Ann Arbor recycling plant worker injured on the job speaks out
By Ryan Stanton | ryanstanton@mlive.com
on August 29, 2016 at 1:02 PM, updated August 29, 2016 at 3:00 PM
(Warning: Graphic image below)
ANN ARBOR, MI – Earl Roberts says his employer, ReCommunity, gave him a long list of things to fix at Ann Arbor's recycling plant when he was hired.
"It was kind of chaotic," he said, adding he feels the plant wasn't very well maintained and it wasn't being run in a professional manner.
He said he witnessed firsthand some of the problems city leaders now are citing as the reason for firing ReCommunity, the North Carolina-based company under contract with the city to operate the plant at 4150 Platt Road.
The 47-year-old maintenance technician said he was on the job only two weeks when he was seriously injured in a Feb. 28 incident at the plant.
Roberts said his left arm was crushed under a piece of equipment weighing more than 500 pounds, and it severed tendons and muscle in his forearm.
He argues ReCommunity created an unsafe work environment without adequate staffing, and he claims the plant manager didn't listen to his concerns.
The city fired ReCommunity last month, citing repeated safety violations that the city claims jeopardized worker safety. ReCommunity is now suing the city, arguing the contract was wrongfully terminated.
Earl Roberts provided this photo showing the laceration on his left forearm that he claims he suffered during a Feb. 28, 2016, incident at Ann Arbor's recycling plant.Courtesy photo Meanwhile, Roberts, who lives in Yale, Michigan, is seeking redress for his injuries, which he said have left him unable to work. He said ReCommunity's insurance company hasn't been cooperative since the incident. He has retained an attorney and has a disputed workers compensation claim pending with the Michigan Workers' Compensation Agency. He's also considering the possibility of suing ReCommunity.
Michael Hindelang, an attorney representing ReCommunity in its lawsuit against the city, declined to comment on the matter.
"The company can't comment on any specific incidents, but in general the safety of employees is very important to ReCommunity, and ReCommunity has significant training and safety resources — and injury prevention resources — in place," Hindelang said in an Aug. 23 interview.
Inspections reveal 'serious safety breaches' at Ann Arbor recycling plant
The list of findings is long.
Sean Duffy, ReCommunity's president, agreed to an interview on Aug. 25 and expanded on Hindelang's statements.
Duffy said he's aware of the Feb. 28 incident, but he said he wasn't aware that Roberts has a disputed workers compensation claim or that Roberts had raised staffing concerns. Still, he questioned whether having more workers on the job would have resulted in a different outcome that day.
David Zimmerman, the Sterling Heights attorney representing Roberts, said the issues surrounding his client's injuries still are being investigated. He has filed a petition for mediation or hearing with the Michigan Workers' Compensation Agency that indicates Roberts has disputed claims for both medical benefits and lost wages.
No mediation or hearing date has been set yet.
"I hired in there on a deal," Roberts said of his job at the plant. "They wanted me to be maintenance boss. I had a lot of credentials."
He said he quickly noticed workers smoked in the plant, which he considered a fire hazard, and lacked work ethic.
He said a number of the workers were employed through a temp agency and wore tethers around their ankles.
Duffy acknowledges ReCommunity had trouble keeping a stable workforce because of operational problems and inconsistencies at the plant. He said the company relied on a staffing agency for temporary labor.
Duffy blames the city for operational problems at the plant. He said ReCommunity tried for the last two years to convince the city of the need to purchase a new baler. He said the plant's baler was continually breaking down and was the root cause of most of the issues at the plant.
Roberts said ReCommunity tasked him with fixing equipment before an upcoming inspection by the city, but the plant was understaffed and he contends things were rushed.
He said he shared those concerns with a plant manager who he said didn't seem to care and left the day of the incident after he complained.
"Look, dude, somebody's going to get hurt and it's not going to be me," Roberts said he told the manager just a few hours before a gear box that Roberts and another person were working on came crashing down on his arm.
"I told the plant manager we needed more guys working," Roberts said, arguing two wasn't enough for the job.
Roberts said he was working with a second-class mechanic who was in a hurry and things went wrong.
"And I ended up getting hurt," he said.
He said the middle of his forearm was severely cut. He said he has seen five doctors over the last six months and he's still on pain medication. He said doctors tell him he's always going to have problems with his arm now.
He said he injured his shoulder while trying to pull his arm out. He said it now "sounds like a baby rattle" and he can't lift anything.
"I'm constantly in pain," he said, adding his shoulder locks up and he has stabbing pains.
He said he has no feeling in two of his fingers, which are cold as if there's no circulation, and the strength of his grip is gone.
In addition to his injuries, Roberts claims his toolbox and tools worth thousands of dollars still haven't been returned to him since the incident.
It's unclear whether Roberts' injuries were reported to the city or to the state by ReCommunity.
ReCommunity maintains there was no requirement under its contract to notify the city of the Feb. 28 incident.
"The company complied with all safety requirements in the contract, as well as the requirements for preparing and maintaining applicable safety and accident reports," the company said in a statement.
Tanya Baker, a spokeswoman for the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration, said MIOSHA records do not indicate an injury on Feb. 28 was reported, though she said employers are required to report injuries only if they result in an amputation or an inpatient hospitalization.
Roberts said he understands another worker suffered a serious foot injury during an incident involving a forklift last year.
Duffy said that incident involved two temporary workers from a staffing agency and he didn't have many details, but he understands one of the workers had his foot crushed by a bin carried by a forklift.
Duffy said safety is the company's top priority, but injuries do happen, including people getting cut handling materials.
Still, he said, one injury is too many.
Craig Hupy, the city's public services administrator, did not respond to requests for comment.
City Administrator Howard Lazarus said he has heard third-party anecdotal information about injuries at the plant but he personally hasn't seen anything formally documented.
City Attorney Stephen Postema said the city is working to prepare its response to ReCommunity's lawsuit and safety concerns are a focus. He declined to comment on specific issues or incidents at this time.
Roberts said in the two weeks he worked at the plant, he put in 55 hours one week and 56 hours the other. He claims ReCommunity told the insurance company he only worked 33 hours and that's part of the dispute.
Earl Roberts provided this photo showing the equipment inside Ann Arbor's recycling plant he claims spun down and injured his left arm on Feb. 28, 2016.Courtesy photo The gear box he was working on was on a conveyor line, Roberts said, adding he was stuck for several minutes after it spun and crashed down on his arm, which he said became stuck on a piece of metal. "It cut all the tendons in my arm that control the fingers," he said, adding it also caused nerve damage.
Roberts said he was pulled down by the machine and it seemed like an eternity as he and the other worker struggled to get his arm out.
"Nobody was there," he alleged. "Management had left and not told us."
After his arm was free, Roberts said, they tied a shirt around his bicep and drove to St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Port Huron. He said the hospital then sent him to the McLaren trauma center in Mount Clemens.
In every case where there is an injury, Duffy said local medical treatment is available for the impacted employee, and it's the individual's decision whether he or she wants to take advantage of the local treatment option.
Roberts' filing with the Michigan Workers' Compensation Agency indicates he is married and has five children.
In the application for mediation or hearing, it's estimated the equipment that crushed Roberts' arm weighed 500-1,500 pounds. Roberts said the gear box itself weighs 550 pounds and the motor is probably another 300 to 500 pounds.
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Inspections reveal 'serious safety breaches' at Ann Arbor recycling plant
Screenshot from a Jan. 26, 2016, city inspection report for Ann Arbor's recycling plant at 4150 Platt Road.
By Ryan Stanton | ryanstanton@mlive.com
on August 29, 2016 at 8:31 AM, updated August 29, 2016 at 1:44 PM
ANN ARBOR, MI – Ann Arbor's concerns about the way a private company was operating the city's recycling plant are documented in hundreds of pages of inspection reports and letters from the last several months.
The list of findings is long.
The inspections found materials blocking emergency exits and stop buttons for machines. Fire extinguishers missing or inaccessible. Exposed wires.
Improperly stored and labeled chemicals. Rotating machine parts with missing or damaged guards. Missing or broken railings. Unsecured areas.
Ann Arbor's recycling plant on Aug. 10, 2016.Ryan Stanton | The Ann Arbor News Broken windows and doors. Missing and damaged building siding. An overhead fan held in place by a bungee cord directly over a walkway. A rag used in place of a gas cap for a vehicle. A heavily damaged control panel. A chemical spill. An expired eyewash bottle.
Excessive trash and materials scattered inside and outside, blocking exits, plugging drains and creating slip, trip and fall hazards.
Flammables stored next to oxygen tanks. Damaged exit signs and lights. A misting system not being used to suppress dust and reduce risk of fire.
And multiple fires at the plant this year.
Those are the concerns raised by the city and its inspectors in hundreds of pages of reports.
For those reasons and more, the city terminated its longstanding contract with North Carolina-based ReCommunity, the company that for many years operated the city's Materials Recovery Facility at 4150 Platt Road.
City Administrator Howard Lazarus said he was briefed on the problems at the plant before he started on the job in late June.
After learning about all of the ongoing safety concerns, Lazarus said it actually wasn't a very difficult decision when he made the call in early July to fire ReCommunity. He said the facility was being operated in an unsafe manner in violation of the contract and employee safety was being jeopardized.
"Worker safety, public safety, kind of trumps everything else," he said.
ReCommunity has fired back by accusing the city of manufacturing an excuse to get out of a contract that wasn't working financially for the city following a downturn in the recycling market. ReCommunity, which doesn't think the safety concerns warranted termination, is now suing the city.
"Safety is paramount to ReCommunity, and taking efforts to ensure a safe working environment for its employees is a major focus of ReCommunity at all of its facilities," said Michael Hindelang, an attorney representing ReCommunity.
Hindelang would not discuss claims that multiple workers were injured at the plant since last year.
"The company can't comment on any specific incidents, but in general, the safety of employees is very important to ReCommunity, and ReCommunity has significant training and safety resources — and injury prevention resources — in place," Hindelang said in an Aug. 23 interview.
Earl Roberts, who worked as a maintenance technician at the plant, said his left arm was crushed under a heavy piece of machinery during a Feb. 28 incident that left him with severed tendons and muscle in his forearm. He argues ReCommunity created an unsafe work environment without adequate staffing, and he claims the plant manager didn't listen when he raised concerns.
Roberts claims another worker suffered a serious foot injury during an incident involving a forklift last year.
Ann Arbor recycling plant worker injured on the job speaks out
Earl Roberts says he witnessed firsthand some of the problems city leaders claim have plagued Ann Arbor's recycling plant.
Sean Duffy, ReCommunity's president, said in an interview on Aug. 25 he's aware of both incidents, though he maintains employee safety is his company's top priority. He blames the city for operational problems at the plant.
'The lack of the city's support'
Duffy said his company tried for the last two years to convince the city of the need to purchase a new baler. He said the baler used for processing recyclables required continual repairs and caused tremendous disruptions.
"The biggest problem that happened at the plant was the lack of the city's support to provide a replacement baler and that is the true pivot point within the plant," he said. "Everything that's processed has to go through this baler."
Duffy said a lot of time and money was spent making repairs to an inadequate baler that was past its useful life. Because it was continually breaking down, he said, it was difficult to have steady operations. And when the the baler was down, he said, materials would keep coming in and pile up.
He said that was the root cause of most of the issues at the plant. He also claims the city owed ReCommunity hundreds of thousands of dollars, which he said put the company in a difficult position.
Because of those problems and inconsistencies in the operation, Duffy said ReCommunity could not keep a stable workforce and there was high turnover, so the company relied on a staffing agency for temporary labor.
As for all of the safety concerns documented in the city's inspection reports, Duffy said "a lot of it was housekeeping."
He said ReCommunity tried to immediately address issues raised by the city, and sometimes that meant having to order parts or materials and wait for them to be delivered. As soon as they arrived, he said, repairs were made.
"It's always ongoing repairs or maintenance that we're doing within those facilities," he said.
"The type of business that we run is not the easiest business out there," he said, adding the recyclable materials arriving at the plant aren't always the cleanest and there are some items that can't be recycled, such as metals and heavy objects, and sometimes those jam or damage equipment.
'A cause of some of the safety violations'
Records obtained by The Ann Arbor News under the Freedom of Information Act show the city sent ReCommunity a three-page letter dated April 25, citing a breach of contract and raising safety concerns possibly related to the company's processing of certain third-party materials at the plant.
The city argued it appeared the company was processing recyclable materials at the Platt Road plant from sources other than Ann Arbor without the city's consent, including materials sourced from Toledo and Saginaw.
"From the safety inspections of the MRF, it appears that tonnages beyond the capacity of the MRF to process are being brought in and are a cause of some of the safety violations or concerns, and of stress on the MRF equipment," reads the letter signed by Craig Hupy, the city's public services administrator.
In the April 25 letter, Hupy ordered ReCommunity to cease processing non-city materials without the city's consent effective June 13, and to stop bringing in non-city materials that the plant did not have the capacity to process or that interfered with the proper processing of Ann Arbor's materials.
However, in that same letter, Hupy also gave ReCommunity a May 20 deadline to provide the city with documentation of agreements to accept certain non-city materials, saying the city would consider whether to consent to the delivery of materials from each source. It's unclear what happened after that.
Hupy did not respond to a request for comment for this story. ReCommunity's attorney declined to comment on the matter.
Duffy argues the city previously strongly encouraged ReCommunity to bring in third-party tons, and actually required it within a certain geographic area. One of Hupy's letters makes reference to that geographic area defined in the contract.
After the city raised concerns about the volumes coming in to the plant, Duffy said ReCommunity responded by sending termination notices to Toledo and Lucas County, Ohio, to stop accepting materials from there.
In the lawsuit filed in late July, ReCommunity argued the city wrongly claimed both that it had not approved of the third-party agreements and that the tonnages were beyond the plant's capacity or causing safety issues.
ReCommunity claims the city accepted payments for its share of revenues from the third-party materials, raising objections only when faced with contractual obligations to pay "net negative" amounts after commodity prices fell.
Hupy's letter dated April 25 stated the city did not and would not consent to the processing of non-city materials that "require the city to subsidize for the benefit of ReCommunity and/or ReCommunity's non-city customers the services ReCommunity provides to those non-city customers." He also reiterated concerns about operational and maintenance problems.
'Serious safety breaches'
In a four-page letter dated June 10, Hupy again put ReCommunity on notice, calling out "serious safety breaches that the city has found to occur repeatedly," saying ReCommunity seemed unable to effectively prevent or correct them.
By that time, the city had increased the frequency of inspections at the plant, and Hupy said the city had repeatedly asked ReCommunity to correct numerous safety violations or deficiencies that were serious in nature.
"These safety deficiencies have persisted and/or recurred on a regular basis despite the repeated notices and opportunities to correct them," Hupy wrote.
Hupy's letter referenced a May 31 inspection report that listed several concerns. Just after that, he said, there was another fire at the plant.
The city believes the fire could have been prevented through proper maintenance of equipment and proper attention to and awareness of operations, and that the failures to do so resulted in the fire and created a serious threat to safety.
Hupy stated in his June 10 letter that inspections on June 4, 6 and 7 again found serious safety concerns.
"In addition, the water-misting system is still not operational," Hupy wrote in the letter, referring to a material misting system that a May 31 inspection report noted was not being used to reduce dust and risk of fire.
Hupy said the most serious safety deficiencies involved fire egress violations, electrical system deficiencies, machine guarding deficiencies, confined space violations, lockout/tagout violations, and fall protection violations. He said each of those posed a risk of immediate danger to life and health and should be grounds for ReCommunity to shut down operations until they were corrected.
Although ReCommunity sometimes corrected deficiencies, corrections were not always prompt, Hupy said.
"After correction, appropriate preventive measures apparently have not been put in place; the corrections made after a safety inspection report do not last and the same deficiencies are found again and again," he wrote.
In the June 10 letter, Hupy said the city was willing to give ReCommunity an opportunity to correct the safety deficiencies and implement an appropriate mode of operation to prevent recurring safety problems, including proper procedures to prevent injuries, and to continue operations at the plant.
Hupy also indicated the city was retaining a firm that would have a safety inspector on site at all times when the plant or the adjacent transfer station were in operation starting the week of June 13. He indicated the city would bill ReCommunity for the cost of the contracted safety inspections.
"This individual will communicate to ReCommunity all safety issues, both physical and operational, that they observe, and will report to the city both what they have observed and ReCommunity's response when safety issues have been brought to ReCommunity's attention," Hupy wrote.
City records show Proficient Training and Consulting LLC was brought in to observe plant operations and noted numerous safety violations and concerns in a series of reports in June and July. The firm was paid more than $20,000.
In a letter dated July 7, Hupy informed ReCommunity of the city's decision to terminate the contract effective July 11, saying safety deficiencies had continued without break since ReCommunity was put on notice on June 10.
The city has since approved temporary agreements with the Western Washtenaw Recycling Authority, Royal Oak Recycling and Waste Management while the city looks for a new company to take over the longer-term operation of the plant.
Duffy said he's been in the business for 33 years, operating 29 facilities, and this is the first time he's ever had a contract terminated. He said the city of Ann Arbor did a poor job of being a partner with ReCommunity.