CINCINNATI - An employee was severely injured when he became caught in unguarded arbor rollers at Kloeckner Metals Corp. on April 22, 2014. The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited the Cincinnati manufacturing plant with one repeat and three serious safety violations, carrying proposed penalties of $56,000.
"This worker suffered a catastrophic injury because Kloeckner Metals failed to observe basic safety procedures," said Bill Wilkerson, OSHA's area director in Cincinnati. "The company knew how dangerous these machines could be, and they did not put their employees first. It's a culture too common in the manufacturing industry, and it needs to change."
OSHA's April 28, 2014, inspection found that a worker was exposed to the in-running nip point created by two rollers on the slitting line. He got caught in the nip point and suffered severe injuries.
The conditions resulted in one repeat and three serious violations:
- Failure to implement adequate machine guarding. The company was previously cited for this violation at the same location in 2013.
- Failure to implement specific lockout/tagout procedures to prevent machinery from operating during service and maintenance, which resulted in three serious citations.
