OSHA promulgated the LOTO standard in 1989, nearly 30 years ago, and yet… This is the “classic failure” that brought about the LOTO standard – employee kills employee – so when your employees say it never happens, you can provide this.
At 11:57 a.m. on December 27, 2016, an employee was performing a salt flush on the line four 2,500 lb. double ribbon mixer. The employee entered the mixer after he dropped an 80 lb. bag of salt. After entering the mixer, his coworker placed another bag of salt onto the area of the mixer that had the limit switches that indicated that the mixer lids were closed. Because the machine operated via only the emergency stop button, the machine began to operate with the employee trapped inside, killing him. The employee was killed from trauma to the chest.