A maintenance worker inside a cement mixer narrowly avoided fatal injury when a coworker at a Colorado Springs concrete manufacturing facility turned the machine on.
A U.S. Department of Labor inquiry determined the worker's life was almost lost because the employer didn't follow federal workplace safety regulations, according to an Aug. 29 news release. After the March 2 incident, the Department of Labor's Occupational Safety & Health Administration issued one willful citation for failing to create and implement procedures to regulate hazardous energy and failing to inform staff of the associated risks, which exposed workers to possible hazards, the release reported.
“Our investigation found Lindsay Precast Inc. was well-aware they were required to ensure employees used hazardous energy control procedures, yet they failed to implement them,” Chad Vivian, OSHA area director in Englewood, Colo., said in the release.
OSHA investigators said the company knew federal law required training on lockout-tagout procedures before maintenance on the mixer began, as well as confined space entry procedures, the release reported.
“By sheer good fortune, a worker narrowly avoided much more serious, and potentially, fatal injuries, in an incident that would have never happened if the employer had followed federal requirements to de-energize and lockout the mixer to prevent the machine’s start-up,” Vivian added, according to the release.
