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| Melvin Gant Jr., 28, of South Carolina. RIP |
OSHA investigating fatal Nucor accident
By Anna Beahm Staff Writer
September 27, 2017
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the weekend death of a man at the Nucor Steel plant in Decatur, authorities said.
Decatur police said Saturday that Melvin Gant Jr., 28, of South Carolina, slipped into what Decatur police called a “vat containing the waste product of finished rolled steel” while doing his normal duties. His death was ruled accidental by Decatur police.
This waste product is better defined as furnace dust, said Morgan County Coroner Jeff Chunn.
“It’s basically the burnoff product from the electrode from the furnaces. It’s a very fine dust,” Chunn said.
OSHA spokesman Michael D’Aquino said the accident happened in the bag house on the east side of the plant.
There, the air and dust coming off the furnaces is collected and funneled into a large hopper, Chunn said. It is later packaged and removed from the plant.
Gant fell into one of the large hoppers while he was working in the bag house, Chunn said.
Chunn said Gant’s death was caused by suffocation from the fine dust. No life-saving techniques could be administered, police said.
Gant had been working for Nucor in Decatur off and on for several years, but did not have a Decatur-area residence listed, Chunn said.
Gant was a contractor for Nucor with Atlantic Recovery, said Mike Lee, vice president and general manager of Nucor Steel in Decatur.
"On behalf of all our Nucor Steel Decatur teammates, I want to express my sympathies to the family and friends of Mr. Gant. We are deeply saddened by this event," Lee said.
Gant’s death is the second serious injury or fatality reported to OSHA since the plant opened, OSHA reports show. The only other injury filed with OSHA was reported in December 2010, according to an OSHA database.
D’Aquino said in an email he did not know how long the investigation would take.
“We have to wait for the investigation to be completed before we know what the findings are, if any,” he said.
Operations at the plant were suspended Saturday but returned to normal Sunday afternoon.