APRIL 23, 2015
WYOMING, MICH. (WZZM)
Grand Rapids
Plastics, Inc. has been hit with a $558,000 fine for safety violations at its
plastic injection molding plant, including omissions that led to a worker's
gruesome death last year.
That is the conclusion based on three inspections conducted
by the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration following the
June 27, 2014 death of Russell Scharenbroch.
Scharenbroch, 34, was inside a cleaning press when the
machine was turned on. A MIOSHA inspection determined the company did not
enforce lock-out safety procedures for the horizontal injection molding machine
prior to Scharenbroch climbing inside to clean it.
"The machine was left in automatic mode while the
employee was inside and another employee cycled on the machine,'' the report
concludes. "MIOSHA discovered a pattern of employees entering the machines
while the machines were still energized.''
The initial investigation Scharenbroch's death brought to
light "many other safety hazards,'' the MIOSHA report says. That prompted
MIOSHA to launch a companion inspection June 30 of all five buildings at 4220
Roger B. Chaffee Blvd. SW.
A third inspection was conducted Sept. 3 after a worker
complained that Grand Rapids Plastics was not requiring pedestrians to use
designated walkways and did not furnish safety glasses free of charge.
As a result of the three inspections, 55 citations were
issued, including nine classified as "willful-serious'' citations.
Grand Rapids Plastics was founded in 1976 as a single-plant
operation. It was sold in 2001, but reopened by its founding family two years
later at the Roger B. Chaffee location.
Scharenbroch's death was one of 37 workplace fatalities in
Michigan last year, its highest level in four years. Nearly 25 percent of all
worker deaths occurring in West Michigan counties.
Source: http://www.wzzm13.com