to ease, not end. Because their pain will never end, every birthday, every holiday will bring a thought of their loved one. We hope that they can at least can find some sort of solace that the aluminium company was prosecuted to the full extent of the laws.

We hope this post will be a warning to other companies to provide everything a government safety organization asks for. We will update this story as the plant manager and safety manager are sentenced later this year.

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