Here’s a story you can share with employees and supervisors about why lockout/tagout is so important:
It’s too often a matter of life or death.
OSHA has fined Buckhorn, Inc. $116,000 in connection with a Oct. 7, 2009 fatality at its Springfield, MO, plant.
Tobby Hall, a 31-year-old father of four, was inside a plastic injection molding machine. However, a co-worker thought Hall had gone to get a tool.
The co-worker started the machine, and Hall was crushed to death.
OSHA says the workers shouldn’t have been allowed to work on the machine without it being locked and tagged out.
Buckhorn has been cited for one willful and 15 serious violations.
The willful violation is for failure to ensure the plastic injection molding machine was locked out when employees were performing maintenance inside the machine.
OSHA also found a variety of serious violations involving obstructed emergency exits, confined spaces and a lack of training.