2010 Lockout/Tagout Accidents (includes Machine Guarding)
thru 1/31/10
POSTHOLE AUGER FATALITY Elderly man dies after arm is ripped off by farm equipment (an 80-year-old man is dead after losing part of his arm in an industrial accident on a horse ranch – the man was digging post holes when he got his arm caught in an auger, a large drill, and his arm was amputated at the shoulder – he was air-lifted to a hospital where he was pronounced dead)
STACKER FATALITY @ Forest Products Plant Mill worker was fun-loving family man (worker, 39, got caught in the chain of a piece of equipment called an unscrambler at the forest products plant – he was taken to a Medical Center, where he later died – he had been moving along a catwalk near a piece of equipment called a stacker – he tripped and fell and landed on a chain, which had hooks on it)
UPDATE on GUARDING/AMPUTATION OSHA cites Broan-NuTone (OSHA cited the business with one alleged willful violation and four alleged serious violations – violations stem from the July amputation of a worker’s hand at the company – proposed penalties from the violations total $91,000 – a metal pressing machine amputated a worker’s right hand on the morning of July 29 at the plant, leaving portions of her leather work glove pressed and lodged into her injury – a search for her hand in the machine uncovered only small pieces – most of the hand had been pulverized – OSHA issued the willful citation for the company’s failure to provide adequate machine guarding – serious violations include failure to perform regular inspections of mechanical power presses, to provide adequate supervision while employees are working on hazardous equipment and to ensure adequate training was given for maintaining mechanical power press equipment)
LOTO/GUARDING FATALITY Scotts employee dies in elevator accident (an accident involving a freight elevator has killed a worker, 53 – he was pinned beneath a freight elevator on the ground floor of the plant – he was pronounced dead at the scene – he was a group leader at the plant and had worked for the company for 15 years – he was working by himself and fellow employees began looking for him after they hadn’t seen him for several minutes)
LOTO or GUARDING Machine operator loses left leg in plant accident (an employee, 21, lost his left leg when he slipped into a machine at a toilet paper manufacturing plant – after spending 90 minutes trapped in the machine, the operator was freed after fire officials responded and were able to cut the machine with the ‘jaws of life’ shortly after 1pm. – he lost his left leg from the hip)
LOTO or GUARDING Meat factory worker is minced up for a SECOND time – at company that sliced … (a factory worker faced his 4th operation in a week, on his birthday, as surgeons fought to save his crushed arm after it was “eaten” by a meat factory machine – firemen had to spend 20 minutes cutting him free, after his arm became mangled in a meat tenderising machine for a total of 40 minutes)
LOTO FATALITY Technician Killed During Maintenance Work (a technician, 34, was killed while carrying out maintenance work on an air-conditioning unit at a cement factory – he was believed to have been struck by the unit’s blades, causing him to fall from a ladder about 2.30pm. – he sustained injuries on the head, hands and ears, died on the way to a clinic – the victim and five other technicians were carrying out maintenance works on air-conditioning units when the mishap occured – he had been employed at the factory for six years)
UPDATE on LOTO AMPUTATION OAKDALE: Former Hershey worker gets settlement for severed arm (a 35-year-old woman whose arm was severed as she cleaned a chocolate factory machine will get $100,000 in exchange for criminal charges being dropped against the company – company faced two charges alleging they did not secure safety checks on the machine that injured the worker – in addition to the payment to the worker, company must pay $125,000 in fines to the County district attorney’s office and $88,000 to the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health, or Cal/OSHA – company did not admit fault as part of the court settlement, but admitted one willful violation and one serious violation to Cal/OSHA – worker also received a $300,000 lump sum as well as $5,000 a month in worker’s compensation for an unspecified amount of time – on March 24, 2007, she was cleaning the inside of a “conomill,” a batter-sifting machine when a rotating paddle in the machine caught her left arm and amputated it at the shoulder – a report by the CALOSHA found that employees weren’t properly trained in how to lock a machine so that it couldn’t begin operating while being cleaned or repaired – OSHA’s report also found a broken switch that was supposed to stop the machine from operating in such a situation)
UPDATE ON LOTO AMPUTATION Plastics firm fined after Liverpool worker loses four fingers (a plastics-recycling company has been fined £2,500 after a worker, 22, had four fingers cut off by a guillotine on 26 May 2008 – he had been trying to remove a jam in the guillotine when his fingers became trapped – doctors were able to reattach two of his four fingers and he now has very limited movement in his right hand – “The company should have had a guard on the guillotine to prevent workers from reaching the blade. An automatic mechanism should also have been in place so that the power was cut if the guard was opened”)
LOTO FATALITY Freak accident man dies (a hotel technician, 40, died from injuries he suffered in an accident involving projector equipment – he was found hanging from the ceiling after getting his head and hands trapped in an overhead cavity – it is understood he was hanging for 20 minutes until being found by a housekeeper who fainted after alerting colleagues – he would still be alive today if he had only switched off the power to the electrical equipment before working on it, Labour Ministry occupational health and safety said yesterday – it is believed that he accidentally pressed a button causing the equipment to retract into the ceiling – trapping his head and hands)
GUARDING FATALITY CONVEYOR BELT Man dies in farm accident near Welch (a man, 28, died during a farm accident – he was killed after getting caught in a conveyor belt – he was pronounced dead at the scene – not sure the exact cause of death – he was loading compost leaves onto a conveyor belt when his jacket sleeve was caught in the conveyor)
LOTO FATALITY Plant farm worker dies in accident (an employee, 56, at the farm died in an industrial accident about 8:30 a.m. – he was working by himself around a machine – he went into the machine for some reason and went to do something when his right arm was severed – it sucked him into the machine by his jacket – someone nearby heard him scream a single time and rushed to hit the power switch, but it was too late – he was pronounced dead by the Justice of the Peace – he died of blunt force trauma)
GUARDING – HOT LIQUID IN VAT NTN worker seriously burned in accident (an employee at the plant suffered serious burns after his leg entered a vat of hot organic soap – the employee was cleaning a machine at the plant when his leg entered the elevated vat – the soap contained in the vat measured temperatures between 180 and 185 degrees – most of the employee’s right leg was burned – the employee was flown out to a hospital)
FARMING and CONVEYOR 79-year-old St. Johns farmer critically hurt in equipment accident (a 79-year-old farmer was hospitalized in critical condition after being jammed between a loaded farm trailer and a conveyer belt – he was caught after a worker on a tractor backed the trailer toward the conveyor to be unloaded – driver, 50, said someone shouted for him to pull forward, and when he got down from the tractor he found the 79-year old responsive but collapsed on the conveyor belt)