At work, there are safety procedures in place to help make sure you don’t get injured. When those safety protocols aren’t followed or safety equipment isn’t installed correctly, you could be hurt badly or even killed. An Ohio worker suffered an amputated finger after being trapped in a metal-stamping plant’s machinery. The story claims that the company hadn’t taken steps to prevent this incident.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s in Cleveland, Ohio, the 55-year-old worker lost the index finger on the left hand following an incident with a stamping machine. The worker’s finger became caught between weld clamps and was crushed, damaging the bone and muscle. The damage was so extensive that amputation was required.
New guidelines for OSHA require injuries like these to be reported within 24 hours of the incident, so OSHA can step in and start an immediate investigation into the cause. Once reported, the investigators visit the facility to investigate and review the entire facility as well as taking reports from others who witnessed the accident. When they arrived at this location, the investigators found that safety mechanisms had not been installed on the open parts of the machinery as required. By not doing this, the company exposed workers to unnecessary risk.
Unfortunately, this company had previously been cited for a similar violation before in 2014 and twice in 2012. Superior Roll, the company responsible, has been told by OSHA that it must continue to make improvements in the safety systems it has, and the proposed penalties for this instance alone may cost the company $70,000.
Source: Workers Compensation, “Ohio Worker’s Finger Amputated After Being Caught in Machine at Roll Forming Company,” May. 26, 2015