A welder was electrocuted this past May while disassembling a live, 480-volt flexible cord.
He worked at Homeyer Precision Manufacturing in Marthasville, Missouri.
The company was cited for 11 serious and one other-than-serious safety violations. The proposed fines come to $59,000.
OSHA’s investigation found Homeyer failed to do the following:
- Train employees on electrical safe work practices.
- Isolate energy to machines and equipment.
- Provide personal protective equipment, including hand protection.
- Train and certify employees on procedures to prevent sudden machine start-up or unintentional operation, a process known as lockout/tagout.
- Install adequate machine guarding to avoid contact with moving parts.
- Provide insulated tools.
- Anchor machinery.
- Mark dies for mechanical presses.
You can view OSHA’s citations here.
The proposed fines come to $59,000. Huge fines
I have seen them higher, but you are right. This level of fine would shut down a small company. This does not even touch the litigation that will most likely follow from the family.