August 4, 2016
Maintenance technician crushed fatally when 4,000 pound machine part
unintentionally moves during repairs at the Warrensburg foundry of
Stahl Specialty Company
WARRENSBURG, Mo. - A 57-year-old maintenance worker was crushed fatally by a 4,000 pound machine part while performing maintenance inside of a sand core machine at a Warrensburg aluminum foundry.
An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration found his employer, Stahl Specialty Company, did not use lockout devices and other machine safety procedures to prevent unintentional movement of the part - known as a ram - while the worker was inside the machine. OSHA cited the company for one repeated and five serious safety violations on July 29, after the agency completed its investigation into the Feb. 15, 2016, death.
"An employee who had been with the company 40 years lost his life because his employer failed to follow safety procedures to prevent machine parts from moving during maintenance," said Todd Sieleman, OSHA's acting area director in Kansas City. "Foundries have inherent dangers and employers like Stahl Specialty need to review their safety procedures to protect workers on the job."
While investigating the fatality OSHA found Stahl Specialty Company:
Failed to isolate all sources of energy in or to the equipment.
Did not protect employees from unexpected machine movements during maintenance.
- Lacked machine-specific lockout procedures.
- Failed to adequately train workers on proper lockout procedures.
- Failed to coordinate lockout procedures with an outside contractor.
- Did not correct illegible markings on a crane pendant control box.
Proposed penalties total $105,000. View citations here.
Based in Kingsville, Stahl Specialty Company has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA's area director, or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.
To ask questions, obtain compliance assistance, file a complaint, or report workplace hospitalizations, fatalities or situations posing imminent danger to workers, the public should call OSHA's toll-free hotline at 800-321-OSHA (6742) or the agency's Kansas City office at 816-502-0297.
Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA's role is to ensure these conditions for America's working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance. For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov.
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Foundry
Stahl
specializes in only permanent and semi-permanent
mold aluminum castings. Over a dozen different alloys are poured daily
within the 300 aluminum series. Sand cores in the cold and hot box
process are available to meet your specifications.The three foundry facilities in Kingsville focus on diesel engine, marine, agriculture, construction tools, refrigeration, and commercial industries. Casting weights range from one pound to 242 pounds with volumes of several hundred to 400,000 annually. Over 80% of the castings are shipped fully machined and some sub-assembly is maintained within the process.
The
Kingsville foundries have 44 permanent mold machines in operation each
day with platen sizes of 18x24 through 48x60 inches. With the exception
of two machines, all foundry casting machines are the tilt-pour-process
enhancing the solidification resulting in a higher strength casting.
Using dry hearth
reverbratory furnaces the melting capacity
exceeds over 37,000 pounds per hour.The Warrensburg complex also has three foundry facilities primarily servicing the automotive industry. Casting sizes typically are less than five pounds with volumes of 100,000 to over a million castings per year. The majority of the Warrensburg foundry machines are rotary turntables providing the maximum production output per man-hour. There are 19 foundry cells with a melting capacity over 39,000 pounds per hour.
Stahl Specialty offers a wide variety of casting sizes, weights, and volumes providing its customers with diverse flexibility in the customer’s design and scheduling requirements to meet the needs of today’s business environment.
