OSHA Busts Ohio Manufacturer Following Worker Fatality
The worker was removing a wooden pallet from a shot blast tumbler barrel when the wire rope cable on the loader bucket broke, causing the bucket to fall and strike the worker.
OSHA has cited Canton Drop Forge for one serious and three repeat safety violations after a 31-year-old worker died when he was struck by a loader bucket at the company's Canton, Ohio, facility on April 22. Proposed penalties total $89,000.
The worker was removing a wooden pallet from a shot blast tumbler barrel when the wire rope cable on the loader bucket broke, causing the bucket to fall and strike the worker. The company was cited for two repeat violations related to the fatality: failing to provide machine guarding and operating equipment with a damaged control panel, a non-working limit switch and a push button that was stuck in the "on" position on the loader bucket.
"Canton Drop Forge has a responsibility to ensure its equipment is operationally safe and that workers are properly trained," said Howard Eberts, OSHA's area director in Cleveland. "Workers should never be required to use faulty equipment and risk their lives to earn a paycheck. This terrible incident should have been prevented."
The third repeat violation was cited for allowing workers to walk and work on surfaces made slippery from steel shot blast pellets and cluttered by wood and tools. Canton Drop Forge was cited for these violations in 2006 and 2008 at its Canton facility.
The serious violation related to a fixed ladder on an elevated platform that was damaged, bent and slippery.
Canton Drop Forge manufactures closed die forgings for high-performance applications.