UPDATE, 12:19 p.m.: The Fuyao Glass America Inc. employee killed Tuesday in a workplace accident at the Moraine plant was crushed by a ton of glass after he cut a strap, freeing the product to fall on him, police records show.
Forklift operator Ricky Patterson of Dayton died within minutes shortly after 5 a.m. after he was trapped between his machine and a pallet holding more than 2,000 pounds of glass, according to Moraine Police Division records.
Police records indicate the moments leading to death of Patterson, 57, were captured on company video at the Chinese automobile glass manufacturing plant, Moraine’s largest employer with about 2,000 jobs.
“The video shows the pallet of glass shifted forward,” according to Moraine police records. “Patterson then walks in between the forklift and the glass, grabs a strip cutter, and cuts the west side strap, causing the glass to crush him in the forklift.”
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The police report said the footage seen on the video, with time codes, is as follows:
“-5:10,16: Patterson cuts straps on glass, causing it to crush him.
-5:14.57: Co-worker sees Patterson wedged between forklift and glass;
-5:15.10: A second forklift and safety officer arrive;
-5:16.10: Multiple employees check on Patterson;
-5:22.10: Second forklift is tied to glass;
-5:23.54: Second forklift attempts to pull glass from Patterson.”
EARLIER REPORT: A 911 caller from Fuyao Glass America Inc. told dispatchers early in the conversation Tuesday morning that he thought a forklift operator had died.
The 10-minute call at 5:13 a.m. from the Chinese automobile glass manufacturing plant on Stroop Road in Moraine indicates that when Ricky Patterson of Dayton was discovered, it was too late to save him, records show.
“I think this guy might be dead,” the caller told a dispatcher.
The caller later added to others in the vicinity “I think the guy’s dead….I think the glass fell on him.”
The 57-year-old Patterson died after being crushed between a forklift and more than a ton of glass, Moraine police records show.
The accident that killed Patterson was captured on video by the company that supplies about 2,000 jobs in the city, the Moraine Police Division incident report states.
Patterson was found “wedged in between” the industrial machine and a pallet of glass, which had a tag indicating it weighed 2,097 pounds, the report states.
Patterson died of blunt force trauma to the head and neck in what was ruled an accident, according to the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the issue.
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Workforce safety investigators are looking into the accidental death of a worker at Moraine’s largest employer, a business fined last year by OSHA for multiple alleged “serious safety violations.”
The Tuesday early-morning death of Fuyao Glass America Inc. forklift operator Ricky Patterson of Dayton has renewed attention on safety at the Chinese automobile glass manufacturer.
Meanwhile, Fuyao called the 57-year-old Patterson a “valued colleague and friend,” and vowed to work with federal and state officials — calling company safety “the top priority.”
Patterson died from blunt force trauma to the head and neck in what has been ruled an accident, according to the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office. Moraine police and fire crews responded the Fuyao plant on West Stroop Road about 5:20 a.m. on a report of an accident involving a forklift driver, a statement from police said.
Patterson died after being crushed between a forklift and more than a ton of glass, Moraine police records show.
The accident was captured on the company’s cameras, the Moraine Police Division incident report states.
The Dayton man was found early Tuesday morning “wedged in between” the industrial machine and a pallet of glass, which had a tag indicating it weighed 2,097 pounds, the report states.
Fuyao said in a statement released Tuesday “the hearts and thoughts of Fuyao associates worldwide are with the employee’s family at this difficult time.”
“The investigation into the cause of this incident is ongoing,” according to the company’s statement. “We will be working closely alongside the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration as they investigate. Safety is the top priority at Fuyao, and we are committed to providing a safe working environment for each of our valued employees.”
An OHSA spokesman told this news organization that the administration has opened an investigation into the fatality at Fuyao. OSHA will not have any further information until it completes the investigation, the spokesman said.
Workers have been concerned about safety since the plant opened, according to a man who identified himself as a former Fuyao employee.
“It has long been said that nothing will change in the plant until someone dies. Now, here we are,” John Durham said in a email Tuesday to this news organization.
Fuyao has activated its Employee Assistance Program and has “responders available to talk and counsel employees as we mourn the passing of our friend,” according to the company’s statement. “Out of respect for our employees and the family of the deceased, we ask for privacy at this time.”
Fuyao has held a high profile in the Dayton area since 2014. In January of that year, the company announced it would build its first North American automotive glass manufacturing facility at the former General Motors assembly plant in Moraine.
Fuyao’s plans were lauded by Ohio Gov. John Kasich and came with significant state and local incentives. When it opened, Fuyao initially announced it would hire 700 to 800 workers, but it continued to add jobs at the site shuttered by GM in late 2008.
Fuyao Chairman Cho Tak Wong bought 1.4 million square feet as part of a $360 million investment at the location. Today, the auto glass manufacturer employs about 2,000 workers.
In the past year, Fuyao workers have expressed concerns about company safety, OSHA has conducted investigations and some employees pushed for a union for collective bargaining units to help ensure safe workplace practices.
In June 2017, Fuyao was cited for alleged safety violations, according to the Cincinnati OSHA office. At that time, OSHA proposed total fines of $37,843, according to a letter to the company from OSHA dated June 12.
In November 2016, OSHA proposed $226,937 in penalties against Fuyao for 23 “serious safety violations and one other-than-serious violation.” The penalties were later resolved between Fuyao and OSHA, and the fines were reduced to $100,000.
That same month, Fuyao employees voted by a resounding margin against joining the United Auto Workers. The result rejected the union’s more than 18-month attempt to organize one of the Dayton area’s fastest-growing manufacturers in a fight that drew the international spotlight.
The final tally was 886 to 441, according to the National Labor Relations Board, which oversaw the election.
JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. — A man was killed while working on rockfall mitigation in Clear Creek Canyon on Tuesday afternoon, the Colorado Department of Transpiration said.
Jamie Sarinana-Herrera, 40, was a contractor with Apex Rockfall Mitigation who was working on the project when the incident happened about 12:50 p.m., the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said.
Authorities estimate Sarinana-Herrera fell 50 to 70 feet. The death is not considered suspicious, the sheriff’s office said.
Apex Rockfall Mitigation is working on a $3 million safety project along U.S. 6.
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A man doing rock mitigation work in Clear Creek Canyon died Tuesday after falling about 70 feet.
The accident happened about 12:50 p.m., said Jenny Fulton, a Jefferson County sheriff’s spokeswoman.
The fatal fall is not suspicious and appears to be an accident, Fulton said. The victim was identified as 40-year-old Jaime Sarinana-Herrera.
Sarinana-Herrera worked for a contractor on the Colorado Department of Transportation project, Fulton said.
Apex Rockfall Mitigation is working on a $3 million safety project along U.S. 6 and Colorado 119, which includes rock-scaling, removal of scaled rock, installation of rock reinforcement, rock anchors, mesh anchors, and 285,000 square feet of wire mesh. The project started in February, according to CDOT.
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JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. — A contract employee working on a rockfall mitigation project in Clear Creek Canyon was killed Tuesday afternoon after falling nearly 70 feet.
The accident occurred around 12:50 p.m. near mile marker 258 on U.S. Highway 6. Both directions of the highway remain closed.
The victim has been identified as 39-year-old Jaime Sarinana-Herrera. He worked for Apex Rockfall Mitigation, a Grand Junction-based company CDOT has contracted out for the project.
According to a statement from the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, the accident did not appear to be suspicious. Investigators are looking into what caused Sarinana-Herrera to fall.
The $3 million project started in late February. Crews are removing scaled rock and installing mesh anchors to prevent future rockfalls.
EAST HARLEM, Manhattan — An MTA worker fell to his death while clearing subway tracks in Manhattan, prompting several subway service changes and a chaotic Tuesday morning commute, officials said.
Police said the worker, a 23-year-old man, was clearing debris when he fell onto the tracks in the tunnels near the East 125th Street and Lexington Avenue station around 4:50 a.m. Police earlier said the worker had been struck by a train.
It remains unclear how far the man fell. Police said he fell 20 feet, but MTA President Andy Byford later said the distance was about 9 feet.
The worker was hospitalized with a serious head injuries, according to police. He later died.
The Transport Workers Union has released the following statement:
"This is a tragedy, not just for this young man and his family, but for the entire City. While millions of New Yorkers were asleep, this young transit worker was on the job in a tunnel beneath Manhattan so others could get to work or school or wherever else they need to go in the morning. We will be involved in a full investigation to determine how this tragedy happened. Our entire brotherhood and sisterhood of transit workers extend our condolences to his family."
The incident prompted service changes that caused a chaotic morning commute. Hundreds of people could be seen lined up down Lexington Avenue for hours, scrambling to get on a bus.
A woman told PIX11 she walked from the Bronx, only find find out the train she needed was not in service.
"It’s communication that’s the problem,” she said.
When asked what she thought of the MTA, she replied, "Today, it sucks."
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A worker making repairs to a subway tunnel in Manhattan was killed early Tuesday when he fell and injured his head, the police said.
The circumstances of the accident, which occurred just before 5 a.m. at 125th Street and Lexington Avenue inside the tunnel that carries the 4 and 5 trains, were not immediately known, the police said. Officers responding to a 911 call found the man unresponsive and lying on the southbound tracks with trauma to his head. The man, identified by the transit workers union as St. Clair Ziare Richards-Stephens, 23, of the Bronx, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Mr. Richards-Stephens appeared to have fallen from an elevated position within the tunnel area while working at the location, the police said. The investigation is ongoing.
“These are the days you dread,” Andy Byford, the president of New York City Transit, said in a statement. “There is a full investigation underway. We are appreciative of New Yorkers’ patience during this morning’s rush hour and for the caring they’re showing for our fallen colleague.”
The accident caused 6 train subway service to be suspended on the Lexington lines between 138th Street in the Bronx, south to 86th Street in Manhattan in both directions. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which runs the subways and buses, scrambled to fill the gaps left by the service suspensions at some of the city’s busiest stations.
All morning, chaotic scenes played out up and down Lexington Avenue as commuters convened on the streets outside the shut stations while transit workers on bullhorns directed them to waiting buses.
Just before 9 a.m. the trains were restored but extensive delays snarled the 4, 5 and 6 trains, which continued to bypass 125th Street.
Mr. Richards-Stephens had been employed by the M.T.A. for six months, Mr. Byford said. He had been working on removing debris from the track.
An M.T.A. safety inspection team was sent to the accident site on Tuesday morning, Mr. Byford said.
“People don’t come to work not to get home at night,” Mr. Byford said. “We pride ourselves on running a safe service and getting our employees home safely. That tragically hasn’t happened.”
Mr. Richards-Stephens’s death is the first track-worker fatality in two years. In 2016, Lewis Gray was killed after he was struck by a train while setting up safety flags on the track of the G train in Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn. In 2010, James Knell, a maintenance supervisor, was electrocuted while working on the A train tracks in the Rockaways in Queens.
As Tuesday’s commuters backed up all along the Lexington IRT and quickly choked the Seventh Avenue lines as riders shifted to alternate subways, the usual social media fury at the M.T.A. seemed tempered as customers learned over loud speakers about the tragic cause of the slowdown.
“This is a tragedy, not just for this young man and his family, but for the entire city. While everyone else was asleep, this young man was working in a tunnel beneath Manhattan so others could get to work, or school, or wherever else they need to go to,” Tony Utano, the president of Transport Workers Union Local 100, said in an email.
“We will be conducting an investigation to determine exactly happened and will assist the family in every way possible.”
Iowa Fines Grain Cooperative for Safety Violations After Fatal Silo Engulfment
Iowa OSHA issued 11 citations and $306,500 in penalties to East Central Iowa Cooperative in Waterloo for exposing workers to amputation and engulfment hazards. Iowa OSHA inspected the facility following a fatal incident when a worker was engulfed in flowing grain. Inspectors found that the cooperative failed to: provide workers entering grain bins with secured body harnesses; install machine guards on grain handling equipment; and train workers on proper grain bin entry conditions.
Cal/OSHA Fines Foundry over $280,000 for Confined Space Accident
Los Angeles—Cal/OSHA has cited Alhambra Foundry Co. Ltd. $283,390 for workplace safety and health violations following a confined space accident that resulted in the amputation of an employee’s legs. Cal/OSHA cited Alhambra Foundry for similar violations eight years ago.
On August 28, two workers at the foundry were cleaning and unjamming a 38-foot long auger screw conveyor at the bottom hopper of an industrial air filtration device without effectively de-energizing or locking out the equipment. One of the workers re-entered the 20-inch square opening after the cleaning was done to retrieve a work light from inside the confined space, when a maintenance worker 45 feet away energized the equipment to perform a test. The moving auger screw pulled the worker into the screw conveyor. Both his legs had to be amputated in order to free him.
“Sending a worker into a confined space is dangerous, especially inside machinery that can be powered on at any time,” said Cal/OSHA Chief Juliann Sum. “Employers must ensure that machinery and equipment are de-energized and locked out before workers enter the space to perform operations involving cleaning and servicing.”
Cal/OSHA’s investigation found that:
• The foundry did not have the permit-required confined space program.
• The screw conveyor was not de-energized and locked out before workers entered the hopper, and accident prevention signs were not placed on the controls.
• The worker re-entering the hopper was not monitored by a confined space attendant.
• Alhambra Foundry lacked specific procedures for de-energizing and locking out the equipment.
A confined space is defined as an area that is large enough and so configured that an employee can bodily enter and perform assigned work, has limited or restricted means of entry or exit, and is not designed for continuous employee occupancy.
Cal/OSHA issued eight citations to Alhambra Foundry Co. with proposed penalties totaling $283,390. The eight violations cited included one willful serious accident-related, one willful serious, four serious, one willful general and one general in nature.
The citation for a willful serious accident-related violation was issued because Alhambra Foundry had been cited eight years prior for failing to take appropriate measures to protect workers performing cleaning and servicing operations. Cal/OSHA has extensive information on lock out / tag out requirements online.
A willful violation is issued where evidence shows that the employer committed an intentional and knowing (as contrasted with inadvertent) violation, and the employer was conscious of the fact that what he or she was doing constituted a violation, or was aware that a hazardous condition existed and made no reasonable effort to eliminate the hazard. A serious violation is cited when there is a realistic possibility that death or serious harm could result from the actual hazard created by the violation.
In 2012, Cal/OSHA launched a confined space emphasis program to raise awareness of confined space hazards and ensure employers follow proper safeguards.
The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health, or Cal/OSHA, is the division within the Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) that helps protect California’s workers from health and safety hazards on the job in almost every workplace. Cal/OSHA’s Consultation Services Branch provides free and voluntary assistance to employers to improve their safety and health programs. Employers should call (800) 963-9424 for assistance from Cal/OSHA Consultation Services.
Employees with work-related questions or complaints may contact DIR’s Call Center in English or Spanish at 844-LABOR-DIR (844-522-6734). Complaints can also be filed confidentially with Cal/OSHA district offices
