OSHA says employers have a responsibility to immediately call 911 when a worker is injured on the job. If they don’t, they can expect a substantial fine.

OSHA has cited Dukane Precast of Naperville, IL, with four safety violations in connection with an incident in which a worker became engulfed in a sand bin and suffered serious crushing injuries.

Plant employees attempted to rescue the worker for more than an hour before the company called 911. Now Dukane faces $70,000 in fines for four violations:

• a willful violation for failing to immediately call rescue services when the worker became engulfed in sand after he had walked into the bin and onto the sand to level it
• a serious citation for failing to maintain a railing to protect workers from dangerous equipment
• a serious citation for failing to prevent unauthorized workers from entering a permit-required confined space, and
• a serious violation for failing to prepare entry permits before entering a confined space.

The company has 15 work days to decide whether to contest the citations.

The fine levied against this company is relatively low compared to other cases in which a company didn’t call 911 for an injured worker.

In one case, a company didn’t seek emergency medical help for a worker who was seriously burned. The worker died. OSHA fined the company $473,000.

In another case, a worker fell 11 feet onto a concrete floor and suffered broken bones and head trauma. The company put the worker in a wheelchair and had him wait for a relative to pick him up and take him to the hospital. The company was fined $589,200.

Tags: call 911, call rescue services, trapped worker