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Certified Heat Treating suffered a tragic loss when a 48-year-old employee was struck and killed by a metal door at their facility in Miamisburg, Ohio.
On the day of the accident, a supervisor entered the chamber of a quench tank to tighten a bolt when the metal door slammed down on him, making it impossible to breathe. The victim had been a loyal employee for 25 years.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) conducted a follow-up inspection, and determined that the employee’s accident could have been prevented if workers had been trained to use lockout/tagout procedures.
According to OSHA regulations, workers must remove a machine from its power source and label it as nonfunctioning before they repair it or perform maintenance. If the machine has moving parts, workers are supposed to install an adequate restraining device to keep it from activating unexpectedly.
OSHA also noted that employees had not been trained about the dangers of working in confined spaces like quench tanks. Confined spaces are big enough for a worker to do their job, but small enough to cause discomfort or injury from excessive heat, concentrated fumes or dangerous electrical wiring.
To protect employees in small spaces, management is required to assign an attendant, who monitors the employee while he or she works. Employers are also required to teach all workers how to spot small space hazards and respond in case of an emergency. Sadly, Certified Heat Treating took none of these precautionary measures, and one of its workers died as a result.
Is My Boss Responsible for My Workplace Accident?
This accident shows how workers can end up paying the price for an employer’s negligence and oversight. If you are working without the proper safety training, your life and health could be at risk.
Do not allow your employer to take chances with your health. If you have questions about your workers’ comp claim, talk to the workers’ comp attorneys at Larrimer & Larrimer. Schedule a free consultation today, and share your story.
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[Did You Know: More than 670 workers have been killed by confined space hazards over a 10 year period.]
Larrimer & Larrimer, LLC—Columbus Workers Comp Attorneys