Columbus, OH — There was a serious accident at Columbus Castings early this year (April 22, 2014) when a worker was critically injured by some heavy machinery. Recently, OSHA said that they are proposing some penalties and fines.
The accident happened at the Columbus Castings steel foundry, where the worker was apparently doing some maintenance on the machinery’s hydraulics. As he was working, an accident occurred and he was pinned in the machinery, suffering a collapsed lung. One of his legs was also paralyzed and he suffered a broken back as well.
The accident was later investigated by OSHA and they found that Columbus Castings didn’t lockout the equipment, which may have prevented the accident.
As such, OSHA proposed $89,500 in fines and noted that Columbus Castings had received 11 citations in the past 10 years.
Columbus Castings
Commentary:
This is yet another example of how important lockout-tagout procedures are, especially around heavy-duty machinery. We have a case with a similar fact pattern out of Houston, TX we’re handling right now. Essentially, because someone failed to “kill” power to the machinery while the worker was inside of it, the machinery powered on while he was still inside. Lockout-tagout procedures are, in the words of OSHA, designed to “safeguard employees from the release of hazardous energy.” I hope this company learns its lesson and is more careful in the future. In general, 11 OSHA citations in 10 years isn’t bad per se, but there are certainly plenty of companies that figure out how to stay citation-free.
— Grossman Law Offices
