This case is especially sad (or disgusting)… the company was cited a Willful in 2012 regarding a failed rescue attempt when a 37-year-old supervisor was nearly buried alive in a 25-foot silo containing 50,000 pounds of sand. Plant employees allegedly attempted to rescue the supervisor after he became engulfed in a sand bin and suffered serious crushing injuries for more than an hour before the company summoned emergency assistance. The company contested the citations, during which time OSHA returned to the plant in July 2013 to investigate this PRCS fatality. So while the company “lawyered up” after one of their supervisors was engulfed, another employee (a temporary employee this time) died inside a PRCS that was not isolated, no permit issued – NOTHING done to give this temp worker a chance!
A precast concrete products manufacturer has been cited for eight safety violations after a temporary worker was fatally crushed at a concrete batch plant while working alone in a permit-required confined space on July 20, 2013. The 39-year-old Hispanic worker had entered a concrete mixer’s discharge mud hopper. He tried to free a pneumatically powered discharge gate stuck in the open position because of hardened concrete. The gate, which had not been isolated to prevent unintentional operation during maintenance activity, closed and crushed the worker. The worker was a long-term temporary employee provided by a staffing services company. He was supervised solely by concrete batch plant management. The staffing service was not cited. Due to the willful violations found at the site, the company has been placed in OSHA’s Severe Violator Enforcement Program, which mandates targeted follow-up inspections to ensure compliance with the law. OSHA issued four willful citations involving the worker’s entry into the concrete mixer’s discharge hopper, including failure to:
