We hear these horror stories every year… a worker climbs inside a hazard area of a large piece of machinery WITHOUT the aid of LOTO, and another worker comes along and turns on the machine, as he/she was unaware of their co-worker being inside the machine. These incidents are TRAGIC for so many people, all because we fail to utilize LOTO.
Here is the most recent case…
On June 7, 2024, an employee, 50, working as a machinery maintenance technician for a frozen food manufacturer, was troubleshooting a “ring remover” since food trays were getting stuck. The employee bypassed the magnetic safety interlock gates and crawled underneath the conveyor. A coworker, the machine operator, was unaware that the employee was underneath the machine when…
he turned it from manual to auto and reactivated the machine to get it unjammed.
The employee was struck by the carriage of the ring remover as a result.
According to the police report, the employee had apparent trauma to his head and a deep laceration on his left cheek from his ear to his chin.
The employee died as a result of his injuries.
NOTE: this case has not yet been settled so citations are not yet available.
Source: https://www.osha.gov/ords/imis/establishment.inspection_detail?id=1753707.015