High Springs, FL — A 50-year old temp worker had vertebrae and pelvic bones crushed when a pallet fell on him in a work accident that took place in High Springs, Florida. The accident happened at the Ice River Springs bottling plant.
According to an investigation carried out by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the temp worker was permanently injured when a piece of equipment the plant uses to pack cases of bottled water started while he was attempting to clear a jam in the machine.
OSHA discovered that the safety sensors built into the machine had been intentionally bypassed, and that tape had been stuck over them. OSHA has recommended that the company pay an $84,000 fine.
The victim was an employee of TempForce, a temp employment company. OSHA officials says that this adds another degree of danger to the workplace environment, because these employees are often unfamiliar with company safety procedures.
Scene of the Accident
Commentary
From what I’ve read of this accident, the company involved ignored a lot of their own safety practices, and an employee was seriously hurt because of it. The safety sensors on the machine the victim was using — which would typically be used to avoid accidents just like this — were intentionally disabled. If everything that’s been reported is true, that means that the company was aware there was a safety problem, they were aware it was a problem that could cause serious injury, and they did nothing about it. Companies that engage in this sort of behavior have to be held accountable, because this sort of thing is completely unacceptable. I know this is the part of the conversation where people start getting uncomfortable, because talk invariably turns to things like lawsuits and money. But people focusing on those things I really think would be missing the bigger picture. Holding a company responsible for something like this would force them to examine their safety precautions, and the employees who chose to ignore them, so that accidents like this don’t happen again in the future. Bringing a claim against a company does give a victim a chance to be compensated for injuries and worse, but it also serves as an opportunity to raise the standard of a company’s practices.
— Grossman Law Offices
