Missouri Foundry Cited in Maintenance Technician's Death
The worker was crushed by a 4,000-pound machine part, according to OSHA.
A maintenance worker was fatally crushed by a 4,000-pound machine part while working inside a sand core machine at a Warrensburg, Mo., aluminum foundry, OSHA reported. The agency determined that the 57-year-old's employer, Stahl Specialty Company, did not use lockout devices and other machine safety procedures to prevent unintentional movement of the part, a ram, while the worker was inside the machine on Feb. 15, 2016.
OSHA has issued one repeated and five serious safety violations in the case and a total of $105,000 in penalties.
"An employee who had been with the company 40 years lost his life because his employer failed to follow safety procedures to prevent machine parts from moving during maintenance," said Todd Sieleman, OSHA's acting area director in Kansas City. "Foundries have inherent dangers and employers like Stahl Specialty need to review their safety procedures to protect workers on the job."
Stahl Specialty was cited for failure to isolate all sources of energy, not protecting employees from machine movements, lacking machine lockout procedures, and other violations.